. The Victoria Nyanza; the land, the races and their customs, with specimens of some of the dialects . mbles that of theoboe. The men wore aprons of skin and grass, and hadfur ornaments on their heads. The people danced tothe music, springing up and crouching down in perfecttime. With wild leaps, often keeping the two legstogether, singly or en masse, thus showing off theirpliable bodies, the musicians kept getting nearer andnearer. Then they suddenly turned, then faced again,stamping on the ground with the feet in accurate all these motions the flutes and horns were blowncontinual
. The Victoria Nyanza; the land, the races and their customs, with specimens of some of the dialects . mbles that of theoboe. The men wore aprons of skin and grass, and hadfur ornaments on their heads. The people danced tothe music, springing up and crouching down in perfecttime. With wild leaps, often keeping the two legstogether, singly or en masse, thus showing off theirpliable bodies, the musicians kept getting nearer andnearer. Then they suddenly turned, then faced again,stamping on the ground with the feet in accurate all these motions the flutes and horns were blowncontinually and the drums beaten. Little iron bellswere tied round the legs ; these increased the noise, andmarked the time. When the band reached me they kepton unweariedly, standing all the time in rank. Now andthen one would dart out of the ranks to show off hisleaping and dancing alone ; then he danced back to hisold place. The whole band was directed by a Katikiro,an official of the Sultan, who stood by and gave thenecessary commands. The music of the flute band was more melodious 7 98 VICTORIA NYANZA. and harmonious than that of the oboe-like horns. Agaping crowd stood round the band, and most of themcould not help dancing to the music. Music creates inthem all—men, women, and children—thedesire to dance. I saw two women risk-ing the maddest leaps and contortions,although each had a six-months child onher back, and these latter had to accom-pany all the motions of their pleasure-seeking mothers without once uttering asingle sound of protest. Once also theplayers sang songs to the flute music,keeping time by stamping with their members of such a band are musiciansby profession. rattleT (One- A small bottle gourd, with the opening )ize closeal and the inside containing pebbles, serves rather for making a noise than for music. These rattles are also used for medicine-makine (Fig. 131 ; see Ussukuma). I will now make mention of a drum of surprising size. This
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidvict, booksubjectethnology
