er stirred throughout the four hours that the dancing lasted. The
dancers themselves were extremely young--barely in their teens, I
should say--but I could only guess their ages as their faces were so
heavily enameled that they might as well have been wearing masks. Their
costumes, faithful reproductions of those depicted in the carvings on
the walls of the temples, were of a gorgeousness which made the
creations of Bakst seem colorless and tame: tightly-wound _kains_ of
cloth-of-gold over which were draped silks in all the colors of the
chromatic scale. Their necks and arms, which were stained a saffron
yellow, were hung with jewels or near-jewels. On their heads were
towering, indescribable affairs of feathers, flowers and tinsel,
faintly reminiscent of those fantastic headdresses affected by the
lamented Gaby. The music was furnished by a _gamelan_, or orchestra, of
half-a-hundred musicians playing on drums, gongs and reeds, with a few
xylophones thrown in for good measure. I am no judge of music, but it
seemed to me that when the _gamelan_ was working at full speed it
compared very favorably with an American jazz orchestra.

All the dances illustrated episodes from the Ramayana or other Hindu
mythologies localized, the story being recited in a monotonous,
sing-song chant, in the old Kawi or sacred language, by a professional
accompanist who sat, cross-legged, in the orchestra. As a result of
constant drilling since babyhood, the Balinese dancers attain a
perfection of technique unknown on the western stage, but the visitor
who expects to see the verve and abandon of the Indian dances as
portrayed by Ruth St. Denis is certain to be disappointed. To tell the
truth, the dances of Bali, like those I saw in Java and Cambodia, are
rather tedious performances, beautiful, it is true, but almost totally
lacking in that fire and spirit which we associate with the East. It is
probable, however, that I am not sufficiently educated in the art of
Terpsichore to appreciate them. It was as though I had been given a
selection from _Die Niebelungen Lied_ when I had looked for rag-time.
But the natives are passionately fond of them, it being by no means
uncommon, I was told, for a dance to begin in the late afternoon and
continue without interruption until daybreak. The Controleur told me
that he planned to utilize his next long leave in taking a native
ballet to Europe, and, perhaps, to the United States. So, should you
see the Bali