ijdO' ROUND THE WORLD. 121 



antagonist : this was done by joining the finger ends 

 of both hands, and bringing them to the breast, at 

 the same time moving the elbows up and down with 

 a quick motion : if the person to whom this was ad- 

 dressed accepted tlie challenge, he repeated the signs, ' 

 and immediately each put himself into an attitude to 

 engage ; the next minute they closed ; but, except in 

 first seizing each other, it was a mere contest of 

 strength : each endeavoured to lay hold of the other, 

 first by the thigh, and if that failed by the hand, the 

 hair, the cloth, or elsewhere as he could : when this 

 was done they grappled, without the least dexterity 

 or skill, till one of them, by having a more advanta- 

 geous hold, or greater muscular force, threw the other 

 on his back. When the contest was over, the old 

 men gave their plaudits to the victor in a few words, 

 which they repeated together in a kind of tune : his 

 conquest was also generally celebrated by three huz- 

 zas. The entertainment was then suspended for a 

 few minutes,' after which another couple oi" wrestlers 

 came forward and engaged in the same manner : if it 

 happened that neither was thrown, after the contest 

 had continued about a minute, they parted, either by 

 consent or the intervention of their friends, and in 

 this case each slapped his arm, as a challenge to a 

 new engagement, either with the same antagonist or 

 some other. While the v/restlers were engaged, 

 another party of m.en performed a dance which lasted 

 also about a minute ; but neither of these parties took 

 the least notice of each other, their attention being 

 wholly fixed on what they were doing. We observed 

 with pleasure, that the conqueror never exulted over 

 the vanquished, and that the vanquished never re- 

 pined at the success of the conqueror; the whole con- 

 test was carried on with perfect good-will and good- 

 humour, though in the presence of at least five hun- 

 dred spectators, of whom some were women. The 

 number of women indeed was comparatively small, 

 none but those of rank were present, and we had rea- 



