One person holds the stalk of his tobacco-pipe between the
palms of his hands, so that the pipe rolls round as he moves
his hands, which he is to hold over his head, so as not to
see them. After turning it round for a short time, he sud*
denly stops, and the person to whom the bowl is directed
has to drink a cup of wine. Another is a Chinese game :
one person holds his hand closed over his head, he then
brmgs it quickly down before him with one or more fingers
extended; the person he is playing with calls out the
number of them, and if he guesses right, he has to drink
the cup of wine. These and other games caused a good
deal of noisy mirth, and at length it was proposed by them
to go out, in order to look a t the sailors who were dancing on
deck. Before leaving the cabin, they shewed us a Loo-choo
dance round the tab le : Mddera placed himself at the head
before Ookooma, while the others ranged themselves in a line
behind him; he began by a song, the air of which was very
pretty, and nearly a t the same time commenced the dance,
Which consisted principally in throwing the body into a
variety of postures, and twisting the hands about. Sometimes
the hands were placed flat together, at others separate,
but generally the former; the movements both of the body
and hands were regular and of a waving description. The
head was made to incline slowly from side to side, so as
almost to touch the shoulders; the feet were moved with a
slight shuffling motion, with an occasional long sweeping
step to one side and then back again; but the perfection
of the dance appeared to be in the proper use of the hands
and body. The words of the dance song were “ Sasa sang-
eoomah, sangcoomee a h ! sangeoomee a h ! kadee yooshee
d aw /’ when they came to the last word they all joined
in the chorus and clapped their hands. Although M&dera
was the leader both in the dance and song, he was occa,
sionally joined in the latter by several of the others, the
whole party repeating the last word several times over,
In this way they went several times round the table. M4-
dera had a graceful carriage, and his dancing, though fantastic,
was really elegant; his singing too was in good taste.
The others danced clumsily, though in perfect good time,
and joined with some spirit in the chorus.
The ship was illuminated, and the sailors were dancing on
the upper deck. The chiefs were much pleased with this
scene, which was lively enough, After watching the dance of
the sailors for a few minutes, Madera, who, to use a common
phrase, “ was up to every thing,” ran among the sailors, and
seizing one of them by the shoulders, put him out of the
dance, took his place, and kept up the reel with the same
spirjt, and exactly in the same style and step as the sailors.