248 Field Columbian Museum — Anthrotolociv, Vol. Ill, 



them, using them as playthings, paying no more attention to tlie 

 rattlesnakes than to the smallest harmless whip-snake, forming a sight 

 never to be forgotten. It must be admitted, however, that owing to 

 the absolute abandon and recklessness used by the boys in handling 

 these snakes, all of one's preconceived notions of the dangerousness 

 of the rattlesnake entirely disappeared. Occasionally, one of the 

 snakes, being tossed to a distance of four or five feet, would appar- 

 ently resent the insult, but before the snake had had sufficient time to 

 coil it would be straightened out by one of the other boys or tossed 

 back to its original position, and so the sport (for it was nothing less 

 to these boys) continued, as has been stated, for more than two hours. 



At about five o'clock in the afternoon the Snake priests began 

 preparations, as on the day before, for the public performance in the 

 plaza, which on this day is known as the Snake dance. With the 

 soot from the bottom of an old cooking vessel, the priests blackened 

 their bodies, not uniformly, however, over the entire surface, with a 

 deep black. The face was also painted black, with a pink spot on the 

 forehead, while the surface under the chin was painted white. On 

 the outer upper and lower arms, the shoulders, the back of the 

 shoulders, the center of the back, over the navel and on each side of the 

 breast, was now daubed a large, pinkish-colored spot. The legs above 

 the knees were painted black, while a pink spot was now placed on 

 the outside of the leg just above the knee. Over that portion of the 

 face which had been blackened was rubbed specular iron. The cos- 

 tume of the Snake priests consisted of the tcuvitkuna (snake kilt), the 

 totoriki (bandoleer), hurunkiva (a hollow stick with different kinds of 

 feathers attached to it), the nakwa it a (a bunch of owl feathers and a 

 bunch of eagle breath feathers, to the tips of which are tied bluebird 

 feathers), the mas/if/iiaia (arm bands, made of the bark of a cotton- 

 wood root and worn on the upper arms), a sikahtay pukaat (fox-skin), 

 suspended behind from the belt, a wokoktva7va ("big belt"), which is 

 a fringed buckskin sash and a pair of red moccasins with fringed 

 ankle bands. It should be remarked, however, that in a few 

 instances the one or the other of these objects was missing. Each 

 dancer also had a ngumanmomokpti (meal bag) and a tcmvo-a'alipi 

 (snake whip), and some had wrist-bands of various kinds. Lomanak- 

 shu had already removed the snakes in two bags to the kisi and now 

 brought in from the Antelope kiva the black chochopkis. 



The Antelope priests had in the meantime also been preparing for 

 the dance. Inasmuch as there was considerable variation in the cos- 

 tumes of the Antelope priests, the following table has been prepared 

 which shows at a-glance the variations among the individual members. 

 Numbers refer to the numbered list of participants: 



