PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 367 



for tho purpose of yielding aesthetic pleasures. Among the He- 

 brews this development had taken place in the time of Herod, 

 when the daughter of Herodias delighted him by her dancing ; 

 and a like development is shown at the present day throughout 

 India, where troops of bayaderes are appendages of courts. 



That laudatory dancing and singing before the visible ruler 

 are associated with like observances before the invisible ruler, the 

 Hebrews have shown us. To the case of the prophetess Miriam 

 and her companions, may be added the case of David dancing 

 before the ark. Hence we shall not be surprised to find such facts 

 among other semi-civilized peoples. Markham, describing a 

 Puharrie festival, and saying of a certain receptacle that "in it 

 the Deity is supposed to dwell," adds that " upon this occasion 

 the deptha, or ark, is brought forth with much solemnity, and the 

 people decked out with flowers and ears of corn dance around it." 

 In an account of the Bhils we read, concerning a class of men 

 called Barwds who are votaries of the hill-gods, that 



" Their powers are, however, dormant, till they are excited by music ; and 

 for this reason, they have a class of musicians connected with them, who 

 are proficient in numerous songs in praise of the hill-deities. When the 

 recitation of these songs has kindled the spark of spiritual fire, they begin 

 to dance with frantic gestures." 



An analogous use of dancing occurs in Abyssinia. The duties of 

 priests " consist in reading the prayers, chanting, administering 

 the sacrament, and dancing ; the latter being indulged in during 

 religious processions." That the dancing is in this case imported 

 into the quasi- Christian religion by adoption from some previous 

 religion (a like adoption being common with Roman Catholic 

 missionaries) is a conclusion supported by an instance from a 

 remote region. Describing the usages of the Pueblos, Lummis 

 says : 



"The cachinas or sacred dances which were in vogue before Columbus, 

 still survive ; but now they are applied to the festivals of the Church, and 

 are presumed to be as grateful to Tata Dios as to the Sun." 



But the way in which singing and dancing before the visible 

 ruler differentiate into singing and dancing before the ruler no 

 longer visible, is best seen in the early records of civilized races. 

 To the above illustrations furnished by Hebrew history may be 

 added various others. Thus I Samuel x, 5, tells of " a company 

 of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and 

 a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before them ; " and, according to 

 some translators, dancing and singing. Again in I Chronicles ix, 

 33, we read of certain Levites that " these are the singers, chief of 

 the fathers of the Levites." And in Psalm cxlix, there is the ex- 



