The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1909-09-02
DANCES OF THE HEAD HUNTERS.
BY Grace Helen Bailey.

/ or red gTe-strlngS, the gleam or
spears breaking from an organizing
line like the chorus of a burlesque
when the director has been called out.
Then there was hush and the COM
pany slowly, wordlessly, filed out Of
the engulfing darkness into the furn-
ace glow Of the fire.
Nowhere have seen more beauti-
/ fully muscled and developed bodies;
smooth as satin, without the obesity
Of the Chinese athlete, and yet with
his peculiar polish of skin. Not over
| five feet these people are so perfectly
| formed, all curves and proportion, that
/ the height is scarcely missed. The
eyes, wide, dark, are wild in express
/ sion, untamed in glance, as are the
limbs in action. AS they advanced and
| fell into position, the white spectators
/ did not exist for them, the fire was in
/ their veins and the beat of tom-tom
was waking them to pnsubdued in
stincts, as could be perceived by the
twitching muscles. the suppressed eX-
/ element of the whole body.
1t might have been the forest prime
val, and we seemed gazing upon the
rites of a prehistoric race, so different
were they from any human We had
ever seen. Unlike the American In
dian, the Hindu, the African, the Asia
tic, and utterly differing from the Ian
guild Filipino of the lowlands, the Igor
rote resembles no one but himself.
At a signal from the chief four ma
tives stepped out of rank and stood al
most stolid, waiting orders. The com
mands came from the leader and reg
ulaie the music. AS If listening, the
quartet leaned toward the copse and
then, faint as a sight, came a sound
similar to that of bird call. A wo-
man Of the tribe, with a blanket con-
! cealing her person, and held high over
/ the head so as TO represent wings.
came from the brush with a nuttering
/ movement; she was a wounded dove,
searching for her mate. Rising on tip
toe, light as messenger Of the upper
/ spaces, her 1.-THE body swaying heer
and there as though driven by the
wind or some uncontrolled longing,
she appeared to conceal real wings I'M
der the wooden covering so aerial was
the flight
The accompaniment, which at frs:
was harsh, rounded off into sorrowtul
murmurs, then, without warning,
swelled into frantic, crashing beats, as
/ the poor dove finds herself pursued
by the hawk. She rushes, she veers
with sidelong sweeps from the talons
of the pursuer, but all in vain; she
grows isibly weaker, and after clever
lodgings, the great bird Of prey
| swoops down on his victim. She rises
on elbow and flutters one end OF the
blanket, giving at the same time an
amatory challenge to the mate winging
his way in freedom. Now comes the
chorus and the line forms a kneeling
circle about the faithful dove, giving
utterance TO a choking breath that las
an exquisite pathos as 1t falls into
minor chant. All wounded animal life
hints its pain in the cries and sobbing
which shake the savage breasts; there
I is an anguished plant against the In
exorability of the survival OF the fit
| test. The sentiment, the music-mo-
tive were singularly tender and har-
monious, free from any suggestion
either Of counterpoint or sayagery.
This character painting, or epic OF
forest life, had barely walled to Us
death when we were frozen at yell
more narrowing than that OF Apaches
on the warpath. Twenty warriors
rushed into the fire glow. naked but
for the gee-string, with long earrings,
with spears seven feet in length and
wooden shields oddly shaped at the
top, reminding one Of stocks, since
there was an opening through which a
head might easily it, And these shields
were constructed for just that purpose.
We saw before us-and IL was with
shiver-the real head hunters, No
madic by nature, they wander where
the spirit moves, keeping, as RUE,
good distance from the whites.
They talked loudly and gesticulated
much, as though there was a grave
subject under consideration. Having
come TO a decision, they crept away,
hiding behind the underbrush. An
awkward figure, draped in a blanket
and propelled by means of a long
stick, made its appearance in the
opening. 1t wobbled piufully, and we
discovered without much effort that Il
was an efigy on which the Thespians
meant to heap not only death, but In
sults-the just due of this victim
standing for some tribal luminosity.
The enemy lurched forward The