The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1878-06-06
A Zeibeck Dance.

Says a correspondent of the New York
Herald in a letter relating some Of the
peculiarities Of these people:
Taking advantage of the long stay
made at Sheitanjik, and, perhaps, with
an eye to the piasters of the GiaOITs,
who were their fellow-travelers, the big
maE with the fringe around his head,
and a colossal negro, as black as Ere
bus, treated us to Zeibeck dance. A
ring, or rather an oval, was made on the
platform, and the motley crowd gath
cred round to see the performance. The.
fringed dandy seated himself cross-leg-
geo against the wall, and unslung from
his back an instrument like asmall gui-i
tar, upon which he commenced a Curl
OUsly monOtonous but well accentuated
measure. After a few bars Of the mel
anchOly twanging the big negro stepped
into the ring and began figuring with
his legs, in a slow movement, pointing
his toes, planting his heels and swapping
his fingers in excellent time. After a
few moments of this leg twisting figure,
he slowly raised one leg and holding it
out horizontally pirOuetted on the other
in a manner which to US westerns was
irresistibly ludicrous, although I failed
to detect the slightest semblsnce Of a
smile on the faces Of the crowd. When
the enormous baIlerino had finished this
pas seuI at one end of the ring he uttered
"WhOopl" and rushed in a state of
great excitement to the other end, the
crowd falling back before him; but, sud
denly stopping in his charge, he re-
Iapsed into the lone, two, three point"
business.
AS a dance the repetition Of these al
terfate gy1ations and charges became
uOnOtOnOus, and apparently bones"
1--WE instantly bestowed upon him that
familiar and appropriate name although
no doubt he is an Abdullah or an Ali
thought so too, for by way of variety
he unsheathed two of his swords and
gave us a bit Of sword play, continuing
his dance without intermission the
while. He would cross the swords be-
hind his back, between his legs, and
then sticking them, with their naked
points downward, into his sash, slowly
hop round and round. Whether this
was intended to convey to our minds
the death agony of man with two
swords in his stomach we could not tell,
but to judge from the approving mods
which the audience exchanged it evil
dently was very remarkable perform
ance. Just as they were recovering
from the effect of this figure Of the
dance Bones uttered his whOop and
went down the middle, whirling mis-
swords and making the gravel fly right
and left in fine style. This was too
much for the crowd at the other end;
it broke and fed; many of the onloOk-
ers, forgetting the edge of the platform,
tOppled over, but amid the confusion
and laughter, there was Bones, who as
before had stopped short in his wild ca
reer, calmly chasse-croiseing without a
trace of excitement or change Of fea-
ture.
1.-The whole scene, although amusing
and almost childish, was strangely fas-
cinating, and the shrek Of the engine
whistle broke in upon it anonymously
and startlingly. 1t recalled us to the
utilitarian civilization of the nineteenth
century from out of the untutored, pic
turesque barbarism Of the middle ages.
The musician slung his guitar behind
his back, the big negro put up his
swords, and one and all, journalists and
Zeibecks, we locked into the train.