AMONG THE CANNIBALS 121 



fail me to depict the utter strangeness of the scene. 

 The attitudes into which they wriggled themselves, all 

 keeping time like a trained troupe of acrobats, the 

 weird sounds made by hands and mouth and the 

 ghastly grimaces : all this, in the dim, uncertain light 

 of the moon, baffles description. Presently the noise 

 of murmuring made by the dancers as they wriggled 

 round the fire became louder and louder, and the con- 

 tortions to which they put themselves more violent, 

 quicker and quicker, until they all burst forth into 

 a terrible yell and seemed veritably to fly round the 

 fire, still keeping time with hands and feet and voices. 

 I have never seen anything so strange in all my 

 travels, and as I looked at the distorted features of 

 these people, working themselves up into a state of 

 madness, and realized that they were all the fiercest 

 cannibals, and at any moment might change the scene 

 into one of bloodshed, I admit to a creepy feeling 

 stealing over me, and I wondered if I should ever g 1 et 

 through the country alive. This dance was kept up 

 for nearly two hours, and then suddenly there was a 

 hush. Not a sound disturbed the stillness of the night. 

 This dance was over, and in the twinkling of an eye 

 the crowd dispersed in all directions. Noiselessly every 

 one crept back to his hut, and I was left alone by 

 the fireside, wondering at the weirdness of the scene 

 just enacted." 



