But Mr. Hillerman does not allow himself satire or irreverence or even vulgarity. He is writing across a particularly troubled ethnic divide, the one separating Anglos from Indians, and no matter how he demurs, his novels have the cautiousness of anthropology, the decorousness that comes when you don't want to presume too much upon an acquaintance. In "Sacred Clowns," we see the clowns dancing at a fictional pueblo ceremony as if through a veil, clowns who in reality are every bit as raucous, profane and funny as Shakespeare's.