IX 
AROUND SAO GABRIEL 
313 
side through which the pith had been extracted and into which 
the performer blew ; a quantity of carajuril in powder for painting 
their bodies ; and an immense quantity of ipadu (coca). 
The performances commenced early by the blowing of flageolets 
and gaitas, and the company kept arriving till past 9 o'clock. A 
dance was then commenced by the men and boys inside the house, 
by forming themselves into a ring, each holding the flute to his 
mouth with the right hand and placing his left hand on the right 
shoulder of the person in advance of him, and then moving round 
to the slow, almost monotonous, cadence of the gaitas. The 
steps were merely a succession of dactyls — one long step foHow^ed 
by two short ones — the body being bowed forward with the long 
step, and again elevated with the short ones. After dancing in 
this way a few minutes, they turned out upon the terrace, where 
they w^ere joined by the women and girls. Each man now passed 
his left arm round his partner's neck, and she her right round his 
waist, and the dance continued to the same tune and step, but 
gradually increasing in quickness until it almost reached a run. 
When the flutists were completely out of breath, the ring broke 
up and the dancers, giving a general shout, retired to repose them- 
selves on the benches or inside the house. (There were also 
benches and boards, apparently permanent, placed along the front 
of the house under the projecting eaves.) After a short repose 
the men started up to renew the dance, and so kept on till about 
3 in the afternoon, when news was brought up from the port that 
the ruler of the feast and his attendants had arrived. These 
formed a party about equal to that already assembled at the house, 
and they brought with them a number of aturas (baskets) filled, 
some with roots of mandiocca, others with baked fish, besides 
several shallow baskets of beijil and two or three alqueires (bushels) 
of farinha. Each person was furnished with an ambailba or 
drum made of the trunk of Cecropia pettata \ those of the men 
w^ere about 3 feet long and 5 inches in thickness, the diameter of 
the bore being about 4 inches ; those of the boys were smaller. 
They had been bored by means of firebrands and the lower end 
closed with leaves beat down with a pestle. Two rectilinear 
oblong holes were cut near each other adjacent to the upper end 
of the tube, by which it was held, the thumb being inserted into 
one hole and the fingers into the other. The lower end for the 
breadth of a few inches was painted black, and about the space 
of a foot near the middle was painted with fantastic devices 
according to the taste of the fabricator. 
Several formal messages now passed between the giver and the 
ruler of the feast ; the latter was invited up to the house along 
with his party and the gifts he had brought. They did not, how- 
ever, make their appearance for nearly an hour, and meantime 
the company assembled at the house occupied the time in 
