Page:The Moki snake dance.djvu/20

 coiling. Then, too, the snakes may have been somewhat subjugated by their bewildering treatment, since they were dragged from their haunts by naked men armed with hoes and sticks, thrust with other snakes into a bag and brought to the kivas, and afterward washed and uncivilly flung about. The Snake dance is exciting enough, but the two or three men who have witnessed the sinister rites called "snake washing" in the dark kiva tell a story which makes the blood curdle. Doctor Fewkes relates this experience as follows: "The Snake priests, who stood by the snake jars which were in the east corner of the room, began to take out the reptiles, and stood holding several of them in their hands behind Su-pe-la, so that my attention was distracted by them.Su-pe-la then prayed, and after a short interval two rattlesnakes were handed him, after which other venomous snakes were passed to the others, and each of the six priests who sat around the bowl held two rattlesnakes by the necks with their heads elevated above the bowl. A low noise from the rattles of the priests,