Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/59

 Rh made out of two hoops of wood covered with flowers, fastened crosswise. The mass of leaves is only broken at one place, where there is an opening contained by a straight line and the arc of a circle, like a ticket office, through which peers the face of Jack-i'-the-Green, or the Bushcarrier. Jack advances halfway down the street, and then sets down the bush. Three young men of the party are attached, so to speak, to the bush, and now begin to dance round it. Their faces are blackened; they are crowned with complete caps (not garlands) made of all manner of leaves and flowers. Their dresses are red, blue, and yellow respectively, each of one colour; loose-fitting bodices and trousers of calico, with flower-patterns upon them. These dance lightly round the bush, turning always towards their left, in a tripping polka-step, three trips and a pause, mostly straight forward, but with a turn round now and then. I am informed that they always dance in the same direction.

The rest of the party are two boys and two men, most fantastically dressed: it is almost impossible to describe the dresses. The leader of the whole procession—the Clown—wears a tall hat, whose crown has been cut almost round, and turned back, like the lid of a meat-tin. To this flapping crown is fastened what looks like a bird or a bundle of feathers, and a few long ribbons hang from it; there is a wide pink ribbon fastened round the hat by the brim, with a large blue bird's-wing in front, the feather end rising to the crown. Over a dress of chequered calico and trousers of red and black stripes, is a very large white pinafore, reaching from the neck to the knees, and fastened by one or two knots behind. Across the front run two fringes of coloured stuff, below the waist; and at the bottom is a yellow frill. This he used to flap and make quaint gestures with, now and then fanning himself languidly; indeed, this personage greatly fancies himself.