102 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



women. Two of them, notably leaders of the 

 movement, burst forth in passionate vehemence, 

 and, goaded on by the other women, their voices 

 rose to heights of eloquence and excitement, and 

 anon died away to melancholy croonings. Each 

 dancer held his neighbour by the hand or arm, and 

 there seemed to be some sort of etiquette that the 

 long chain of human links must not be broken. 

 The steps were a sort of polka shuffle, with a con- 

 stant change of time according to the subject that 

 was being sung. Sometimes the chain moved 

 slowly like a funeral march, then it would become 

 faster and break into a mad gallop, the younger 

 men leaping into the air and stamping and yelling. 

 Then it would subside to a slow walk, and again 

 rise to a passionate outburst. The excitement 

 was catching, so when the Consul said that the 

 people would take it as a compliment if we would 

 join in, there was no need of a second invitation. 

 We each burst forcibly in between two dancers, 

 and Geoff said I had no business to wait till the 

 prettiest girl in the room came to the surface. We 

 sang and danced away for about an hour. My 

 sister, who was held firmly in the chain by two 

 robust youths, had no little difficulty in escaping. 

 She succeeded, however, at last by making a wild 

 spring in the direction of the door and upsetting 

 several of the onlookers. Geoff and I hung on for 

 a bit, until the dust and the heat of the room became 

 unbearable, and then we, too, fled out into the 

 night. The dance, I was told, commenced at 

 6 p.m., and the chain of human beings never 

 stopped moving until six the next morning. Cer- 

 tainly if those we saw continued throughout the 



