94 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



west, north, and south, dashing over the edge 

 of the chff and jumping hke goats down the 

 precipitous trails. At the foot of the chff, or 

 on the plain, they dropped the snakes, and then 

 returned to purify themselves by drinking and 

 washing from pails of dark sacred water — 

 medicine water — brought by the women. It 

 was a strange and most interesting ceremony 

 all through. 



I do not think any adequate explanation of 

 the immunity of the dancers has been ad- 

 vanced. Perhaps there are several explana- 

 tions. These desert rattlesnakes are not nearly 

 as poisonous as the huge diamond-backs of 

 Florida and Texas; their poison is rarely fatal. 

 The dancers are sometimes bitten; usually 

 they show no effects, but, as above said, in one 

 instance the bitten man was very sick for 

 several days. It has been said that the fangs 

 are extracted; but even in this case the poison 

 would be loose in the snake's mouth and might 

 get in the skin through the wounds made by 

 the other teeth; and I noticed that when any 

 snake, usually a small sidewinder, showed anger 

 and either rattled or coiled, much caution was 

 shown in handling it, and every effort made to 

 avoid being bitten. It is also asserted that the 

 snakes show the quiet and placid indifference 



