EXPEDITION TO SURINAM, 



of places which the traveller has vifited. An officer ia 

 the India fervice has, in a late publication, defcribed the 

 variety of attitudes, geftures, looks, fighs, expreffions of 

 defire, fear, hope, trepidation, and every gradation of 

 paffion, which is adled by the dancing-girls in the Eaft 

 Indies ; and yet, though thefe young women are exert- 

 ing all their faculties for promoting wantonnefs in the 

 beholders, to obtain a living, the whole race of Gentoo 

 women are moft remarkable for the pureft minds of 

 any people in the univerfe *. 



CHAP, 

 XIV. 



* Not to go fo far eaft ward, it is no- 

 torious that nearly fimilar to thefe dances 

 «re thofe which we find pra£tifed on 

 « part of this continent. They are 

 called fandangos', and are faid to have 

 been brought from Peru to Spain. As 

 I have been favoured with a very accu- 

 rate and curious defcription of them, ex- 

 trailed from a collection of letters of 



Emanuel Martinus, dean of Alicant, I 

 lhall venture to infert it as it came to my 

 hands, fmce I doubt not but it may afford 

 amufement to fome of my readers, while 

 I hope the admiifion of it will not be 

 ofFenfive to others ; it being my wifh and 

 defire to pleafe all, by bringing to light 

 whatever might otberwife efcape obfer- 

 vation. 



E. M. I. A. fuo. 



I nunc, et veterum morum licentiam 

 accufa, noftrorum verecundiam lauda. 

 Nofti faltationeni illam Gaditanam, ob- 

 fcoenitate fua per omne aevum famofam. 

 At qui hodie ipfammet per omnia hu- 

 jus urbis compita, per omnia cubicula, 

 cum incrcdibili aftantium plaufu, faltari 

 Tideas. Nec inter jEthiopas tantum 

 et obfcuros homines, fed inter honeftif- 

 fimas fceminas, ac nobili loco natas. 



Saltaii'onis modus hoc ritu peragitur^ 

 Saltant vir et foemina vel bini vel plures. 

 Corpora ad muficos modos per omnia 

 libidinum irritamenta verfantur. Mcm- 



brorum mollifllmi flexus, clunium mo- 

 tationes, micationes femorum, falacium^ 

 infultuum imagines, omnia denique tur- 

 gentis lafcivise folertiflimo ftudio exprefla 

 fimulacra. V ideas cevere virum, et cum 

 quodam gannitu, criflare foeminam, eo le- 

 pore ac venuftate, ut ineptae profe£lo ac 

 rufticae tibi viderentur tremulse nates 

 Photidos Appuleianae. Interea omnia con- 

 ftrepunt cachinnis et ronchis. Quin fpec- 

 tatores ipfi fatyricae atellanaeque o^x^ftuf 

 furore correpti, in ipfo fimulatae hbidinis- 

 campo, leni quodam geftu nutuquc, veli- 

 tantor ac fluduant* 



