INDIAN DANCES, 
291 
making little leaps off the ground with both 
feet, they turned their faces to the fire and 
bowed their heads, at the same time going on 
sideways. At last, having made a dozen or 
two rounds, towards the end of which each 
one of them had begun to stamp on the ground 
with inconceivable fury, but more particularly 
the principal dancer, they all gave a loud shout 
at once, and the dance ended. 
In two or three minutes another dance was 
begun, which ended as soon, and nearly in the 
same way as the other. There was but little 
difference in the figures of any of them, and 
the only material difference in the songs was, 
that in some of them the dancers, instead of 
singing the whole of the air, came in simply 
with responses to the airs sung by the old men. 
They beckoned to ns to join them in their 
dance, which we immediately did, as it was 
likely to please them, and we remained on the 
island with them till two or three o’clock in 
the morning. There is something inconceiv¬ 
ably terrible in the sight of a number of Indians 
dancing thus round a fire in the depths of thick 
woods, and the loud shrieks at the end of 
every dance adds greatly to the horror which 
their first appearance inspires. 
Scarcely a night passed over but what there 
were dances, similar to those I have described, 
on the island, They never think of dancing 
v 2 
