THE FANDANGOS. 



103 



their appearance. The story which forms the 

 basis of this amusement is invariably the same ; 

 the parts, however, are not written, and are to 

 be supplied by the actors ; but these, from prac- 

 tice, know more or less what they are to say. 

 The scene is a ship at sea, which, during part of 

 the time is sailing regularly and gently along ; 

 but in the latter part of the voyage she is in 

 distress. The cause of the badness of the wea- 

 ther remains for a long time unknown ; but at 

 last the persons who are on board discover that 

 it has arisen from the devil, who is in the ship, 

 under the disguise of the mizen-topmast-man. 

 The persons represented, are 



The Captain, The Pilot or Mate, 



The Master, The Boatswain, 



The Chaplain, 

 The Ragam, or distributor of " 



the rations, _, . 



rp, rr r Wwo clowns ; 



Ihe Vasoura, or sweeper or 



the decks, 



The Gageiro da Gata, or mizen-topmast-man, 



alias the Devil. 



Twelve men and boys, who are dancers and 



singers, stand on the stage, six of them being on 



each side of it ; and the leader of the chorus 



sits at the back of the stage with a guitar, with 



which he keeps the time, and this person is 



sometimes assisted by a second guitar-player. A 



ship is made for the occasion ; and when the 



h 4 



