Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/351

 On the Origin of the Egyptian  Zar 319

time with her hands. Tremblin<;, a woman came forward from the shelter and joined Kaltuma on the mat, dropped on her knees and swayed her body spasmodically.

Farat:^. still dancinc:^ frantically, seized a small knife from where it had been hangincj on one of the tripods, and made a superficial incision in his arm. A gourd containing water was brought to him and he washed the blood into it and drank the mixture. This he did at the express command of Babinga, in order to give him strength, as no sacrifice had been made for him. He had received the command while he was dancing, no word had been spoken, the message had come to him as in a dream. As he did this I saw the tram- car pass only about twenty yards away, and was vividly reminded of the contrast between barbarism and modernity in this country. The native passengers saw nothing incon- gruous in the glimpse of the wild dance they caught between the mud brick houses.

Two women now left the shelter and danced in the open space, jerking their bodies and throwing out their elbows in the same way as the men. Farag seized the knife of Yambio and leapt wildly about. The bath in which the sheep had been washed was upset, and some of the liquid, precious by virtue of the blood in it, was gathered up and smeared on the faces of the kneeling women. Then the music stopped, and N'gurma spoke through Farag. Strid- ing up and down with his head thrown back and eyes staring, his voice rang clearer and with a more distinct pitch than was normal. He spoke to a Sudanese subaltern, telling him his wife had promised to kill a sheep, and had not done so, she must do it. The music began again and Farag danced, but suddenly leaped forward and placed one hand on a drum, all was silent. N'gurma asked why we had come to watch this dance, had we heard of it in a dream .-' Again the drums struck up and again Farag stopped them, for he was not pleased with the tune, Farag then sang a few words to another tune, it was taken up directly and the