I did not
see (although I mixed pretty freely with the young people) any
breach of propriety on the praias. The merry-makings were carried
on near the ranchos, where the more staid citizens of Ega,
husbands with their wives and young daughters, all smoking
gravely out of long pipes, sat in their hammocks and enjoyed the
fun. Towards midnight we often heard, in the intervals between
jokes and laughter, the hoarse roar of jaguars prowling about the
jungle in the middle of the praia. There were several guitar-
players among the young men, and one most persevering fiddler--
so there was no lack of music.
The favourite sport was the Pira-purasseya, or fish-dance, one of
the original games of the Indians, though now probably a little
modified. The young men and women, mingling together, formed a
ring, leaving one of their number in the middle, who represented
the fish. They then all marched round, Indian file, the musicians
mixed up with the rest, singing a monotonous but rather pretty
chorus, the words of which were invented (under a certain form)
by one of the party who acted as leader.
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