lated in the second strain.

[Music illustration:

Way ho yah-nie, way ho yahnie, way ho yahnie, way ho yahnie, way ho
yah-nie, way ho-yah.

Hew na-yie hah, hew na-yie hah, hew nayie hah, hew nayie hah, hew
nayie hah.]

The leader or singer, whom we may call the master of the ceremony,
begins the dance by moving about the room in a stooping posture,
shaking in his hand a rattle made of horn, beating the ground
violently with one foot. He peers into every corner of the room,
either seeking the snake or inciting the on-lookers to take part,
meanwhile singing the first part of the song recorded on the
phonograph. Then he goes to the middle of the room, and, calling out
one after another of the auditors, seizes his hands. The two
participants dance round the room together. Then another person grasps
the hands of the first, and others join until there is a continuous
line of men and women, alternate members of the chain facing in
opposite directions, and all grasping each other's hands. The chain
then coils back and forth and round the room, and at last forms a
closely pressed spiral, tightly coiled together, with the leader in
the middle. At first the dancers have their bodies bent over in a
stooping attitude, but as the dance goes on and the excitement
increases they rise to an erect posture, especially as near the end
they coil around the leader with the horn rattles, who is concealed
from sight by the dancers. They call on the spectators to follow them,
with loud calls mingled with the music: these cries now become louder
and more boisterous, and the coil rapidly unwinds, moving more and
more quickly, until some one of the dancers, being unable to keep up,
slips and falls. Then the chain is broken, and all, with loud shouts,
often dripping with perspiration, return to their seats.[6]

[Footnote 6: The last part of this dance somewhat resembles a play
among boys, known as "Snap the whip."]

In this dance all present take part; it always occurs at the end of
the Passamaquoddy dances, though it may be followed by a dance of the
Micmacs, or other foreign Indians. There was, when last presented, no
special dress adopted for the snake-dance, and the horn rattle is used
also in other dances. It seems probable that everything used in the
old times has disappeared, with the exception perhaps of the
last-named implement, yet the song resembles closely that of the olden
time. The invitations to dance are possibly introduced