ine and the old barn theatre. Nothing could have
been duller. The line from _Ruddigore_ came to mind, "This is one of
our blameless dances." The first night the performers were evidently
shy and the girls would hardly come forward. Things warmed up a little
more each night and on the last night of all there was a certain
animation; but even then the movement, the song and the whole scheme
of the dance seemed to be lacking in vigour. What happened was that a
number of lads gradually formed themselves into a ring, which got
larger or smaller as the girls joined it or waited outside. The girls
bunched together all the time. None of the dancers ever took hands.
The so-called dancing consisted of a raising of both arms--the girls
had fans in their hands--and a simple attitudinising. The lads all
clapped their hands together in time, but in a half-hearted kind of
way; the girls struck the palms of their left hands with their fans.
The boys were in clean working dress. Some had towels wound round
their heads, some wore caps and others hats. The girls were got up in
all their best clothes with fine _obi_ and white aprons. The music was
dirge-like. It was not at all what Western people understand to be
singing. The performers emitted notes in a kind of falsetto, and these
five or six notes were repeated over and over and over again. The only
word I can think of which approximately describes what I heard, but it
seems harsh, is the Northern word, yowling. First the lads yowled and
then the girls responded with a slightly more musical repetition of
the same sounds. For all the notice the boys appeared to take of the
girls they might not have been present. The lads and lasses were no
doubt fully conscious, however, of each other's presence. The dancing
took place on the nights of the full moon. But it was cloudy, and,
owing to the big surrounding trees, the performance was often dimly
lit.

To me the dancing was depressing, but that is not to say that the
dancers found it so. Dancing began at eight o'clock and went on till
midnight. "They would not be fit for their work next day if they
danced later," a sober-minded adult explained. This was only one
suggestion among many that the dance has been devitalised under the
respectabilising influence of the policeman and village elders who had
forgotten their youth. To the onlooker it did not seem to matter very
much whether the dance, as it is now, continues or not. Occasionally
one had