Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/297

Rh costume exclaimed to the rest, "What a shame it was that her husband would not allow her to dance!"

The dances performed on this occasion were slow and undulating, very little motion was given to the feet, which never moved beyond the space of about one yard square, the movements were confined chiefly to the arms and the upper part of the body.

A year or two previously, when travelling near Bona, a place about 100 miles east of Algiers, we met with some wandering dancers; the performers consisted of a man who played a drum, and two little boys about eight or ten years old, who were dressed in red jackets and very full white trowsers reaching almost to the ankles; when they danced they too hardly moved beyond a space of half a yard square, but by a peculiar movement of the hips the lads gave their knickerbockers an incessant shaking motion.

Religious dances are also executed in Algeria; they are performed by a particular sect of Arabs who call themselves Aïssaoua (or followers of Jesus). This sect affirms that their prophet taught them that if they have only faith they can do all things, eat scorpions and other noxious insects, take live coals in their mouth, eat pounded or broken glass, swallow large pebbles, and stand upon the blade of a naked sword. They certainly do appear to perform all these feats—as far as we could see there was no deception in the matter. Some years ago, at one of these meetings, a man belonging to the Aïssaoua sect sat cross-legged on the ground close to the writer; he was not performing that evening, but apparently for his own amusement, or to keep his hand (or rather his digestion) in, in the space of a few minutes he chucked into his mouth and swallowed more pebbles than would fill a half-pint measure; few of these stones were smaller than a hazel-nut, some even larger; on astonishment being expressed by some of the foreigners present, he replied in fairly good French, "Ah, one must begin young to be able to do such things!"

Before commencing their performance, the leader of the Aïssaoua and his disciples seat themselves, cross-legged, in a circle on the ground; their hair is long and unkempt, and their bodies bare down to the waist. In their midst are placed several earthen pots, containing live coals. The leader puts a pinch of some kind of powder