MEKE-MEKES. 1 1 5 



pleasure. They carried their smart dancing-dresses tied up in 

 bundles ; some had their faces already painted, and their hair 

 done up in tappa in the oddest way possible. All the time the 

 Mis (native wooden drums) were making a great row in the 

 square, and when all the people were assembled, we sat down 

 under a canopy of mats which had been put up to screen us 

 from the sun. 



First came the school-children in single file, and coiled them- 

 selves up in the centre of the square. Each child as it passed 

 halted, and read a verse from a Testament. Then they un- 

 wound themselves, and came up in the same fashion with their 

 writing on slates. Then came a dance called the meke. They 

 retired a little, divided into bands, and then came forward in 

 a sort of dance, turning first to one side and then the other, 

 moving in the most perfect time, and chanting as they cama 

 All their movements were graceful, and the way in which the 

 tune, if one can so call it, was first of all sung by those in 

 front, and then taken up, a third lower, by those behind, was 

 very effective. When they had come close enough, on a signal 

 they all sat down and began a geography lesson. The native 

 teacher called out the name of a country, as 'Peritania' 

 (Britain), and one of the children in a lower minor key began 

 to chant ' Peritania sa matanitu' (' Britain is a kingdom'). Then 

 a third higher some other words, saying where Britain is, etc., 

 and then, with a swaying motion of their bodies and a rhyth- 

 mical clapping of hands, sometimes beating the ground, some- 

 times pointing on one side, sometimes the other, and some- 

 times joining hands overhead, they all joined in a chant 

 descriptive of the extent, government, etc., of the British 

 Empire; in fact, it was elementary geography turned into 

 a rather pretty song. In this way they went through nearly 

 all the countries in Europe. After which, singing ' God 



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