358 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. III. 



it up, which they very emphatically refused to do, saying that if they 

 touched a snake while they (the Snake Fraternity) were not "assem- 

 bled" they were just as liable to be bitten as any other person. On 

 one occasion I requested an Antelope priest to pick up a rattler, which 

 he very positively refused. I then struck the snake a blow, picked it 

 up, and followed my friend with it. He kept at a respectful distance 

 and when I began to run after him and to throw the reptile after him, 

 he dashed away and screamed, evidently in genuine fear, crawled 

 through under a wire fence, and ran away as fast as his legs would 

 carry him, for fear of being influenced by the pernicious charm of the 

 snake. 



whenever they have time to do so; or they will try to escape rather than to fight where they have their 

 choice, and even when coiled up and cornered they will be slow to strilce the fatal blow. I have 

 repeatedly provoked a rattlesnake, caused him to coil up, touched him with some object, and have 

 been astonished how slow he is to strike. Of course, these facts notwithstanding, it would not be safe 

 to trust him too far. When I was in charge of an Indian boarding school in Oklahoma a little boy, 

 while playing with others, ran towards a haystack, stooped down to pick up a corncob, was struck by 

 a rattler, and died after fourteen hours. It was late in the fall, and the Indians there claimed that the 

 vision of the snakes was getting to be dim at that time of the year, and hence they would strike more 

 readily than if they could see well. 



P. S. It has been mentioned in this paper (see page 310) that thus far nq songs of the Snake Cere- 

 mony had been obtained. But since that was written the author has succeeded to obtain for the Mu- 

 seum, by the use of a phonograph, many Hopi songs, and among them several Snake songs, prayers, 

 etc., which will in all probability be published in connection with other songs. The Author. < 



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