!" screamed an old man, in a sudden outburst of temper. He
bent his knees and curved his spine, protruding his head towards me. He
shook his fists in my face, waved them about in the air, opened and
tightly clenched them, digging his nails furiously into his palms.
Instead of contracting the scalp of his forehead, the old Raot raised
his eyebrows and turned his polished forehead into a succession of deep
wrinkles, stretching in a straight line across almost from ear to ear,
and showing only a dark dimple over his nose. His nostrils, flat and
broad to begin with, became widely expanded and raised so as to cause two
deep lines to diverge from the nose along his cheeks. His mouth was open
and a peculiar vacillation of the lower lip demonstrated plainly that its
owner had but little command over speech and articulation. His eyes,
which may have been brown originally, were discoloured, probably through
the abuse of excessive animal powers, to the possession of which the
formation of his skull strongly testified, but they assumed extraordinary
brilliancy as his fury increased. He opened them wide, apparently with an
effort, and showed the entire circle of his iris. The pupils were
dilated, notwithstanding that the light upon his face was strong at the
time.

Following his example, some of the rest displayed their discontent in a
similar fashion, but others, among whom I especially noticed two youths
with sad languishing faces, drooping large eyes, and luxuriant growth of
black hair, stood apathetically apart, with head reclining towards the
right shoulder, their features perfectly composed, and supporting their
chins on their hands. Even if they had overcome their stupor, they did
certainly not betray it, and appeared perfectly emotionless as far as
their countenances were concerned.

One fellow with an extraordinary head, a mixture it seemed of a Mongolian
and a Negroid type, was the first to calm himself of those who were so
madly excited. With piercing though unsteady eyes, and with nervous
twitching movements, he scrutinised my face more closely than the others,
and seemed to reassure them all that I had not come to hurt them. He made
signs to the rest to desist from their threats, and then, squatting down
himself, invited me to follow his example, by sitting on my heels. When
the storm had subsided and they had all sat down, I drew out of my pocket
some coins and gave one to each of them, with the exception of one man on