Leh 181 



fresh log the fire blazed up with a cloud of 

 sparks, rendering blacker the pitch blackness be- 

 yond its range, and making the tiers of strange 

 faces dance in the fitful light. 



While these minor items were in progress, one 

 side of the square had filled with the sombre 

 figures of red-robed Lama musicians. They bore 

 trumpets of all sizes, from the huge telescopic 

 tubes of copper which required a boy in front 

 to hold them, to those the size of a huntsman's 

 horn ; drums held aloft on broomstick handles, 

 clarionets, cymbals, and many other queer "in- 

 struments of musick." From them a quavering, 

 rippling jangle of discords and minors rose, and 

 gradually increased in volume, till the big 

 trumpets joined in with deep, hoarse cacophonous 

 notes. At the same moment hideous masked 

 figures trooped in at a slow run, like great fowls, 

 halted at a drum -beat, flapped their wings, and 

 began the grotesque contortions of the dance of 

 devils. These lama dancers came from the big 

 monastery at Hemi, and the dance shown us 

 was a selection from the three days' religious 

 masque performed there every year. 



The serious light in which the Ladaki audience, 

 especially the female part of it, regarded the 

 performance was quite unmistakable, both from 

 their wrapt faces and their reverential attitude, 



