Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-06-30

there all day long, without a change OF
expression on his face and without having
converse with anyone. A slave stands be.
hind him holding an umbrella over his
royal person. He is an embodiment of
savage dignity and authority. He is like
the oriental monarch of q few square miles
of wild country and a squad of 500 No
MAIDS who used to crawl out of his tent at
dawn, drink a calabash of mares milk
and with a grand flourish toward the east
exclaim: II have broken my fast. Now.
sun, you have my permission to shine upon
the world"
Now the head drummer begins to beat
the skin of his instrument. At first it is
a gentle, rhythmic tapping. At each sue.
cessive tap the blow is a trife harder, the
noise q little louder. Now another drum
joins in. A brass cymbal takes up the
gradually swelling chorus. Finally ali
the instruments are hard at work, and a
wild refrain floats out over the ~plaisance.
In the center of the floor thirty men and
women, all rs black as the ace of spades.
have been sitting or lying. AS the so
called music starts up II after another
rouses from his slumber or his stupor and
beats time with his body. Finally all are
on their feet, and at a signal from theil
leader, who wears a hoop-skirt of weeds.
the dance begins. tits more a march thar
a dance. Forward swing the motley crew.
brandishing their war-clubs and grinnine
with their hideous mouths. Then they
fall back again. The music rings out
wilder and wilder, The drums beat louder
and louder. Now the contortions com.
mence. They are neither sensuous mol
graceful. They are simply savage anc
hldeous. None of the performers enter
more into the spirit of the ogrie than the
Amazons. They shake and twist them.
serves and throw their limbs and bodies
about with utter recklessness. They swing
their weapons as if it would delight them
&c murder, to carve and to destroy.
Suddenly the music stops, and the ex.
hausted dancers throw themselves on the
floor again to rest and sleep for five min.
utes. At this juncture it would be well
for visitors to choose the windward side OF
the theater if they wish to remain for the
next dance. The sun shines warm, but
little air is stirring through the village,
II ~Dahomeyites are Ethiopian.
MOI far away is the village Of the South
Sea islanders. Though from the Pacific
instead of Africa they are much like the
Dahomeyites. They have similar huts, s
stage under a big shed, a baby lying ASLEEP
IN one OF the houses, and the same disre,
gard OF quantity and fitness in their cloth
ing. Their public dance is much like that
OF the Africans. Their women are an i'm.
provement over the amazons, however.
The South Sea islanders have with them
three Hula girls, who are passably comely.
They wear short skirts of sea grass, stud.
ded with pieces of glass and other rude
ornaments, and they Irvine grasses and
lowers in their dark hair. They cultivate
grace In their dancing, and are not war
North America contributes to the savage
show, too. Down by the south pond, near
the Krupp gun exhibit, are the Quackal
Indians from British America. They have
their rude habitations, their totem poles,
their hideous wooden idols and Their
burnt-out canoes. They initiate their fel-
low savages from the Orient and the south
seas in having q dance that is ugly and
wild without being in any sense disgusting
or improper.
From the Arctic regions we have two
colonies, one the Laplanders from neal the
north cape OF Norway and the other q
family of Esquimaux from Greenland.
Old King Bull, the ruler Of the Lap vii.
!age, Is the jolliest savage along Midway.
He is out for a good time, and intends to
have 1t at any cost. When the mercury
rises highest and he might be expected to
suffer most with the heat he pulls his seal
skin about his thick figure, smiles a know
Ing smile and PUSHES away to fill himself
with cool beer. More than once they have
had to call the patrol wagon and cart him
OIL to the c%alaboose. It is in drink alone
that civilized man and the savage reach
the same level.
WALTER WELLMAN.
ReuniO of Veterans.
From Oct. 2Oto Oct. "a there will be 9 re-