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The recording that I did of this guitar music for dance yesterday 
has turned out well. The people have decided to dance again tonight at 
Veverau for our benefit. Paul and Jean danced extensively last night, and 
when solo dancing started, Paul put on some very fine displays that sent 
the people into gales of happy laughter and applause. They really appreciate 
dancing by others. Besides this dancing to modern guitar music, they still 
preserve the traditional dances and there is a dance ground in the center 
of all villages, usually before or beside the church. The children and 
adults are very conscious of song and often ask us to sing for them or teach 
them a new song. 
The girls do most of the dancing, starting the dance by dancing to- 
gether, even in pairs of six to eight year olds. Boys then start in, usually 
dancing with the girls and inviting them, but occasionally the boys are 
Invited by the girls or women who come over and ask them. Boys of sixteen 
to twenty-five years are the dancers, but occasionally boys of ten to six- 
teen dance as well, and sometimes those of eight to twelve years dance in 
pairs, as the girls almost all do. The dance permits the smallest children 
to try. They do not elicit the slightest comment or embarrassing attention. 
Only star performance, obviously display-oriented, is applauded. Most 
dancing is two-step and rather slow, and few of the dancers would be con- 
sidered to be accomplished by FAiropean standards. 
The village starts to arise at 5 a.m. with daybreak, but is slow in 
getting started and many sleep on until 7 a.m. or later. 
Tasmate, Mota Island October 8, 1972 
I am seated under a huge fig tree ( paka ) on the trail from Tasmate 
to Veverau with Frank Suel, who has walked here with me; in fact, he has 
been my unique companion all day, and I am very grateful to him for all 
he has done for me. We have just met his older brother, Ngasatll, who 
is married to a Tasmate girl. He has been carrying two woven baskets 
(tapera) to Veverau and I have purchased the larger one from him. 
The visit here leaves only two of the six villages of Mota unvisited 
by me: Navgoe and Lewotgel (Leiwotkwei) . The walking around the island 
is very easy and beautiful, but the circular trail lies inland enough 
to make it too far from the sea to provide many views out to other islands. 
Tasmate has been largely rebuilt since the hurricane. Old Tasmate was 
laid low. The houses are built around too large a level clearning, and 
this is a bit jarring aesthetically. It has no view of the sea. There 
is at one end of the village a wonderful huge fig or banyan tree. 
Tasmate has very extensive gounds, and along the way this huge paka , 
under which I write, is a major landmark, revealed only about five minutes 
before arriving at Tasmate. It is immense and provides beautiful shade 
and coolness . 
