THE MUSEUM 



A Monthly Mag^azine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



■Vol. hi. 



ALBION, N. Y., JUNE 15, 189; 



No. 8 



A Description of the Snake Dance 

 of the MoQuis. 



Having spent four years in north- 

 western New Mexico and Arizona, 

 where much of my labor was devoted 

 to a study of the various tribes of In- 

 dians of the Southwest, especially the 

 Navajos, the Pueblos of Zuni, and 



•others,, and the Apaches, possibly 

 the readers of the Museum would like 

 to learn of the above dance. On the 

 17th of August, 1889, the Navajos 

 held their annual Snake Dance at 

 Wolapai, and my friend, Mr. B. got 



•down there with his camera, and suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining two excellent pho- 

 tographs of the ceremonies. 



Wolapai, or Hualpi, as it is some- 

 times written, is the best known pueb- 

 lo in the group of Moqui villages in 

 Arizona. Through the writings of 

 Gushing and others, Zuni, of course, 

 is more familiar to the public, but that 

 pueblo is in New Mexico, and they 

 have long given up having the Snake 

 Dance there. Wolapai is situated at 

 the extreme end of a rocky mesa, 600 

 feet above the level of the surround- 

 ing plain, and is the home of a bare 

 remnant of a nation which at one 

 time, before they quit the valleys, 

 must have been quite numerous and 

 powerful. Ethnologists never tire of 

 studying those curious and most inter- 

 esting people. Their ceremonies, 

 their religion and myths, their arts and 

 manufactures, their customs, habits 



-and dress, indeed everything about 

 them, are brimful of interest for the 

 student. 



In my estimation the best book that 



.has appeared, giving an account of 



this whole matter, is one entitled 'J'he 

 Moqiiis of Arizona, and was written 

 by Captain John G. Bourke, of the 

 Third U. S. Cavalry, and I believe its 

 anthor has seen parts of the Snake 

 Dance, never witnessed by anyone 

 save a Moqui dancer, either before or 

 since. Those interested in such sub- 

 jects should certainly read the work. 

 These dances take place in August at 

 the time of the full moon, and Wola-- 

 pai is the best pueblo at which one of 

 them may be seen. The snakes 

 which are to figure on the occasion 

 are caught by the young men about a 

 week in advance of the dance, and are 

 kept up to the proper time in jars in 

 one of their underground houses or 

 "estufas" as they are called. At least 

 a dozen species of snakes are used, but 

 the "rattlers" predominate. It is in 

 one or more of these estufas that all 

 the preparatory steps are taken to pre- 

 pare for the dance; it is there that the 

 men arrange and paint their peculiar 

 costumes for the occasion. The head 

 medicine man alone possessed of the 

 secret, prepares the drugs for the cure 

 of snake bite, and it is believed, semi- 

 narcotizes the snakes to be used, by 

 the use of another fluid, but the fangs 

 are never taken out of the rattle- 

 snakes. Praj'ers are also offered in 

 the estufa, and all these preliminary 

 proceedings are secret and are entered 

 into only by the men that are to take 

 part in the dance. The women who 

 afterwards engage in the ceremony 

 outside the estufa are both matrons 

 and young maidens, and rigged out _ in 

 their most gorgeous costumes, but 

 quite in conformity with the requir- 

 ments. It is their duty to sprinkle the 



