NEI.SONJ DANCE ON SLEDGE ISLAND 355 



inhabitants would find something with which to feed our dogs and that 

 they would give a dance in the kashim in our honor. 



About two hours after dark we were invited into the kashim and 

 given the place of honor at the rear end of the room. Half a dozen men, 

 including the headmen of the village, stepped out in time to singing 

 and drumming, and went through the movements of an ordinary dance 

 such as had been seen at the beginnings of dances at Cape Darby, Una- 

 laklit, and elsewhere southward to the mouth of Kuskokwim river. 



One of these dancers wore about his brow a fillet made from the 

 skin of the head and neck of an Adams loon, with the beak left on and 

 projecting over the middle of the forehead; another man wore a fillet 

 made from the white breast of a murre with the wing-feather of a 

 gerfalcon stuck in it so as to stand erect over the forehead. 



Then a man and a woman took the floor, performing some figures or 

 movements such as I had seen used by a couple at Unalaklit. Next 

 was a dance of similar character by a half- grown boy and a girl; their 

 motions were greatly varied, but in perfect unison; they postured with 

 the body inclined first to one side and then to the other, alternating 

 with an inclination forward until their heads nearly touched the fioor. 

 Many of their movements were characterized by the swaying grace 

 that is notable in many of the dances of these people. 



When this was finished nine women and girls seated themselves close 

 together, cross-legged, and stripped to the waist, on a bench extend 

 ing along one side of the room, facing in one direction along the length 

 of the bench. Drummers and singers struck up a medley different 

 from anything I had ever heard, and the women on the bench responded 

 by executing a long and complicated series of swaying motions with 

 the head, arms, and body, in perfect unison. From where I sat the 

 dancers were in profile, and their light-colored bodies showed in strong 

 contrast against the sooty wall. Their slow, regular motions, with 

 bodies swaying alternately from one side to the other, now inclining 

 forward and then swaying back, the arms constantly waving in a series 

 of graceful movements, presented a remarkably pleasing sight. 



The headman asked me if I liked the dance, and 1 told him that I 

 did and that I thought it a good one, whereupon he seemed greatly 

 pleased and told me that several of the dancers were his wives. Directly 

 afterward he called out something to the singers, and the latter imme 

 diately began a different song and the women a different set of motions. 

 In this way the headman changed the dances until over twenty distinct 

 songs and sets of motions had been executed; some of the songs and 

 movements were done in very slow time, while others were rapid. All 

 of the movements were evidently conventional and carefully learned 

 by the performers, as they were executed with great regularity. 



On one occasion, at Sabotnisky, on the lower Yukon, a dance was 

 given for my benefit by several villagers. Two women took the most 

 prominent part. One of the performers by her gestures told the story 



