Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/254

246

By Mrs. J. C. Murray-Aynsley.

CHAPTER I.

IT is chiefly in out of the way and mountainous districts in various countries that national dances still survive.

We propose in this series of papers to give examples from Ladakh or Western Tibet, situated in the extreme north of the Himalayas and bordering on Central Asia, and also of the dances of the hill tribes of the highlands of Assam, of Hindostán proper, of the Southern Peninsula of India, of Egypt, Greece, Algeria, and Spain (this latter country is still very Eastern in many of its customs), and of our own highlands of Scotland. As we proceed, the strange resemblance which exists between the dances of Asia and some of those of Europe cannot fail to strike the reader. Except where otherwise stated, they have all been witnessed by the writer. To any one who has visited these different localities it is most interesting and curious to note how perfectly each dance seems adapted to the surroundings of these various peoples: one gains an insight into their characters and temperaments, and can understand to how great an extent the climate and the physical aspect of a country acts upon its inhabitants, and even influences their amusements. Certain peoples are incited to dance through light-heartedness, others by warlike impulses, others by religious fervour; to some again, their