COMPLIMENTS OF THE DANCE. PA ie) 
tions of the muscles as in an American athlete; all that rapid play of the 
tendons goes on beneath the skin with a snaky smoothness and strength. 
They finally created quite a dust, and an aged “super” went around 
with a basket of water and sprinkled the course. At the termination of 
each chorus they would end off with a prodigious stamping, then suddenly 
wheel and bow to the women dancers with a profundity and elegance that 
would have done the highest honor to Chesterfield. But very unfortu- 
nately the women would wheel at the selfsame time toward the orchestra 
and slightly incline their heads, so that they would receive this magnificent 
compliment of the two performers, not facing toward them, but quite the 
reverse! The audience would then applaud with a loud “ho”! After each | 
chorus, which would occupy about five minutes, there would be a pause of | 
about a minute. Each chorus was chanted five or six times over, then 
some other was taken up. Another that I wrote down was as follows: 
Hu-pé, hu-pé, hu-pé, la-ha. 
The men would chant this once, then the women, then both together, 
then this together: 
Hu-pe-li, hu-pe-la. 
Once more I must assert, at whatever risk, that there were occasional 
passages in these barbaric chants which were very beautiful indeed. 
We lingered till midnight, going out frequently to avoid being asphyx- 
iated, and then took our departure. How these performers could endure 
to keep up such violent leaping and stamping for five hours longer, as they 
did, passes comprehension. 
