HOPI SNAKE DANCE — STIRLING 553 



6. They are covered with an invulnerable preparation, as, for Instance, a thick 

 paint. 



7. They are so healthy from outdoor life that rattlesnake bite does not afCect 

 them. 



8. They have an immunity resulting from a long fast prior to the dance. 



9. They build up an immunity by increasing doses of venom, as is done with 

 horses in the preparation of antivenin. 



10. They have a mysterious hypnotic power over the snakes, akin to that said 

 to be possessed by the snake charmers of India. 



11. They are fearless of snakes, which, therefore, are without power to bite 

 them. 



12. They are protected by the religious exaltation of the ritual. 



13. They are actually bitten with serious results, of which outsiders are kept 

 in ignorance. 



C CONDITIONS AFFECTING THE RATTLESNAKES 



1. The snakes' fangs, venom glands, or both have been removed. 



2. Their mouths have been sewed closed. 



3. They have expended their venom on harmless snakes or other objects in thi» 

 kiva. 



4. They have been milked of their venom in the kiva. 



5. They are tame snakes used repeatedly in successive years. 



6. They have been lately tamed by handling. 



7. They are doped or hypnotized. 



8. They are starved into submission. 



9. They are blinded by the sacred meal, or paralyzed by the tobacco fumes 

 from the ceremonial smokes in the kiva. 



10. August is the blind season for rattlers ; they cannot see to strike. 



11. They are invariably held in such a way that they cannot bite. 



12. The eagle feather snake-wands prevent their biting. 



13. They cannot strike because they are not permitted to coil. 



14. Rattlers are relatively innocuous anyway. 



Most of these theories obviously do not hold; others, deserving of 

 consideration, can be proved false. That venomous snakes are actually 

 danced with is, of course, amply demonstrated. It is also true that a 

 portion of the ceremony involves the taking of an internal "medicine." 

 This, however, is "magical" in nature and not concerned with the 

 matter of snake bites. After being bitten in the dance, the Hopi also 

 take an "antidote" prepared from herbs, as do almost all Indians when 

 bitten by snakes. This "antidote" has been subjected to careful scien- 

 tific tests, however, and found to be completely ineflfective (Coleman, 

 1928). The Indians, of course, do not claim this medicine to have a 

 physiological effect, but regard it as a protective charm, since their 

 ideas of the cause of the disagreeable results of snake bite are quite dif- 

 ferent from ours (Mindeleff, 1886a). The emetic taken by the Hopi 

 after the dance for purposes of purification also quite obviously could 

 have no effect on a poison which affects the blood stream. 



The fact that the snakes have been kept captive for several days pre- 

 ceding the Snake Dance, during which time they are handled, un- 



