Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/328

* SNAKE-CHARMING. 276 SNAKE-FLY. over snakes to some constitutional peculiarity, and the profession is handed down in a family from one generation to another. It is generally supposed that the poisonous snakes used for the purpose have had their fangs and even the poison glands removed. The assertion that snake- charmers are immune from the poison of such snakes as the cobra or the rattlesnake is not credited by authorities, and the stories told about the effective use fur this purpose by American Indians of certain herbs are not credited by sci- entific observers. See Cobra ; Rattlesnake. Certain feats of the snake-charmer depend upon his knowledge of the nature and peculiari- ties of the reptile. Many species have a liking for music; to the sound of the flute they will rise from the basket and sway the upper part of the body, wliile it rests upon the spiral formed by the lower half. The asp has no ex- ternal ear. and is certainly deaf as to whistling or the sound of the pipe, but the charmer knows that the snake's glance can be attracted to a moving object and will follow the rhythmical movement. Tluis the snake, while seeming to be charmed by the music, or to be ruled by the eye, is in reality swaying to the moving hand of the performer. Exceedingly interesting is the ancient trick of spitting down the snake's mouth, shut- ting it, and then la^'ing the snake on the ground in a cataleptic state, or turning it into a stick. Such a transformation of the asp (najd-haje) into a staff' is possible through its liability to cramps: when the muscles of the neck back of the head are strongly compressed or water is thrown upon them they become rigid. The East- ern snakecliarmer is reputed to have the power of removing serpents from gardens and the vicin- ity of houses by luring them out of their holes by means of magic words and music. SNAKE DANCE. A ceremony of the Hopi (Moki, Moqui ) Indians of northeastern Arizona in which the handling of live rattlesnakes is a striking feature. The ceremony is held every two years, alternating with the flute dance, and in only five of the seven pueblos, at a date near August 20th. The celebrants are the Snake and Antelope fraternities, whose meeting-places are in separate kivas or underground chambers al- lotted to these societies. The public 'dance' is the culmination of nine days' secret rites in the kivas, during which an extremely complicated ritual is carried on, the chief features being the gathering of snakes from the world qiiarters, the snake-washing, and the snake drama. On the morning of the eighth day the Antelope Fra- ternity foot race occurs, and in the afternoon follows the antelope dance, which is a counter- part of the snake dance, except that the priests of the former society take the leading part and instead of snakes a bundle of green cornstalks and vines is carried. The morning of the ninth day is ushered in with the snake drama and race, the runners coming to the jnieblos from a spring some miles distant at sunrise. About five in the evening the costumed and painted dancers file into the plaza, at one side of which a small hut of Cottonwood boughs or kisi has been erected. The dancers march around the plaza several times, each man stamping on a small board sunk in the ground, supposed to cover the entrance to the underworld, and throwing sacred meal upon it. This action is for the purpose of notify- ing the dwellers of the underworld that a cere- mony is going on. The Antelope priests line up on either side of the kisi, which contains the suake-passer and the snakes, and the Snake priests form in line facing them. A low, weird chant begins, growing louder and marked by the rattles in the hands of the Antelope chorus. The lines begin to sway with serpentine movements as the chant increases in volume, the dancers leap forward and back, the Snake priests form in groups of three and dance with a curious hopping step around the plaza, while the Antelope priests remain in line and sing. When the trios come near the kisi the snake-carrier drops on his knees and is handed a snake, which he grasps with his mouth about the middle, and, rising, dances with his two attendants around the plaza three times, when he drops the snake to the ground and secures another. One attendant places one hand upon the shoulder of the car- rier and in the other holds a wand or 'snake whip' of eagle plumes, which he waves in front of the snake. The other attendant, also armed with a feather wand, gathers up the snakes dropped by the carrier and holds them in his hands. A third group of actors in this ceremony are women and girls arrayed in ceremonial costume and carrying plaques of sacred meal. Their office is to sprinkle the dancers with meal as they pass. When all the reptiles have been duly car- ried around the plaza there is a pause while a cloud design in meal is thrown on the ground. Upon this the snakes are thrown and a wild scramble for them ensues, and each priest runs with Ids prizes down the trails and sets them free at the prescribed places. Wlien the priests return they remove their trappings and drink of a powerful emetic for the purpose of purifica- tion. There follows general feasting by the entire pueblo. Several species of snakes are used in the ceremony, though from the nature of the case the rattlesnake preponderates. So far as is known no dancer has died from the bite of a snake in the ceremonies : it is exceedingly rare that they are bitten : the preliminary hand- ling and the careful though seemingly fearless manipulation of the snake is suflicient to pre- vent accident. The ceremony is in efTect a pe- tition to the nature powers to give rain as the fundamental good in the arid region. Consult: Fewkes, Tusni/aii Snaie Ceremonials (Washington, 1897) ; Hough, The MoJH Snake Dnnrr fChicago, 1898). SNAKE-FLY. A neuropterons insect of the family Raphidiida', allied to the hellgramite-flies (Corydalis), and so called on account of the long flexible 'neck.' They occur in Europe, and also on the Pacific Coast of the United States, and spend their life upon trees. They are easily known by the prolonged, neck-like prothorax; and the female has a long curved ovipositor, with which it jilaces its eggs deep in bark crevices. The cruciform larvie are active and voracious, de- veloping in rotten wood and the dust under loose bark, and preying upon other insects and their young. They are assiduous in hunting for food. and kill great numbers of larval codling-moths and other pests of fruit-trees. The larva makes no cocoon, but enters the pupa state beneath the shelter of bark, and begins to move about before it re-transforms to the imago state. Consult Howard, The Insect-Book (New York, 1901).