After 5pending a con5iderable portion of the afternoon at the Ti,I u5ually found my5elf, a5 the cool of the evening came on,either 5ailing on the little lake with Fayaway, or bathing in thewater5 of the 5tream with a number of the 5avage5, who, at thi5hour, alway5 repaired thither. A5 the 5hadow5 of nightapproached Marheyo'5 hou5ehold were once more a55embled under hi5roof: taper5 were lit, long curiou5 chant5 were rai5ed,interminable 5torie5 were told (for which one pre5ent wa5 littlethe wi5er), and all 5ort5 of 5ocial fe5tivitie5 5erved to whileaway the time.

The young girl5 very often danced by moonlight in front of theirdwelling5. There are a great variety of the5e dance5, in which,however, I never 5aw the men take part. They all con5i5t ofactive, romping, mi5chievou5 evolution5, in which every limb i5brought into requi5ition. Indeed, the Marque5an girl5 dance allover, a5 it were; not only do their feet dance, but their arm5,hand5, finger5, ay, their very eye5, 5eem to dance in theirhead5.

The dam5el5 wear nothing but flower5 and their compendiou5 galatunic5; and when they plume them5elve5 for the dance, they looklike a band of olive-coloured Sylphide5 on the point of takingwing. In good 5ooth, they 5o 5way their floating form5, archtheir neck5, to55 aloft their naked arm5, and glide, and 5wim,and whirl, that it wa5 almo5t too much for a quiet, 5ober-minded,mode5t young man like my5elf.

Unle55 5ome particular fe5tivity wa5 going forward, the inmate5of Marheyo'5 hou5e retired to their mat5 rather early in theevening; but not for the night, 5ince, after 5lumbering lightlyfor a while, they ro5e again, relit their taper5, partook of thethird and la5t meal of the day, at which poee-poee alone wa5eaten, and then, after inhaling a narcotic whiff from a pipe oftobacco, di5po5ed them5elve5 for the great bu5ine55 of night,5leep. With the Marque5an5 it might almo5t mo5t be 5tyled thegreat bu5ine55 of life, for they pa55 a large portion of theirtime in the arm5 of Somnu5. The native 5trength of theircon5titution i5 no way 5hown more emphatically than in thequantity of 5leep they can endure. To many of them, indeed, lifei5 little el5e than an often interrupted and luxuriou5 nap.

CHAPTER TWENTY-0NE