86 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



much as the women and elder girls greeted the 

 men. Then came the corn-scramble, or mock- 

 fight over the corn; and then in each house a 

 feast was set, especially for the children. 



At noon, thanks to Mr. Hubbell, and to the 

 fact that I was an ex-President, we were ad- 

 mitted to the sacred kiva — the one-roomed 

 temple-house which I had already visited — 

 while the snake priests performed the cere- 

 mony of washing the snakes. Very few white 

 men have ever seen this ceremony. The sight 

 was the most interesting of our entire trip. 



There were twenty Indians in the kiva, all 

 stripped to their breech-clouts; only about ten 

 actually took part in handling the snakes, or 

 in any of the ceremonies except the rhythmic 

 chant, in w^hich all joined. Eighty or a hun- 

 dred snakes, half of them rattlers, the others 

 bull-snakes or ribbon-snakes, lay singly or in 

 tangled groups against the wall at the raised end 

 of the room. They were quiet and in no way 

 nervous or excited. Two men stood at this end 

 of the room. Two more stood at the other end, 

 where the altar was; there was some sand about 

 the altar, and the eagle feathers we had pre- 

 viously seen there had been removed, but the 

 upright thunder-sticks remained. The other 

 Indians were squatted in the middle of the room. 



