Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/169

Rh a sword, or club, or handkerchief in his hand, begins in a melancholy voice singing five or six notes, as follows:

and tells them what they shall presently say after him. They sing away hours and hours the same notes, but different words. Every third note is accompanied by clapping of the hands. Half the men say or sing whilst bowing and inclining to the right, then the other half sing whilst inclining to their side, the leader following very cleverly, and by his own movements showing them how far they are to bow and bend. After having repeated the same lines five or six times, he goes on to another, now hardly bowing, now almost reaching the ground. When he does this, he produces guttural tones on the letter such as are used to make a camel kneel down. The women have a merrier tone and livelier dance. One o; two dance in the middle of a circle, the whole of the dancers whirling round, now jumping with both feet at once and clapping hands, now whirling round and joining each other's hands. One singer in the middle says a line, and the others repeat—

This singing and dancing, with occasional firing of guns and drinking of coffee, goes on every evening till the wedding day. The people then assemble