The marvellous country, or, Three years in Arizona and New Mexico.: Containing an authentic history of this wonderful country and its ancient civilization ... together with a full and complete history of the Apache tribe of Indians .../ By Samuel Woodworth Cozzens. Illustrated by more than one hundred engravings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DANCE.
camp-kettles were hung over fires, in each of which maize
was boiling. These kettles were suspended by ropes from
four poles, about five feet high, which came together at the
top; the poles were ornamented by twelve ears of corn, supposed to represent the twelve months of the year. Each one
of the kettles were tended by four men, dressed similarly to
those already described, their bodies, however, being solidly
painted in white, red, green, and blue.
These men wereasupposed to represent the four seasons,
and were selected for their sweet voices and ability to
endure fatigue, being expected to sing their hymns of gratitude to Montezuma,- for whom this boiling maize, the first
of their crop, was intended,- all the while beating time
with a corn-stalk on the edge of the kettle around which
they were dancing.
This singing and dancing continued until the maize was
perfectly boiled, after which it was taken from the kettle, placed upon the fire and reduced to ashes, which were
carefully collected by members of the council, and carried
to the fields and sprinkled upon the earth, that they might
purify and enrich the soil for the crops of the confing year.
This ceremony completed, another fire was lighted, and
the kettles refilled with maize; this was boiled and distril)uted among the populace, and then ensued a scene of gluttony and excess that would equal that displayed at a country parson's donation visit.
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