for the fact that the snakes are not in any way robbed of their power to implant their poisonous fangs into the flesh of the dancers.  It even appears as though the greater the number of bites, the more delighted are the participants, who hold the reptiles in the most careless manner and allow them to strike where they will, and to plant their horrible fangs into the most vulnerable parts with impunity.  When the dance is over, the snakes are taken back to the woods and given their liberty, the superstition prevailing that for the space of one year the reptiles will protect the tribe from all ill or suffering.

The main interest attached to this dance is the secret of why it is the dancers do not die promptly.  No one doubts the power of the rattlesnake to kill.  Liberal potations of whisky are supposed by some people to serve as an antidote, while Mexicans and some tribes of Indians claim to have knowledge of a herb which will also prolong the life of a man stung by a snake and apparently doomed to an early death.  Tradition tells us that for the purposes of this dance, a special antidote has been handed down from year to year, and from generation to generation, by the priests of the Moquis.  It is stated that one of the patriarchs of old had the secret imparted to him under pledges and threats of inviolable secrecy.  By him it has been perpetuated with great care, being always known to three persons, the high priest of the tribe, his vice-regent and proclaimed successor, and the oldest woman among them.  On the death of any one of the three trustees of the secret, the number is made up in the manner ordered by the rites of the tribal religion, and to reveal the secret in any other way is to invite a sudden and an awful death.

During the three days spent by the dancers in hunting snakes, it is stated that the secret decoction is freely administered to them, and that in consequence they handle the reptiles with perfect confidence.  When they are bitten there is a slight irritation but nothing worse.  On the other hand, there is often a heavy loss of life during the year from snake bites, for the sacred antidote is only used on the stated occasion for which it was, so the legend runs, specially prepared or its nature revealed.

The people living within almost sight of the Grand Canon vary as much in habits and physique as does the scenery and general contour of the canon vary in appearance.  The Cliff Dwellers and the Pueblos do not as a rule impress the stranger with their physical development, nor are they on the average exceptionally tall or heavy.  There are, however, small tribes in which physical development has been, and still is, a great feature.  Unlike the Pueblos, these larger men wear little clothing, so that their muscular development and the size of their limbs are more conspicuous.  Naturally skilled hunters, these powerful members of the human race climb up and down the most dangerous precipices, and lead an almost ideal life in the most inaccessible of spots.