Miscellaneous Papers. 247 



board-like piece of wood about fifteen inches long and eight inches 

 wide. One end of it was carved out, in arch shape, so as to fit the 

 head transversely just in front of the ears. The other end was 

 trimmed in what resembled a triple turret, squarely notched. This 

 head-piece was painted green and decorated in symbolic figures in 

 red and yellow. White feathers fluttered from each of the three 

 turret-like projections. This peculiar head-gear was held in place 

 by strips of buckskin attached at the center of the hollowed-out 

 arch and knotted about meshes of the dark, streaming hair, and 

 also by a cord passing beneath the chin from the ends of the board 

 at the foot of the arch. 



Just as these dancers had formed in column for dancing, atten- 

 tion was suddenly attracted toward the passageway of the estufa, 

 whence were issuing a dozen or more strange-looking beings. They 

 were the "funny men."' They did not walk into the plaza, neither 

 did they dance into it, but rather tumbled into it, running, hop- 

 ping, stumbling, cutting capers, like a troupe of ill-trained clowns. 

 In fact, in their clumsy way, they imitated or acted out almost 

 every silly performance known to the clown profession. And the 

 lookers-on enjoyed their tricks and pranks immensely, to use the 

 common phrase; they hailed the clumsy attempts at a joke and 

 the coarse sallies of wit with shrieks of laughter. These "funny 

 men" were attired only in breech-cloth; their bodies were daubed 

 in transverse rings or bands of black and white ; and their heads 

 were decorated with corn husks instead of feathers. They were, 

 indeed, "funny men" in appearance as well as in action. 



While the clowns was thus performing, the column dancers 

 moved about the whole plaza in a forward movement, the men 

 gravely stamping, the women gracefully tripping. When the en- 

 tire plaza was completed in this processional dance, the "couples" 

 separated and changed places, all turning and facing each other, 

 suggesting by their movements the flexures of a closely folded rib- 

 bon. The "couples" then reformed, the double rank strung out as 

 before, tramping in a wide circle to the rhythm and measure of the 

 monotonous music. The faces were now reversed, and they danced 

 in double column back to the starting-point. A rest was then 

 taken. 



The very moment that the dancing ceased, the "funny men," 

 who had been resting for a few minutes, resumed their performing 

 with increased vigor. One funny man climbed a tree backwards. 

 Another snatched a millstone and slab from the grinding box in a 

 house and, rushing to the plaza, commenced grinding sand upon 



