IV 



My Log 401 



sieve, with parchment instead of perforations. These 

 they took and thumbed and fingered and tapped, as 

 a sort of tuning prelude ; then, after a discussion as 

 to their various states of tone, they were held over 

 the brazier into which a little incense had been 

 sprinkled and which glowed redly on their brown 

 faces. This was done either to hallow them, which 

 was probable, or to corrugate their tympanums into 

 a proper state of exciting sharpness, which was still 

 more so. After more thrummings and rappings and 

 toastings, everything seemed right, and there was a 

 moment's pause. 



Swaying from side to side as they sat, they then 

 began a monotonous nasal song, beating time to it 

 on their tambourines. Gradually the song waxed 

 wilder and louder, and the thumping and banging 

 more and more energetic, though a rude time was 

 always carefully kept ; louder and louder till the 

 whole place was filled with sound, and the faces of 

 the performers flushed into a bright brick red and 

 their eyes gleamed like live coals. Watching as 

 carefully as I could for the infernal din, I saw one of 

 the men cautiously take a pinch of something from 

 his sleeve and cast it in the brazier. He then, as if 

 accidentally, waved the smoke backward to the 

 men sitting behind him, who soon began to 

 show gorged faces and bloodshot eyes. One man 

 evidently tried to avoid the fumes, he was wrestled 

 with and held over the brazier, till I thought he 

 would have had a fit. Suddenly, so suddenly as to 



2 D 



