THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
H. E. WADSWORTH, Superintendent
VOLUME 16
DECEMBER, 1913
NUMBER 3
THE HOPI SNAKE DANCE
R E M A R K A B L E A R T IC L E B Y T H E O D O R E R O O S E V E L T
iThe following interesting article was written for T he O utlook and appeared in the number of
that magazine published on October 18. 1913. By special permission of the publishers we are allowed
to publish it. a courtesy for which we are very grateful. It relates to Col. Roosevelt’s visit in Arizona
last Summer.—Ed.]
I)II) not happen to run across any Mormons at the
Snake Dance; but it seemed to me that almost every
other class of Americans was represented—tourists,
traders, cattlemen, farmers, Government officials,
politicians, cowboys, scientists, philanthropists, all
kinds of men and women. We were especially glad
to meet the Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
Mr. Abbot, one of the most useful public servants in Uncle Sam’s em
ploy. Mr. Hubbell, whose courtesy towards us was unwearied, met
us; and we owed our confortable quarters to the kindness of the Indian
Agent, Mr. Crane, and of Mr. Drummond, his assistant; and Mr. and
Mrs. Drummond were most hospitable. As I rode in I was accosted by
Miss Natalie Curtis, who has done so very much to give to Indian cul
ture its proper position. Miss Curtis’ purpose has been to preserve and
perpetuate all the culture development to which the Indian has already
attained—in art, music, poetry, or manufacture—and, moreover, to en
deavor to secure the further development and adaption of this Indian
culture so as to make it, what it can undoubtedly be made, an import
ant constituent element in our National cultural development.
Among the others at the snake dance was Geoffrey O’Hara, whom
Secretary of the Interior Lane has so wisely appointed Instructor of
Native Indian Music. Mr. O’Hara’s purpose is to perpetuate and de
velop the wealth of Indian music and poetry—and ultimately the rhyth
mical dancing that goes with the music and poetry. The Indian chil
dren already know most of the poetry, with its peculiarly baffling
rhythm. Mr. O’Hara wishes to appoint special Indian instructors of
this music, carefully chosen, in the schools; as he said, “ If the Navajo
can bring with him into civilization the ability to preserve his striking