604 



SM0LKAMISH SNAKE DANCE 



Ib. a. e. 



the smoke to the world-quarters and 

 over the altar as a preliminary to his in- 

 vocation. In religious ceremonies in 

 general the priest usually blows the 

 smoke over the altar to the world-quar- 

 ters. In tlie councils of some tribes the 

 pipe was handed to the head chief by 

 the official pipe keeper; after lighting 

 it he handed it on, and it was passed 

 around in the council house, usually 

 from left to right, until each one had 

 smoked and thus fitted himself for seri- 

 ous deliberation. Among some tribes 

 the pipe, in being passed from one indi- 

 vidual to another during a ceremony, is 

 differently grasped and held, according 

 to the nature of the ceremony or to 

 the taboo obligation of the individual. 

 Among other tribes the decoration of 

 pipes, and especially of the pipe stems, 

 has great ceremonial and ethnic signifi- 

 cance; even the attachment holding the 

 pipe .to the stem is fixed with special 

 care, and the early death of an indi- 

 vidual, or other calamity, it was be- 

 lieved, would ensue were the pipe dropped 

 from the stem during a ceremony. Every 

 individual engaging in war, hunting, 

 fishing, or husbandry, and every clan 

 and phratry made supplication to the 

 gods by means of smoke, which was be- 

 lieved to bring good and to arrest evil, to 

 give protection from enemies, to bring 

 game or fish, allay storms, and protect 

 one while journeying. 



Smoking was early introduced from 

 America into Europe and spread to the 

 most distant parts of the world with 

 astonishing rapidity until it encircled 

 the globe, returning to America by way 

 of Asia. It should be said, however, that 

 the act of inhaling and exhaling smoke 

 through a tube for medicinal purposes 

 was certainly known to the ancients in 

 Europe and Asia from a time antedating 

 the Christian era. The fear that smoking 

 would cause degeneration of the race or 

 affect injuriously the revenues of the gov- 

 ernment caused stringent edicts to be 

 passed against the use of tobacco, the vio- 

 lation of which was punished sometimes 

 with death. 



See Pipes, Tobacco, and the authorities 

 thereunder cited. (j. d. m.) 



Smulkamish. A small band of Salish 

 formerly on upper White r., Wash., as- 

 sociated with the Skopamish; afterward 

 on Muckleshoot res. Pop. about 183 in 

 1870, butno longer separately enumerated. 



S'Balahco.— Gosnell in Ind. Aff. Rep., 338, 1857. 

 Smalh.— Ross, ibid., 1869, 135, 1870. Smalh-kah- 

 mish.— Treaty of 1855 in U. S. Ind. Treaties, 378, 

 1873. Smel-ka-mish.— Stevens in Ind. Aff. Rep., 

 458, 1864. Smulcoe.— Gosnell, ibid., 244, 1855. 

 Smul-ka-mish.— Gibbs in Pac. R. R. Rep., I, 436, 

 1855. Sobal-ruck.— Ross in Ind. Aff. Rep., 17, 

 1870(probablvidentical). White River Indians.— 

 Gosnell in Ind. Aff. Rep., 338, 1857. 



Smnttuns. Said to be a division of Sa- 



lish contiguous to the Nooksak, near the 

 N. w. boundary of Washington. — Fitzhugh 

 in Ind. Aff. Rep. 1857, 328, 1858. 



Smutty Bear. A head-man of the Yank- 

 ton Sioux, who first appears as a signer 

 of the treaty of Portage des Sioux in 1815. 

 He signed also the trade and intercourse 

 treaty at Ft Kiowa in 1825, and the 

 treaty relinquishing title to the Yankton 

 lands in 1858. Soon after, however, he 

 led a strong faction of his tribe in hostil- 

 ity to the treaty, but was out-maneu- 

 vered by his contemporary chief, Struck- 

 by-the-Ree. After the removal of the 

 tribe to their reservation near Ft Ran- 

 dall, S. Dak., in 1859, Smutty Bear, then 

 very old, lost his influence and soon 

 died. (d. r. ) 



Snakaim. An unidentified body of 

 Ntlakyapamuk on or near Eraser r., Brit. 

 Col. Pop. 40 in 1901, the last time the 

 name appears. 



S-na-ha-em.— Can. Ind. Aff. 1885, 196, 1886. Sna- 

 haim.— Ibid. 1886, 230, 18s7. Snahain.— Ibid. 1897, 

 363, 1898. Snakaim.— Ibid., pt. Ii, 166, 1901. 



Snake dance. A noteworthy ceremony 

 of the Hopi Indians of Arizona, in which 

 live snakes are carried. It is held every 

 2 years, alternating with the Flute cere- 

 mony, in the Hopi pueblos of Walpi, 

 Mishongnovi, Shipaulovi, Shumopovi, 

 and Oraibi, by the Snake and Antelope 

 fraternities conjointly about Aug. 20. 

 Each fraternity meets in separate under- 

 ground kivas, and each holds a public 

 "dance" at the conclusion of certain 

 secret rites conducted during the pre- 

 ceding 8 days. The striking features of 

 the complicated secret rite are the gath- 

 ering of snakes from the world-quarters, 

 the making of the sand altar, the snake 

 washing, the snake drama, and the races 

 which occur on the mornings of the days 

 of the public "dance" of the Snake fra- 

 ternity. In the afternoon the Antelope 

 celebrants file from their kiva, painted 

 and attired in the traditional costume 

 consisting of headdress, necklace, bando- 

 lier, armlets, kilt, anklets, moccasins, and 

 a tortoise-shell rattle bound to the knee, 

 and march to the plaza, about which 

 they circle four times, each man stamp- 

 ing on a small board set in the ground in 

 notification to the beings of the under- 

 world that a ceremony is going on. They 

 then form in line on each side of a small 

 shelter of cottonwood boughs, called a 

 kisi, erected at the margin of the plaza, 

 and sound their rattles. The Snake 

 priests follow in the same order and 

 form in line, facing the Antelope priests. 

 A low chant begins, gradually intensify- 

 ing in volume; the lines sway in undu- 

 lating curves, the motion increases with 

 the chant until the movement culminates 

 in a dance-like restrained leap. The 

 snake dancers at once form in groups of 

 three and dance with a hopping step un- 



