this field of corn hung a decorated cloth screen reaching from one wall of the room to the other and from the floor almost to the rafters. On this screen were painted many strange devices, among which were pictures of human beings, male and female, and of birds, symbol of rain clouds, lightning, and falling rain. Prominent among the symbols was a row of six circular disks, the borders of which were made of plaited corn husks, while the inclosed field of each was decorated with a symbolic picture of the sun. Men wearing grotesque masks[1] and ceremonial kilts stood on each side of this screen, one dressed as a woman and bearing in one hand a basket tray of meal and in the other an ear of corn. He wore a helmet with a coil of hair suspended on each side of the face, a bunch of feathers on the top, and a bang made of red horsehair hanging before the face. The helmet was painted black, and small crescents indicated the eyes and the mouth.
The act began with a song, to which the masked men, except the last-mentioned, danced. A hoarse roar made by a concealed actor blowing through an empty gourd[2] resounded from behind the screen, and immediately the circular disks swung open upward, and were seen to be flaps hinged above, covering orifices through which simultaneously protruded six artificial heads of serpents, realistically painted. Each head had protuberant goggle-eyes and bore a curved horn and a fan-like crest of hawk feathers. A mouth with teeth was cut in one end, and from this orifice there hung a strip of leather painted red, representing the tongue.
Slowly at first, but afterward more rapidly, these effigies were thrust farther into view, each revealing a body 4 or 5 feet long, painted, like the head, black on the back and white on the belly. When they were fully extended, the song gre louder, and the effigies moved back and forth, raising and depressing their heads in time, wagging them to one side or the other in unison. They seemed to bite ferociously at each other, and viciously darted at men standing near the screen. This remarkable play continued for some time, when suddenly the heads of the serpents bent down to the floor and swept across the imitation cornfield, knocking over the clay pedestals and the corn leaves which they supported. Then the effigies raised their heads and wagged them back and forth as before. It was observed that the largest effigy, that in the middle, had several udders on each side of the belly, and that she apparently suckled the others. Meanwhile the roar emitted from behind the screen by a concealed man continued, and wild excitement seemed to prevail. Some of the spectators threw meal at the effigies, offering prayers, amid shouts from others. The masked man representing a women stepped forward and presented the contents of the basket tray to the serpent
