THE EVOLUTION OF DANCING. 



745 



The natives have stories of the awful consequences that follow 

 if a man or woman intrudes upon a dancing party or place. The 

 Eskimos build large houses for dancing, "which are devoted to 

 spirits.'' * One evening a woman with more curiosity than pru- 

 dence entered the sacred house. She touched the tornaq, or spirit 

 of the house, and " all of a sudden she fell down dead." Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Derby, the Indians of the upper 

 Xingu dance within a feast-house or " flute- 

 house," and " any women who should venture 

 to enter this house would die." f A rattle is 

 used by these Indians to call the dancers to- 

 gether, and to warn away the women. In 

 Brazil, some tribes make a loud noise on 

 " jurupari pipes," which answer the same pur- 

 pose. No woman is allowed to see the pipes. 

 Again, a little instrument known to English 

 boys as the " bull -roarer " is used in mystic 

 dances. In Australia, the turndun (as the 

 bull-roarer is there called) is never shown to 

 women, who flee and hide themselves when 

 the sound is heard. J Wherever found, be it 

 in Australia, in Zululand, or in New Mexico 

 among the Zunis, the bull-roarer is regarded 

 with religious awe. 



Another feature of these medicine-dances 

 is the habit of daubing a candidate with, clay, 

 paint, or dirt of any kind. As to the mean- 

 ing of the practice there is a difference of 

 opinion. The daubing is meant sometimes to 

 be weird and grotesque ; sometimes totemistic, 

 when animals, plants, and stars are repre- 

 sented. In the Young Dog's Dance, above 

 mentioned, the braves were painted red over the whole body, and, 

 among other decorations, on the pit of the stomach a black ring, 

 which " represented themselves their life " so Mr. Grrinnell in- 

 terprets it. 



Then there is the habit of wearing masks and odd costumes. 

 Some of the masks represent the human face ; others are fashioned 

 after the totem ; others, again, are nondescript. The Aleuts, says 

 Mr. Dall, " had the usual method of dancing with masks on dur- 

 ing the progress of the several sorts of ceremonies."* For ordi- 



Fig. 5. The Whizzek. 



* Sixth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 59*7. f Science, Sept. 7, 1888, p. 118. 

 % It is a flat piece of wood tied to a string, and, when whirled around, causes a peculiar 



muffled roar. Kamilaroi, etc., by Howitt, p. 268. 



* Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 138, 141, 



