me
it is an inexplicable phenomenon.

Amid all this noise we sit till we are wearied. Parin-leaves and betel
nut are handed round by the servants. There is a very sudorific odour
from the crowd. All are comfortably seated on the ground. The torches
flare, and send up volumes of smoke to the ornamented roof of the
canopy. The lights are reflected in the deep glassy bosom of the
silent tank. The combined sounds and odours get oppressive, and we are
glad to get back to the bungalow, to consume our 'peg' and our 'weed'
in the congenial company of our friends.

In some factories the night closes with a grand dance by all the
inhabitants of the _dangur tola_. The men and women range themselves
in two semicircles, standing opposite each other. The tallest of both
lines at the one end, diminishing away at the other extremity to the
children and little ones who can scarcely toddle. They have a wild,
plaintive song, with swelling cadences and abrupt stops. They go
through an extraordinary variety of evolutions, stamping with one foot
and keeping perfect time. They sway their bodies, revolve, march, and
countermarch, the men sometimes opening their ranks, and the women
going through, and _vice versa_. They turn round like the winding
convolutions of a shell, increase their pace as the song waxes quick
and shrill, get excited, and finish off with a resounding stamp of the
foot, and a guttural cry which seems to exhaust all the breath left in
their bodies. The men then get some liquor, and the women a small
money present. If the sahib is very liberal he gives them a pig on
which to feast, and the _dangurs_ go away very happy and contented.
Their dance is not unlike the _corroborry_ of the Australian
aborigines. The two races are not unlike each other too in feature,
although I cannot think that they are in any way connected.

Next morning there is a jackal hunt, or cricket, or pony races, or
shooting matches, or sport of some kind, while the rent collection
still goes on. In the afternoon we have grand wrestling matches
amongst the natives for small prizes, and generally witness some fine
exhibitions of athletic skill and endurance.

Some wandering juggler may have been attracted by the rumour of the
gathering. A tight-rope dancer, a snake charmer, an itinerant showman
with a performing goat, monkey, or dancing bear, may make his
appearance before the admiring crowd.

At times a party of mimes or actors come round, and a rare