FEWKES] PARTICIPANTS IN WALPI SNAKE DANCE 979 
in that respect could be elicited; he declared that no one had been 
bitten during the exhibition. One of the writer’s party says that he 
saw one of the Snake priests with a small frog in his mouth, which 
is apropos of a statement by a responsible Indian that in former times 
other animals than snakes were carried by the priests in their mouths. 
Subsequent interrogations of the chief failed to make known the man 
who carried the frog in the way indicated. | 
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS 
An enumeration of the participants in the last four performances of 
the Walpi Snake dance shows that the number is gradually increasing. 
The Snake society has become a very popular one, possibly on account 
of the increase in the number of visitors. Several young men of 
Walpi wish to join, and a man at the Middle Mesa declared that while 
he did not care to become a member of the Snake society of his own 
pueblo he would much like to be enrolled among the followers of 
Kopeli. The gradual increase in the number of participants certainly 
does not show a decline in the popularity of the Snake dance, or that 
it is likely soon to be abandoned. The religious element, in which the 
ethnologist has the greatest interest, will be the first to disappear. 
In all the Tusayan pueblos, save Walpi, the number of Antelope 
priests is about the same as that of Snake priests; but at Walpi there 
are over twice as many Snake as Antelope priests. It is eyident that 
this predominance is due to the popularity of the society (since the 
clan is no larger in Walpi than in the other pueblos), and may be 
traced directly to the influx of visitors to witness the spectacular 
performance; but while the number of Antelope priests at Walpi 
has diminished, that of the Snake priests has steadily increased.’ 
WomrEN MEMBERS OF THE SNAKE SOCIETY 
The women members of the Snake society are so numerous that 
Kopeli did not pretend to count them or to be able to mention their 
names. They never take part in the public Snake dance, except by 
sprinkling meal on the participants, but join the society and offer their 
children for initiation as a protection against rattlesnake bites and for 
the additional benefit of the invocations in the kiva performances. 
There are also women members of the Antelope society, but they are 
not so numerous as in the Snake society. These women belong to 
several clans, and the membership of women in both societies is a sur- 
vival of ancient times when all members (females as well as males) of 
the Horn and Snake clans were members of the Antelope and Snake 
societies. 

omitted to note the number of novices in 1893, 1895, and 1897, but counted 50 Snake priests in 1897. 
