A NYAMBARA DANCE. 



U J 



sent forth a sound of invitation to a dance, three strokes at a time 

 being continually repeated. Immediately the people collected 

 together, and in a minute two long lines were formed, one of 

 women, the other of men, each person holding two sticks made 

 out of the excellent wood of the Diospyros mespiliformis, which, 

 when struck, gives out an almost metallic sound. The big drum 

 then began to beat in three quaver time, accompanied by a small 

 drum, while the sticks were struck against each other, and a 

 chorus formed a prelude to the ball. The hopping rhythm of 

 this really pretty production was succeeded by a processional 

 march of men and women simultaneously round the drum, ac- 

 companied by singing, but this solemn demeanour did not last 

 long. The drum struck up a lively tune, some of the young 

 men jumped high in the air and crowed like angry cocks, 

 some of the more eager women began the exciting trilling 

 sound of which all Negro women are so fond, and suddenly 

 they launched into an allegro furioso. The men jumped high, 

 and on alighting rebounded, the sticks clattered, the singing 

 gradually swelled, here and there a woman advanced to the 

 men, hopping and swaying her body alternately to the right 

 and left, while her arms revolved like the sails of a windmill. 

 Her challenge was at once accepted, the men springing for- 

 ward, two or three at a time, to fight for the possession of the 

 women. The enjoyment became more and more universal, the 

 men throwing off their inconvenient clothes, the women allow- 

 ing their aprons and tails to fly away, until a furious dance was 

 being performed round the drum, the women inside, the men 

 forming an outer ring — a veritable pandemonium, lighted up by 

 the red glow of torches, which were brandished by the dancers, 

 and from which a shower of sparks was scattered far and wide. 

 On such occasions, it is difficult to know what most to admire 

 — the untiring endurance of the dancers, who have been work- 

 ing during the day, or the pi^imitive genuine enjoyment that is 

 mirrored in all these sparkling- eves and shining rows of teeth. 

 Women with iufants on their backs, but more often with chil- 

 dren of. four to five years of age, are the most indefatigable 

 dancers, and perhaps it is these gymnastics, carried on from 

 early youth, which account for the healthy development of the 

 Negroes, and the absence of deformities among them. It is also 



