NELSON] DANCE ON SLEDGE ISLAND aod 
inhabitants would find something with which to feed our dogs and that 
they would give a dance in the kashim in our honor. 
About two hours after dark we were invited into the kashim and 
given the place of honor at the rear end of the room. Half adozen men, 
including the headmen of the village, stepped out in time to singing 
and drumming, and went through the movements of an ordinary dance 
such as had been seen at the beginnings of dances at Cape Darby, Una- 
laklit, and elsewhere southward to the mouth of Kuskokwim river. 
One of these dancers wore about his brow a fillet made from the 
skin of the head and neck of an Adams loon, with the beak left on and 
projecting over the middle of the forehead; another man wore a fillet 
made from the white breast of a murre with the wing-feather of a 
gerfalcon stuck in it so as to stand erect over the forehead. 
Then a man and a woman took the floor, performing some figures or 
movements such as I had seen used by a couple at Unalaklit. Next 
was a dance of similar character by a half-grown boy and a girl; their 
motions were greatly varied, but in perfect unison; they postured with 
the body inclined first to one side and then to the other, alternating 
with an inclination forward until their heads nearly touched the floor. 
Many of their movements were characterized by the swaying grace 
that is notable in many of the dances of these people. 
When this was finished nine women and girls seated themselves close 
together, cross-legged, and stripped to the waist, on a bench extend- 
ing along one side of the room, facing in one direction along the length 
of the bench. Drummers and singers struck up a medley different 
from anything I had ever heard, and the women on the bench responded 
by executing a long and complicated series of swaying motions with 
the head, arms, and body, in perfect unison. From where I sat the 
dancers were in profile, and their light-colored bodies showed in strong 
contrast against the sooty wall. Their slow, regular motions, with 
bodies swaying alternately from one side to the other, now inclining 
forward and then swaying back, the arms constantly waving in a series 
of graceful movements, presented a remarkably pleasing sight. 
The headman asked me if I liked the dance, and I told him that I 
did and that I thought it a good one, whereupon he seemed greatly 
pleased and told me that several of the dancers were his wives. Directly 
afterward he called out something to the singers, and the latter imme- 
diately began a different song and the women a different set of motions. 
In this way the headman changed the dances until over twenty distinct 
songs and sets of motious had been executed; some of the songs and 
inovements were done in very slow time, while others were rapid. All 
of the movements were evidently conventional and carefully learned 
by the performers, as they were executed with great regularity. 
On one oceasion, at Sabotnisky, on the lower Yukon, a dance was 
given for my benefit by several villagers. Two women took the most 
prominent part. One of the performers by her gestures told the story 
