ORATOR AND POET, ACTOR AND DRAMATIST, 227 



of vocal laudation and mimetic laudation. Concerning the 

 Point-Barrow Eskimo we read : 



&quot;The most important festivals are apparently semi-religious in 

 character, and partake strongly of the nature of dramatic representa 

 tions All festivals are accompanied by singing, drumming, 



and dancing.&quot; 



More detailed evidence is supplied by an official account of 



the Navajo Indians, from which here are relevant passages. 



Hasjelti Dailjis, in the Navajo tongue, signifies the dance of 

 Hasjelti, who is the chief, or rather the most important and con 

 spicuous, of the gods. The word dance does not well designate the cere 

 monies, as they are in general more histrionic than saltatory . . . The 

 personation of the various gods and their attendants, and the acted 

 drama of their mythical adventures and displayed powers, exhibit 

 features of peculiar interest. . . . Yet from what is known of 

 isolated and fragmentary parts of the dramatised myths, it is to be 

 inferred that every one of the strictly regulated and prescribed actions 

 has, or has had, a special significance, and it is obvious that they are 

 all maintained with strict religious scrupulosity.&quot; 

 And it is added that each of these observances &quot; clearly 

 offers a bribe or proposes the terms of a bargain to the di 

 vinities.&quot; 



Noting next the evidence furnished by Ancient India, 

 we are led to infer that there, as elsewhere, the triumphal 

 reception of a conqueror was the observance from which 

 sprang the dramatic art along with the arts we have thus 

 far contemplated. Weber writes 



( Next to the epic, as the second phase in the development of Sanskrit 

 poetry, comes the Drama. The name for it is Ndtaka, and the player 

 is styled Nata, literally &amp;lt; dancer. Etymology thus points to the fact 

 that the drama has developed out of dancing, which was probably 

 accompanied, at first, with music and song only, but in course of time 

 also with pantomimic representations, processions, and dialogue.&quot; 

 And though himself offering another interpretation, he 

 quotes Lassen to the effect that 



&quot;The Indian drama, after having acquitted itself brilliantly in the 

 most varied fields notably too as a drama of civil life finally reverted 

 in its closing phases to essentially the same class of subjects with 

 which it had started to representations from the story of the gods.&quot; 



