Its forked tongue
represents lightning, its rattle thunder and its spots
rain-clouds. The number of snakes they find is surprising, as
they catch from one to two hundred during the four days' hunt on
ground that might be carefully searched by white men for months
without finding a single reptile.
The snake men are very expert in catching and handling serpents,
and are seldom bitten. If one is bitten it is nothing serious,
as they have a secret medicine which they use that is both
prophylactic and curative, and makes them immune to the poison so
that no harm ever results from a bite. The medicine is taken
internally and also applied locally. Efforts have been made to
discover its composition but without success. If a snake is
located which shows fight by the act of coiling it is tickled
with a snake-whip made of eagle's feathers, which soon soothes
its anger and causes it to uncoil and try to run away. It is
then quickly and safely caught up and dropped from the hand into
a bag carried for that purpose.
Visitors who attend the dance are under no restrictions, but are
free to come and go as they please, either sightseeing or in
search of curios. If the visitor has a supply of candy, matches
and smoking-tobacco to give away he finds frequent opportunities
to bestow his gifts. The children ask for "canty," the women
want "matchi," and the men are pleased with a "smoke."
On the morning of the dance both the men and women give their
hair an extra washing by using a mixture of water and crushed
soap-root. The white fibers of the soap-root get mixed with the
hair, which gives it a tinge of iron gray. The children also get
a bath which, because of the great scarcity of water, is not of
daily occurrence.
To the Moquis the snake dance is a serious and solemn affair, but
to the visitors it is apt to be an occasion for fun and frolic.
Owing to a misunderstanding of its true meaning, and because of
misconduct in the past on similar occasions, notice is posted on
the Kiva asking visitors to abstain from loud laughing and
talking. In other words it is a polite request made by the rude
red man of his polished (?) white brother to please behave
himself.
The dance begins late in the afternoon and lasts less than one
hour, but while it is in progress the action is intense. The
snakes are carried in a bag or jar from the Kiva to the Kisa,
built of cotton-wood boughs on one side of the plaza, where the
snakes are banded out to the dancers. After much marching and
countermarching about the plaza, chanting weird songs and shaking
rattles, the column of snake priests, dressed in a fantastic garb
of paint, fur and feathers, halts in front of the Kisa and breaks
up into groups of three.
