THE HUNTING PARTY. 



299 



hideous contortions, whirling the arms round the shoul- 

 der-socket, kneeling, and imitating the actions of various 

 animals. The labour done, the ladies apply to their 

 pombe, and reappear after four or five hours with a tell- 

 tale stagger and a looseness of limb which adds a peculiar 

 charm to their gesticulations. The day concludes with 

 a " fackeltanz " of remarkable grotesqueness. This 

 merrymaking is probably intended as a consolation for 

 the penance which the elephant-hunter's wife performs 

 during the absence of her mate ; she is expected to 

 abstain from good food, handsome cloth, and fumiga- 

 tion : she must not leave the house, and for an act of 

 infidelity the blame of failure in the hunt will fall 

 heavily upon her. Meanwhile the men — at least as 



far gone " as the women — encircle with a running 

 jumping gait, and with the grace and science of well- 

 trained bears, a drum or a kilindo, — the normal bark 

 bandbox, — placed with open mouth upon the ground, 

 and violently beaten with sticks and fists or rubbed and 

 scraped with stones. It forms also a sounding-board 

 for a kinanda or bow-guitar, one end of which is applied 

 to it, whilst a shrill fife of goat's horn gives finish 

 and completeness to the band. Around the drum are 

 placed several elephants' tails, possibly designed to 

 serve the purpose of the clay-corpse introduced into the 

 feasts of ancient Egypt. 



When thoroughly drenched with drink, the hunters 

 set out early in the morning, carrying live brands lest 

 fire should fail them in the jungle, and applying them 

 to their mouths to keep out the cold air. These 

 trampers are sometimes dangerous to stragglers from 

 caravans, especially in countries where the robber or 

 the murderer expects to escape with impunity. In some 

 places hunting-huts have been erected ; they are, how- 



