Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/190

Rh Chorus of all the women, singing softly:

First singers—loudly and with animation

Second singers—softly and plaintive:

First singers:

Second singers:

Chorus of all the women, singing softly

After this, they started to their feet, and shrieked as loudly as they could, making a rattling noise in their throats for three or four minutes. The widow kneeled, swaying her body backward and forward, and feebly joined in the wild cry.

Some of the women reseated themselves on the floor quite exhausted, some retired, and a number of guests from 'Akka came in and took the vacant places. A minstrel woman began slowly beating a tambourine, and all the company clapped their hands in measure with it, singing, "Alas for him! alas for him! He was brave, he was good, alas for him!" Then three women rose, with naked swords in their hands, and stood at two or three yards' distance from each other. They began dancing with slow and graceful movements, with their swords at first held low and their heads drooping. Each dancer kept within a circle of