A JEMEZ DANCE. 335 



New Mexico The dance is called Ko-petule-tabla. According to Hosta, 

 an ex-governor of the tribe, whom Lieutenant Simpson mentions in his 

 book, Ko-petule'-tabki means the Dance of the Firs. 



The Dance of the Firs resembles very much that of the Cachina, at 

 least as far as the costumes are concerned, which are almost identical with 

 that of the male dancers of the Cachina, with the exception of the addition 

 of a peculiar head dress called tabid. This consists of a thin board, the 

 upper end of which is of pyramidal form, and the lower end is cut so as to 

 admit the head. A band passes over the forehead, and to this a kind of 

 coronet of feathers is attached. The board is painted white, and is orna- 

 mented with symbolic and cabalistic designs, such as lightning-sparks, 

 stars, and half-moons. 



The female character is not represented, but instead a comic element 

 is introduced by the presence of clowns or jesters, called tab-oe, or misery, 

 as it was translated. These clowns do not really participate in the solemn 

 dance, but imitate the same in a grotesque manner on one of the flat roofs 

 in the neighborhood. They are dressed in similar fashion with the dancers, 

 but instead of fine blankets they wear dirty rags, and have garlands of 

 straw and sunflowers instead of fir and hemlock ; their bodies are painted 

 white with black stripes, outlining the ribs and the bones of the arms and 

 legs, thus presenting from a distance almost the appearance of dancing 

 skeletons. 



The words of the song are, like those of the Cachina, in the Moqui 

 dialect; the dialogue of the clowns in that of Silla. 



The musical instruments are drums, gourds partly filled with pebbles, 

 and notched sticks drawn across each other. The movement is somewhat 

 different, beginning in the middle of the line and spreading towards both 

 ends, with an occasional face about. This dance is performed thrice a day, 

 at sunrise, noon, and at sunset, and is a kind of thanksgiving celebration. 

 At the conclusion of the performance the jesters go from house to house 

 and are liberally rewarded by donations of fruit and all kinds of provisions. 



At the same pueblo of Jemez, I observed a peculiar custom or game, 

 which I was told was always observed on the eve of the feast of San Juan. 

 The young unmarried men of the pueblo parade the streets before dusk in 



