130 THE WA-WAC-KA-TCl-NA : 



is a modified dance it has certainly degenerated into a 

 ludicrous performance.^ 



I have witnessed the same or a similar thing at the vil- 

 lage of Ci-pau-o-vi during the dance of the Md-lo-kd-tci-nd, 

 the only difference being that instead of the Pai-d-kya- 

 milh, the Td-tcuk-ti were the sufferers. There were at that 

 village several persons taking part, who wore Navajo or 

 Apache masks. They carried ancient leather shields or- 

 namented with crosses and other figures of a symbolic 

 significance. In the same celebration a person appeared 

 wearing the Owl Kd-tci-nd mask. 1 have likewise seen 

 Md-sau-wtlhy the death god, personified in the Wd-wac, a 

 hideous personage wearing about his loins tor a belt the 

 intestines of a dog recently killed, the face and body 

 smeared with fresh blood. 



One is tempted to regard these antics of the clowns and 

 the Navajos and Apaches as burlesques of races introduced 

 during the solemn dances, but if such is the explanation this 

 portion of the dances is highly modified and come to be 

 regarded as an opportunity to introduce local allusions 

 and modifications which cannot be regarded in the same 

 light as the dances themselves. Consequently, the events 

 which occur at that time, in which the clowns participate, 

 should not be reaarded as necessarily related to the his- 

 toric ceremonies.'^ 



Much is left to individual invention of the clowns to 

 render their part more striking and it is not rare to see 



iln most instances the stories told by the gluttons for the amusement of the 

 spectators were obscene but not always so. On one occasion one of the younger 

 gluttons when fo\ced to tell a story recounted the improvements which the people 

 were making in late years, a suggestive ray of light on the otherwise sombre back- 

 ground of primitive savagery. 



'Ifhas been suggested tliat the introduction, for instance, at this time, of a colored 

 soldier is of ancient date, but it is undoiU)iedly not older than the employment of 

 negro soldiers in tlie army of the United States. 



