346 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. III. 



When the singing ceases, the Snakes arrange themselves in pairs. 

 One thrusts his snake whip behind his sash in front, the other lays 

 his left hand on the left shoulder of the former and begins to stroke 

 his back with the snake whip. (See PI. 203.) Both then move with 

 a slow, dancing step towards the booth, where the first man kneels 

 down and is given a snake by a man inside the booth, who may be any 

 one of the participants.^ This snake he places between his teeth, 

 grasping its body with both hands; both move slowly around in a 

 sinistral circuit, the holder of the snake moving it and also stepping 

 to the time of the singing. (See Pis. 204, 205, 206, and 207.) In 

 Oraibi the men usually take a hold of the snake close to its head, 

 while in other villages this is not the case. In fact, the handling of 

 the snakes in the public performance is much more reckless in the 

 other villages^ than in Oraibi, and I have heard men from other vil- 

 lages remark on and laugh at the careful handling of the snakes by 

 the Oraibi Snake priest, saying that they do not consider it difficult to 

 perform the Snake dance in such a manner. The Oraibis, however, 

 place to their credit the fact that they have no one watching the head 

 of the snake as is the case in the other villages. 



Every dancer drops (see PI. 208) his snake after a few minutes 

 and gets another one, the snakes thus dropped being picked up by 

 another set of men, the snake gatherers, who throw a pinch of meal 

 towards the snake that they wish to pick up, just as the dancers do. 

 (See PI. 209.) Some of the snakes are dropped towards the north, 

 others towards the west, others towards the south and east of the 

 dancing circle. 



I have been told by a Snake priest that they are not allowed to 

 expectorate during the whole performance outside of the kiva, but 

 have to swallow any sputa that may collect in their mouths, even while 

 holding the snakes. They say if any one should step on their sputa 

 or in any way whatever come in contact with it, he would be affected 

 by the peculiar snake charm; i.e., some part of his body would swell 

 up and if not discharmed, burst. 



While the Snake dance is in progress, the sprinkler asperges the 

 dancers from the medicine bowl at short intervals. The other Ante- 



' I was told by one of the Snake men that formerly the snakes were kept in a large pot instead 

 of a sack, and that no one handed the snakes out. He stated that when they then lilted the lid to get 

 a snake they would sometimes have great difficulty in keeping other snakes from getting out of the 

 vessel. On one occasion he had to call for assistance, as he could not control the snakes and get the 

 lid on. 



' I have there seen dancers hold two, three, and on one occasion even four, snakes at one time 

 between the teeth, the reptiles intertwining into a ball as it were in front of the dancer's mouth. On 

 one occasion I saw a snake that was held about midway of its length trying to get into the ears and 

 nose of the dancer; several times I noticed a man having stuffed a small snake into his mouth entirely, 

 the head of the reptile only protruding from between his lips. 



