THE HOPI SNAKE-DANCE 93 



sidewinder, half coiled or rattled when thrown 

 down; and in picking these up much caution 

 was shown, the Indian stroking the snake with 

 his eagle feathers and trying to soothe it and 

 get it to straighten out; and if it refused to be 

 soothed, he did his best to grasp it just back of 

 the head; and when he had it in his hand, he 

 continued to stroke the body with the feathers, 

 obviously to quiet it. But whether it were 

 angry or not, he always in the end grasped and 

 lifted it — besides keeping it from crawling 

 among the spectators. Several times I saw the 

 snakes strike at the men who were carrying 

 them, and twdce I was sure they struck home — 

 once a man's wrist, once his finger. Neither 

 man paid any attention or seemed to suffer in 

 any way. I saw^ no man struck in the face; 

 but several of my friends had at previous dances 

 seen men so struck. In one case the man soon 

 show^ed that he was in much pain, although he 

 continued to dance, and he was badly sick for 

 days; in the other cases no bad result what- 

 ever followed. 



At last all the snakes were in the hands of 

 the dancers. Then all were thrown at the foot 

 of the natural stone pillar, and immediately, 

 with a yell, the dancers leaped in, seized, each 

 of them, several snakes, and rushed away, east, 



