ur Society
ladies I came to the conclusion that comparing the clothes with which
the latter and the Sakai women are habitually covered there was nothing
to be said about the difference made in the toilet on grand and festive
occasions.

But to return to the dancers. They hold in their right hands a bunch of
palm leaves and begin their performance with curtsies, skips and the
contortions I have spoken of; then follows an undulating movement of the
flanks as they hurry forward, something in the same position as
"cake-walk" dancers, lightly beating the leaves in their hand against
others of the same kind they have fastened on their right hip.

The dance is a continual exercise of the joints and muscles, but its
swaying motion is not without grace and displays all the seductive
beauty of the girls whose freshness has not been destroyed by love and
maternity.

A little innocent vanity may be found in this Terpichorean competition
because every movement, every jump and contortion receive the greatest
attention and are followed by admiration and applause, when worthy of
the demonstration, from those who have danced before or have to do so
afterwards.

The men sometimes take an active part in the dance but their steps and
their movements are always the same as the women's.

The strange thing is that they take the serpent as their model of
gracefulness and elegance and seek to copy as closely as possible the
flexibility of its body and the gliding motion peculiar to that reptile.

A malignant person would perhaps find here the subject of a witty
sarcasm thinking that in the forest serpents in the guise of women dance
alone but with us, if we wish to dance at all, we are obliged to embrace
them!

These dances will often last until dawn, just as it is at our own
evening parties.

* * * * *

Neither song, nor dance, nor the sound of those primitive instruments
ever take the character of a religious demonstration.

Only on the nights enlivened by bright moonlight, whilst dancing in the
open air, their impromptu songs contain a greeting to the shining orb
that presides over their festivity and with its silvery rays enhances
its enjoyment. But in this there is nothing to suggest a special cult.

[Illustration: A trio for Sakai instruments.

_p._ 178.]

Over yonder they do not dance with any intention of intrigue in their
minds, or with the pretext and hope of meeting young persons of
op