become sexual in character. At the end of the rites attending the
funeral of a chief's son the entire population began to dance
with ever-growing ardor; there was nothing ritualistic or sad in
these contortions, which took on the character of a lascivious
dance. Men and women, boys and girls, young and old, sought to
rival each other in suppleness, and the festival became joyous
and general, as if in celebration of a marriage or a victory.
(Eysséric, "La Côte d'Ivoire," _Nouvelles Archives des Missions
Scientifiques_, tome ix, 1890, pp. 241-49.)

Mrs. French-Sheldon has described the marriage-rites she observed
at Taveta in East Africa. "During this time the young people
dance and carouse and make themselves generally merry and
promiscuously drunk, carrying the excess of their dissipation to
such an extent that they dance until they fall down in a species
of epileptic fit." It is the privilege of the bridegroom's four
groomsmen to enjoy the bride first, and she is then handed over
to her legitimate husband. This people, both men and women, are
"great dancers and merry-makers; the young fellows will collect
in groups and dance as though in competition one with the other;
one lad will dash out from the circle of his companions, rush
into the middle of a circumscribed space, and scream out 'Wow,
wow!' Another follows him and screams; then a third does the
same. These men will dance with their knees almost rigid, jumping
into the air until their excitement becomes very great and their
energy almost spasmodic, leaving the ground frequently three feet
as they spring into the air. At some of their festivals their
dancing is carried to such an extent that I have seen a young
fellow's muscles quiver from head to foot and his jaws tremble
without any apparent ability on his part to control them, until,