ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND 219 



and two young women or grown girls. Two of the men 

 had been doing some work for the commission, and were 

 dressed, one completely and one partially, in ordinary 

 clothes. Two of the men and the boy were practically 

 naked, and the two young women were absolutely so. All 

 of them danced in a circle, without a touch of embarrass- 

 ment or impropriety. The two girls kept hold of each 

 other's hands throughout, dancing among the men as mod- 

 estly as possible, and with the occasional interchange of 

 a laugh or jest, in as good taste and temper as in any 

 dance in civilization. The dance consisted in slowly going 

 round in a circle, first one way then the other, rhythmi- 

 cally beating time with the feet to the music of the song 

 they were chanting. The chants — there were three of 

 them, all told — were measured and rather slowly uttered 

 melodies, varied with an occasional half-subdued shrill cry. 

 The women continually uttered a kind of long-drawn wail- 

 ing or droning; I am not enough of a musician to say 

 whether it was an overtone or the sustaining of the burden 

 of the ballad. The young boy sang better than any of 

 the others. It was a strange and interesting sight to see 

 these utterly wild, friendly savages, circling in their slow 

 dance, and chanting their immemorial melodies, in the 

 brilliant tropical moonlight, with the river rushing by in 

 the background, through the lonely heart of the wilder- 

 ness. 



The Indians stayed with us, feasting, dancing, and 

 singing, until the early hours of the morning. They then 

 suddenly and silently disappeared in the darkness, and 

 did not return. In the morning we discovered that they 

 had gone off with one of Colonel Rondon's dogs. Probably 



