The Chemawa American, January 01, 1914, Page 8, Image 8

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THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
done in tran q u il, m atter-of-fact fashion, and the snakes behaxed w ith
equally tran q u il unconcern. All was quiet save for th e ch an tin g .
lh e
snakes were handed to two of th e m en sq u attin g round the bowl, who
received them as if they had been harm less, holding them by the m iddle
of th e body, or at least well aw ay from the head. T h is was repeated
u n til half a dozen of th e sq u attin g priests held each three or four poison­
ous serpents in his hands. T h e ch an tin g continued, in strongly accented
but m onotonous rh y th m , w hile the rattles were shaken and the snakes
moved up and dow n, or shaken, in unison w ith it. Then suddenly the
chant quickened and rose to a scream , and the snakes w ere all plunged in ­
to the great bowl of w ater, a w rith in g tangle of snakes and hands. Im ­
m ediately afterw ards they were w ith d raw n , as suddenly as they had been
plunged in, and were h urled to the floor, on and around the altar. T hey
were hurled from a distance of a dozen feet, w ith sufficient violence to
overturn the erect th u n d er-stick s. T h a t th e snakes should have been
quiet and inoffensive u n d er th e influence of the slow’ m ovem ents and at­
m osphere of calm th a t had h ith e rto obtained was understandable; but
the unexpected violence of the bathing, and th en of the way in w hich
they were hurled to th e floor, together w ith the sudden scream ing in ­
tensity of th e ch an t, o u g h t to have upset the nerves of every snake there.
H ow ever, it did not. T h e snakes woke to an interest in life, it is true,
w rithed them selves free of one an o th er and of th e upset lig h tn in g -sticks,
and began to glide rapidly in every direction.
But only one showed
sym ptom s of anger, and these were not m arked, lh e tw o stan d ing
In d ian s at th is end of the room herded th e snakes w ith their eagle
feathers, gently b ru sh in g and stro k in g them back as they squirm ed
tow ards us, or tow ards the singing, sittin g priests.
T h e process was repeated until all the snakes, venom ous and non-veno-
m ous alike, had been suddenly bathed and then hurled on the floor, fill­
ing th e other end of the room w ith a w riggling, som ew hat excited ser­
p ent population, w hich was actively, b u t not in any way nervously,
shepherded by th e tw o In d ian s stationed for th at purpose. T hese men
were, like th e others, clad only in a breech-clout, but they moved about
am ong the snakes, bare-legged and bare-foot, w ith no to u ch of concern.
O ne or two of the rattlers became vicious under the strain , and coiled
and stru ck . I th o u g h t I saw one of th e two shepherding w atchers
stru ck in the hand by a recalcitrant sidew inder w hich refused to be
soothed by the feathers, and w hich he finally picked up; but, if so, the
m an gave no sign and his placidity rem ained unruffled. Most of the
snakes showed no anger at all; it seemed to me ex trao rd in ary th a t they
w ere not all of them m addened.
W hen th e snakes had all been w ashed, th e leading priest again p ra y ­
ed. A fterw ards he once m ore scattered meal in the bowl, in lines east.