CHAP. XVI. 
STRANGE METHOD OF SOFTENING SKINS-FESTIVAL— 
ARTICLES MANUFACTURED— CITY DISTRICTS— FEMALE 
PAINTING— CONVERSATION WITH KING'S UNCLE— 
MAKRAKKA, A NEIGHBOURING CHIEF. 
When writing after dinner, I was hastily called 
out to witness something extraordinary. There was a 
hard smooth skin laid upon the ground, on which 
was put another skin which they intended to soften. 
Twelve men on their knees surrounded it : every se- 
cond person, which made six of the circle, at one in- 
stant plunged down upon the skin, like one diving into 
the sea; each person driving it from him, the whole 
skin was shrivelled into a heap in the centre ; but in 
raising again their bodies they pulled it to them, which 
made it flat as before, and made room for the other 
six to plunge down upon it in the same way. Both 
sixes alternately continued a long time at this ex- 
ercise, as if they had been a machine, keeping exact 
time in falling and rising, by means of words which 
they sang, intermixed with frightful screams and howl- 
ing. They frequently appeared frantic and furious; 
but the instant the operation ended, their countenances 
