A VOYAGE TO 
1777. dancing, increafed fo much, that it was fcarcely poffible to 
^ diftiriguifh the different movements; though one might fup- 
pofe the actors were now almoli tired, as their performance 
had lafted near half an hour. 
After a confiderable interval, another a£t, as we may call 
it, began. Twelve men now advanced, who placed them- 
felves in double rows fronting each other, but on oppofite 
fides of the circle; and, on one lide, a man was flationed, 
who, as if he had been a prompter, repeated feveral fen- 
tences, to which the twelve new performers, and the chorus, 
replied. They then fung llowly; and afterward danced 
and fung more quickly, for about a quarter of an hour, after 
the manner of the dancers whom they had fucceeded. 
Soon after they had finifhed, nine women exhibited them- 
felves, and fat down fronting the hut where the Chief was. 
A man then rofe, and if ruck the firff of thefe women on the 
back, with both faffs joined. He proceeded, in the fame 
manner, to the fecond and third; but when he came to the 
fourth, whether from accident or defign I cannot tell, in- 
ftead of the back, he ftruck her on the bread:. Upon this a 
perfon rofe inftantly from the crowd, who brought him to 
the ground with a blow on the head; and he was carried 
off without the leafl noife or diforder. But this did not fave 
the other five women from fo odd a difcipline, or perhaps 
neceffary ceremony; for a perfon fucceeded him, who 
treated them in the fame manner. Their difgrace did not 
end here; for when they danced, they had the mortification 
to find their performance twice difapproved of, and were 
obliged to repeat it. This dance did not differ much from 
that of the firff women, except in this one circumftance, 
that the prefent fet, fometimes raifed the body upon one leg, 
by a fort of double motion, and then upon the other alter¬ 
nately, 
