MESCAL. 277 



describe. As I had been led to expect, the gathering was 

 only a small one ; there were not many more than a 

 hundred couples dancing, the males being all men capable 

 of bearing arms, and the females marriageable girls and 

 young matrons. For the occasion the ladies had each 

 laid aside her ornaments and fringe, and only retained 

 the hardly-worth -mentioning garment. Full dress very 

 decollete to the heels ! 



The dancers were disposed in four parallel rows, the 

 two inner ones being close together, back to back, and 

 consisting exclusively of women ; and the two outer ones 

 which were composed of men, being each about twenty 

 feet from the row of women that it faced. The individuals 

 composing these four parallel rows stood a yard apart from 

 each other in their respective rows, having hold of one 

 another's hands. 



The set had only just commenced when I arrived. As 

 yet, the dancers were going it very deliberately. The step 

 was uniformly alike, and executed in admirable time and 

 unison. Throwing their weight on their left legs, the 

 dancers advanced their right ones about a foot, and threw 

 their weight on them, bending the knee and inclining the 

 body slightly forward ; then the right foot was retired a 

 much behind the left, and the whole body swayed back- 

 Accompanying these movements, their hands, still clasped 

 each in their neighbours', were simultaneously raised slightly 

 up, and then as slightly depressed. 



The chant, though monotonous, sounded strangely plain- 

 tive and wild, and its regular rise and fall of cadence was in 

 excellent keeping with the motions of the dancers. There 



