THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
* 5 * 
fide, by intervals, till the whole number had again formed 
a circle about the chorus. 
Their manner of dancing was now changed to a quicker 
meafure, in which they made a kind of half turn by leap¬ 
ing, and clapped their hands, and fnapped their fingers, re¬ 
peating fome words in conjunction with the chorus. To¬ 
ward the end, as the quicknefs of the mufic increafed, 
their geftures and attitudes were varied with wonderful 
vigour and dexterity; and fome of their motions, perhaps, 
would, with us, be reckoned rather indecent. Though this 
part of the performance, moil probably, was not meant to 
convey any wanton ideas, but merely to difplay the afto- 
nilhing variety of their movements. 
To this grand female ballet, fucceeded one performed by 
fifteen men. Some of them were old; but their age feemed 
to have abated little of their agility or ardour for the dance. 
They were difpofed in a fort of circle, divided at the front, 
with their faces not turned out toward the affembly, nor 
inward to the chorus; but one half of their circle faced for¬ 
ward as they had advanced, and the other half in a con¬ 
trary direction. They, fometimes, fung flowly, in concert 
with the chorus; and, while thus employed, they alfo made 
feveral very fine motions with their hands, but different 
from thofe made by the women, at the fame time inclining 
the body to either fide alternately, by railing one leg, which 
was ftretched outward, and refting on the other; the arm of 
the fame fide being alfo ftretched fully upward. At other 
times, they recited fentences in a mufical tone, which were 
anfwered by the chorus; and, at intervals, increafed the 
meafure of the dance, by clapping the hands, and quicken¬ 
ing the motions of the feet, wdiich, however, were never 
varied. At the end, the rapidity of the mufic, and of the 
Kk 2 dancing, 
1777 - 
May. 
