while with the other he carried a kind of cithara
of black wood against his hip. The eunuchs, slaves, and women had
been scrupulously sent away; no one might know the mystery that was
preparing.

Taanach kindled four tripods filled with strobus and cadamomum in the
corners of the apartment; then she unfolded large Babylonian hangings,
and stretched them on cords all around the room, for Salammbo did not
wish to be seen even by the walls. The kinnor-player squatted behind
the door and the young boy standing upright applied a reed flute to
his lips. In the distance the roar of the streets was growing feebler,
violet shadows were lengthening before the peristyles of the temples,
and on the other side of the gulf the mountain bases, the fields of
olive-trees, and the vague yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and were
blended together in a bluish haze; not a sound was to be heard, and an
unspeakable depression weighed in the air.

Salammbo crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin; she
raised her ample sleeves, fastening them behind her shoulders, and began
her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred rites.

Next Taanach brought her something liquid and coagulated in an alabaster
phial; it was the blood of a black dog slaughtered by barren women on a
winter's night amid the rubbish of a sepulchre. She rubbed it upon her
ears, her heels, and the thumb of her right hand, and even her nail
remained somewhat red, as if she had crushed a fruit.

The moon rose; then the cithara and the flute began to play together.

Salammbo unfastened her earrings, her necklace, her bracelets, and her
long white simar; she unknotted the band in her hair, shaking the latter
for a few minutes softly over her shoulders to cool herself by thus
scattering it. The music went on outside; it consisted of three notes
ever the same, hurried and frenzied; the strings grated, the flute blew;
Taanach kept time by striking her hands; Salammbo, with a swaying of
her whole body, chanted prayers, and her garments fell one after another
around her.

The heavy tapestry trembled, and the python's head appeared above the
cord that supported it. The serpent descended slowly like a drop of
water flowing along a wall, crawled among the scattered stuffs, and
then, gluing its tail to the ground, rose perfectly erect; and his eyes,
more brilliant than carbuncles, darted upon Salammbo.

A horror of cold, or perhaps a feeling of shame