118 
Indian Dances. 
cording to the size of the bambu-stem and its opening, the 
instrument gives a higher or a lower note. A movement with 
the hand, a nod of the head, or beating the time with the instrument on 
the part of the Hoho-liit towards that one of the 
musicians who has to commence or fall in, regulates the 
whole performance. Although as I have just remarked, each in- 
strument only possesses a single note, the musical conductor nevertheless 
knows the notes of the collective instruments so exactly, and gives his di- 
rections so explicitly, that really a basis of harmony rules in the noise, 
just as those Russian players produce the most difficult pieces of music 
with their pipes. Now, are the Warrau Indians or the Russians the dis- 
coverers of the instrument? A question for investigators into the history 
of music. 
400. Although the music-loving residents almost every evening made 
one’s ears tingle with their reeds, they never as yet had danced to it : the 
notes of the violin however they could no more resist than could the .chil- 
dren of Hamlin resist the rat-catching piper. 
407. For the most part the various dances are performed only by the 
men : the most interesting however were without doubt those in which 
the women and girls took part, when they adorned themselves in the 
most festive style. Neck, arms, wrists and ankles were then encircled 
and decorated with stringed beads. After the women dancers had all 
collected, the men with the violinist at their head stepped from out of 
the bush with the instruments in their hands and, bowing low all the 
time, moved off towards where the ladies were waiting: the men were dec- 
orated with the loveliest feather ornaments, and each had tied abound 
his feet several strings of seed-capsules of the Thevetia nereifolia Juss., 
which by knocking up against each other during the string stamping of 
the dance produced a deafening rattle. They slowly approached the 
spot chosen for the performance: the violin ceased to play, and the move- 
ment was regulated by the note of a small fife, upon which the piper 
cleverly knew how to imitate the voice of a monkey. As soon as the place 
was reached they surrounded the musician in a circle: a second signal 
gave the order to put all instruments on the ground and bow their heads 
until such time as the Hoho'-hit had murmured several unintelligible 
words after which, on a third signal, they raised them again and picked 
up their instruments to play. All the evil spirits were now banished 
from out of reach of the dancing ground, and at the same time the power 
taken from’ them of disturbing the froliekers at their sport or hurting 
them in any other way. On completion of this exorcism ceremony the 
real dance itself commenced. The women and girls now likewise formed 
themselves into a ring, circled around a few times, and then each drew 
near to the one whom she fancied dancing with, when she put her right- 
hand over her sweetheart’s left shoulder, he placing his left hand 
over her right shoulder. Thus locked together, with eyes turned 
to the ground, they tripped it forwards, backwards, and sideways to- 
wards the old fiddler. The performance coming to an end, the dancers 
stamped three times with their feet, whereupon a deafening row was pro- 
duced. Tf her partner were a near acquaintance, her brother, or the ob- 
ject of her heart’s silent yearning she quietly waited for the 'third stamp 
at the very spot they then happened to occupy: if however he was no 
