A NYAMBARA DANCE. 303 sent forth a sound of invitation to a dance, three strokes at a time being continually repeated. Immediately the people collected together, and in a minute two long lines were formed, one of women, the other of men, each person holding two sticks made out of the excellent wood of the Diospyros mespiliformis, which, when struck, gives out an almost metallic sound. The big drum then began to beat in three quaver time, accompanied by a small drum, while the sticks were struck against each other, and a chorus formed a prelude to the ball. The hopping rhythm of this really pretty production was succeeded by a processional march of men and women simultaneously round the drum, accompanied by singing, but this solemn demeanour did not last long. The drum struck up a lively tune, some of the young men jumped high in the air and crowed lke angry cocks, some of the more eager women began the exciting trilling sound of which all Negro women are so fond, and suddenly they launched into an allegro furioso. The men jumped high, and on alighting rebounded, the sticks clattered, the singing gradually swelled, here and there a woman advanced to the men, hopping and swaying her body alternately to the right and left, while her arms revolved like the sails of a windmill. Her challenge was at once accepted, the men springing forward, two or three at a time, to fight for the possession of the women. The enjoyment became more and more universal, the men throwing off their inconvenient clothes, the women allowing their aprons and tails to fly away, until a furious dance was being performed round the drum, the women inside, the men forming an outer ring—a veritable pandemonium, lighted up by the red glow of torches, which were brandished by the dancers, and from which a shower of sparks was scattered far and wide.

On such occasions, it is difficult to know what most to admire —the untiring endurance of the dancers, who have been working during the day, or the primitive genuine enjoyment that is mirrored in all these sparkling eyes and shining rows of teeth.

Women with infants on their backs, but more often with children of. four to five years of age, are the most indefatigable dancers, and perhaps it is these gymnastics, carried on from early youth, which account for the healthy development of the . Negroes, and the absence of deformities among them. It is also