Show INDIANS THAT SEEM FIREPROOF I Peculiarities of the Hnslikawn I Dance of the Navajoes Strange Scene I Sir John B Sweet who has recently been traveling in New Mexico and Arizona Ari-zona gives an interesting and graphic sketch of the Hashkawn Dance which he had witnessed at one of the Navajo agencies It took place in a large corral or inclosure of an irregularly circular form about forty paces in diameter Its fence about eight feet high was constructed of fresh jtniper and pinon boughs In the center was a conical pile of dry wood about thirteen feet high which was to make the great central fire Around this a few feet from the fence dozen smaller fires were burning for the comfort and convenience of the spectators who numbered num-bered about 500 menwomen and children gathered here from the various parts of the Navajo country The fire dance was the most picturesque and startling of all Some time before the dancers entered I heard strange sounds mingled with the blowing of the buffalo horn The sounds were much like the call of the sand hill crane and may perhaps be properly called trumpeting and they were made by the dancers constantly during the exercises exer-cises The noises continued to grow I louder and come nearer until we heard them at the opening in the east and in a I moment after men having no more clothing cloth-ing on than a breechclout entered Everyman Every-man bore a longthick bundle of shredded cedar bark in each hand except the I leader who carried four smaller fagots of the same material Four times they all I danced around the fire waving their bundles of bark toward the flame j then they halted in the east the leader advanced ad-vanced toward the central fire lit one of his little fagots and trumpeting loudly threw it over the fence of the corral in the east Heperformed a similar act at the south the west and the north but before be-fore the northern brand was thrown he lit with it the fagots of his comrades As I each brand disappeared over the fence some of the spectators blew into their hands and made a motion as if tossing some substance after the departing flame When the fagots were all lit the whole band began a wild race around the fire At first they kept close together and spat upon one another some substance of supposed sup-posed medicinal virtue Soon they scattered scat-tered and ran apparently without concert con-cert the rapid racing causing the brands to throw out long brilliant streamers of flame over the naked hands and arms of the dancers They then proceeded to apply ap-ply the brands to their own nude bodies and the bodies of their comrades in front of themno man ever once turning around At times the dancer struck the victim vigorous blows with his flaming wand again he seized the flame as if it were a sponge andf creeping close to the one pursued rubbed the back of the latter lat-ter for several moments as if he were bathing him In the meantime the sufferer would catch up with some one in front of him and in turn bathe him inflame in-flame At times when a dancer found no one in front of him he proceeded to sponge his own back and might keep this up while making two or three circuits around the fire or until he overtook someone some-one else At each application of the blaze the loud trumpeting was heard and it often seemed as if a flock of a hundred cranes were winging their way overhead southward through the darkness If a brand became extinguished it was lit again in the central fire but when it was so far consumed as to be no longer held conveniently in tho hand the dancer dropped it and rushed trumpeting out of the corral Thus one by one they all departed de-parted and the spectators stepped into the arena picked up the fascicles of the fallen fragments of bark lit them and bathed their hands in the flames as a charm against the evil effects of fire Were they not blistered asked the renorter 6 They were not hurt in the least was the answer I believe they were protected pro-tected by a coating of earth or clay paint That < however did not make the effect any less strange I have boheld many fire scenes on the stage many acts of fire eating and firehandling by civilized jugglers jug-glers and many fire dances by other Indian In-dian tribes but nothing quite comparable to this The scenic accessories were unique Demons scourging lost souls with the eternal fire could scarcely be pictured to look more awfulDesiver Letter |