, and the dancer always keeps time with him in
all his frenzies and eccentricities, so that his movements are sometimes
so slow as to be barely noticeable, and at others so rapid that his arms
and legs can no longer be distinguished. I happened to witness no less
than six funerals simultaneously in Garbyang, and a collective war-dance
of as many as three hundred men. It went on during a whole day and the
greater part of the following night, torches and a big bonfire burning.

[Illustration: SENDING THE GOAT AWAY FROM THE VILLAGE]

[Illustration: MARTIAL DANCE ROUND LAY FIGURE]

Eventually, amidst firing of guns, howls, yells and deafening hissing of
the assembled crowd, the animal to be sacrificed is dragged before the
lay figure. Long coloured ribbons are tied round its horns, and the ends
left hanging by the side of its head. Sandal-wood is burnt under the
beast's nostrils, which is supposed to induce the soul of the departed to
enter and establish itself in the animal. The clothes, the turban, the
shield, the jewellery, are torn from the figure's back and piled on to
the goat, which is now the impersonation of the deceased. It is fed until
it can hold no more, wine and liquor being poured down its throat, and
large dishes of all possible delicacies being placed before it. The women
relatives devote to it their tenderest affection, and shed tears over it
in the conviction that it holds the spirit of their lost protector.
Stuffed with food, and stupefied by the alcohol, the beast submits,
emotionless and immovable, to the wild caresses, prayers, and salaams
showered on it. Again the hissing, whistling and yelling begin, and a
rush is made for the animal, which is seized by the horns, the neck, the
tail, wherever it can be caught hold of, and dragged, pushed, beaten, and
at last chased out of the village, but not until after the clothes,
shield, sword, turban, and ornaments have been torn from its back. It is
eventually handed over to the Hunyas or Jumlis or Humlis, who on these
occasions benefit by the simplicity and superstition of the Shokas, and
who throw it down, rip the body open, and pull out the heart, or twist it
in the inside with a jerk that kills instantly. This method applies to
sheep or goat.

[Illustration: TEARING OUT THE HEART OF THE GOAT]

When a yak is sacrificed, very much the same rites take place up to the
moment when the lay figure is deprived of its clothing and the yak
invested with it. It i