JUNE.] RESIDENCE AT LATTAKOO. 
267 
addition to their former dresses. Some of them had 
one side of the face painted black, and the other 
white ; others, the upper part of the face white, 
and the under, black. They had pieces of reeds, 
about six inches long, strung like beads, and made 
into the form of a petticoat, hung round them from 
the middle almost to the ground, which made a 
strange noise when they danced. They had Hkewise 
a great quantity of straw rope wound round them, 
projecting twelve or fifteen inches from the middle 
of their backs, and also in front, which gave them 
a very odd appearance. The queen and several 
others, who acted as musicians, by bawling aloud and 
clapping hands, wore cloaks composed of about a 
dozen fur tippets, hanging from their shoulders to the 
ground, under which they had a skin cloak, without 
the hair. A few wore leather caps, but the greater 
part had no covering on their heads. Almost every 
one wore sandals, except the dancing girls. 
When the girls had retired, some old women brought 
forward a horned serpent, which they drew on a flat 
board. It was made of clay, daubed over with red, 
white, and black paint. This being placed within the 
circle, two women came forward, fantastically dressed, 
who seemed to be actresses. They danced round the 
serpent in a strange manner, with rods in their hands, 
decked with black ostrich feathers, and keeping their 
eyes continually directed towards the serpent, often 
pointing to it with their rods, and then pointing to the 
eastward, as the quarter where it had been found. 
M m 21 
