The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-28

SEINE IN DAHOME1 VILLAGE.
there all day long, without 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 Ike
the oriental monarch OF few square miles
of wild country and q squad of 500 No
MAIDS who used to crawl out of his tent at
dawn, drink q calabash of mares milk
and with 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
gentle, rhythmic tapping. At each sue
cessive tap the blow is trifie harder the
noise q little louder. Now another drum
joins in. Il brass cymbal takes up the
gradually swelling chorus. Finally all
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 as black as the ace of spades,
have been sitting or lying. As the So
called music starts up one 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 their
leader, who wears a hoop-skirt of weeds,
the dance begins. Its more a march than
q dance. Forward swing the motley crew,
brandishipg their war-clubs and grinning
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 nor
graceful. They are simply savage and
hideous. None of the performers enter
more into the spirit of the ogrie than the
AmazoHs. They shake and twist them
selves and throw their limbs and bodies
about with utter recklessness. They swing
their weapons as if it would delight them
to 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,
and Dahomeyites are Ethiopian.
Not 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,
stage under 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 ike 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
flowers in their dark hair. They cultivate
grace in their dancing, and are not war
Ike.
North America contributes to the savage
show, too Down by the south pond, near
the krupp gun exhibit, are the Quackai
Indians from British America. They have
their rude habitations, their totem poles,
their hideous wooden idols and their
burnt-out canoes. They initiate their fell
low savages from the Orient and the south
seas in having q dance thai Is ugly and
wild without being III any sense disgusting
or improper
From the Arctic regions we have two
colonies, one the I-AHianders from near the
north cape OF Norway and the other a
family of Es1uimaux from Greenland.
Old King Bull, the ruler of the Lap vii
lage, is the Jolliest savage along Midway.
He is out for good tune, and intends 70
have il at any cost. When the mercury
rises highest and he might be expected to
suffer most with TIE heat he pulls his seal
skin about his thick figure, smiles know
ing smile and rusbes away 70 I'LL himself
with cool beer More than once they have
had 10 call the patrol wagon and cart him
of TO the calaboosc. It X in drink alone
that civilized man and the savage reach /.
the same level.