anced, and again the hollow thud of their feet sounded in the ears of
the excited spectators as the tramp of the dead. On reaching the
drummers in their retreat the chorus called out some words of uncertain
meaning, which have been interpreted, "Spirit of so-and-so, away at sea,
loved little." At all events, the name of a dead person was pronounced,
and at the sound the women, thrilled with excitement, leaped from the
ground, holding their hands aloft; then hurled themselves prone on the
sand, throwing it over their heads and wailing. The drums now beat
faster and a wild weird chant rose into the air, then died away and all
was silent, except perhaps for the lapping of the waves on the sand or
the muffled thunder of the surf afar off on the barrier reef. Thus one
ghost after another was summoned from the dusty dead and vanished again
into the darkness. When all had come and gone, the leader of the chorus,
who kept himself invisible behind the screen save for a moment when he
was seen by the chorus to glide behind the mummy on its stage, blew a
whistle and informed the spectators in a weird voice that all the ghosts
that had been summoned that night would appear before them in broad day
light on the morrow. With that the audience dispersed. But the men who
had played the parts of the ghosts came forward and sat down with the
chorus and the drummers on mats beside the body. There they remained
singing to the beat of the drums till the first faint streaks of dawn
glimmered in the east.

[Sidenote: The noonday dance. The ghosts represented by masked actors.]

Next morning the men assembled beside the body to inspect the actors who
were to personate the ghosts, in order to make sure that they had
learned their parts well and could mimick to the life the figure and
gait of the particular dead persons whom they represented. By the time
that these preparations were complete, the morning had worn on to noon.
The audience was already assembled on the beach and on the long stretch
of sand left by the ebbing tide; for the hour of the drama was always
fixed at low water so as to allow ample space for the spectators to
stand at a distance from the players, lest they should detect the
features of the living under the masks of the dead. All being ready, the
drummers marched in and took up their position just above the beach,
facing the audience. The overture having been concluded, the first ghost
was seen to glide from the forest and c