U4 



DANCES. 



time they cla|)ped their hands and made a peculiar noise between a 

 hiss and a sneeze : the chant then became more enlivening and the 

 dancing more spirited. On the following day the women of the 

 village took part in a dance which was very similar to that of the 

 boys, except that there was no central group, and that they wore 

 bunches of large beans around the left ankle which made a rattling 

 noise when they tapped the ground at every other step with the 

 left foot. Bishop Selwyn, to whom I was indebted for the oppor- 

 tunity of witnessing these dances in the village of Gaeta, informed 

 me that in the Florida Islands, dancing is often more or less of a 

 profession, ti'oupes of dancers making lengthened tours through the 

 different islands of this sub-group. 



Jjuring a great feast that was held in the island of Treasury, 

 the following dance was performed. Between thirty and forty 

 women and girls stood in a ring around a semi-circular pit, 5 feet 

 across, which was sunk about 4 feet in the ground. A board, Avhich 

 was fixed in the pit about half way down, covered it in with the 

 exception of a notch at its border. On this board stood two women, 

 and as they danced they stamped with their feet, producing a dull 

 hollow sound, to which the women of the circle timed their dancing, 

 which consisted in bending their bodies slightly forward, gently 

 swaying from side to side, and raising their feet alternately. All 

 the while, the dancers sang in a spirited style different native airs. 

 Now and then, a pair of women would dance slowly round outside 

 the circle, holding before them their folded pandanus mats which 

 all the performers cai-ried.^ 



I was present at a dance given on one occasion at Alu, prepara- 

 tory to a great feast which was about to be held. Soon after sunset 

 the natives began to assemble on the beach, and when Gorai, the 



^ The employment of a hole in the ground as a resonator does not appear to be common. 

 Mr. Mo3ely in his " Isotes by a Naturalist," p. 309, refers to a somewhat similar use of holes 

 in the ground by the Fijians who place a log-drum of light wood over three holes and strike 

 it with a wooden mallet. 



