CHANGES AND STRANGE SCENES 
romis they go on board and celebrate the departure 
of the young braves by the wildest dances on the 
platforms fore and aft—dances that would put a 
premiere danseuse to shame. They spin round with 
such dizzying rapidity that, when I photographed 
them, although I used a shutter snapping at a 
hundredth of a second, the -image of the dancers 
was somewhat blurred, as will be seen from the an- 
nexed picture. As an accompaniment to the dances, 
they sing the appalling and discordant songs of the 
coast native, and the merriment and motion cease 
only for the intervals of feasting on yams, taro, and 
fish. The dancing is for the most part independent, 
but occasionally there is some attempt at rudimentary 
figures, and the little girls, with arms interlaced 
after the manner of a “lady’s chain” in the Lancers, 
form a ring in the centre, while the bigger girls circle 
around. 
Some of the young braves sleep on board the last 
night, and the next day at dawn, if the wind should 
be favourable, a start is made. The last good-byes 
are said, the small canoes dart to and from the shore 
with final messages, and as the great lakatows slowly 
eet under way, the girls crowd upon the beach, shout- 
ing and waving to their young heroes, until the last 
odd-shaped sail has disappeared round the farthest 
promontory. ‘The men of the village will not be seen 
again for two months, and some perhaps not at all, for 
the voyage is long and beset with divers perils, and 
not every /akatov weathers the sudden treacherous 
squalls and storms of the Papuan coast. 
Their captains, of course, have no knowledge what- 
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