Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/338

308 narrow lane of the native quarter, in the courtyard of a blacksmith, at a cost to him, it was said, of fifty rupees. There were some forty spectators of the poorer classes, of many races and religions, including, doubtless, the Salvation Army and Theosophy; but I was apparently the sole European. The invalid lay under the verandah, surrounded by female relations and friends; her husband kept aloof, as custom required. The onlookers stood in a circle; for me, as an honoured guest, a long arm-chair was provided. My guide and I arrived at 9.30, the performance, begun at about five o'clock, was to continue through the night. Just then a dancer was whirling about, clad in an embroidered flounced skirt reaching to a little below the knees, a coarse loose shirt, bells around his legs, on his head a crown of palm-leaves with long streamers. In each hand he brandished a lighted torch, before, behind, above, below, sometimes kneeling. Then, his body having been fumigated with some fragrant smoke, he held the torch against his face, neck, body, and shirt, without apparent harm. Becoming evidently much exhausted, he had to be fortified occasionally with drinks, including a considerable amount of palm toddy. There was little grace or variety in the steps, to which a monotonous tom-tom kept time. By me stood a Christian; he had brought his wife, and seemed as much edified as anyone.

Another dancer followed, dressed in a similar way, but in addition wearing a hideous mask, and holding in his mouth a long torch by the middle, lit at each end. His steps were much the same as his predecessor's, rather common-place and clumsy. After a while he seized a young cock of tawny colour, and, brandishing a knife, he ran around furiously with savage howls, making signs of beheading the fowl, and of tearing it in pieces with his teeth. Now and then he rushed up close to me so fiercely that it seemed to me as if the human sacrifice known to local cults was perhaps in his mind. The cock escaped for the time, to be immolated at a later stage. Next the tom-tom man sang an invocation to the tormenting spirit. Then the last dancer, with different mask and garments, imitated a furious bear by hideous noises and outlandish movements, finally throwing one of his comrades on the ground as if to devour him.

Near my chair was placed a slender stand of palm leaves to receive offerings of flowers. Inside the house there was a more