All four dancers were dressed alike, except that in the elder girls, the body of the dress, tight fitting and shewing the figure to the greatest advantage, was white, with a cloth of gold handkerchief tied round it under the arms and fastened in front, whilst in the case of the two younger, the body was of the same stuff as the rest of the dress. Their feet of course were bare.
We had ample time to minutely observe these particulars before the dance commenced, for when we came into the Hall the four girls were sitting down in the usual Eastern fashion, on the carpet, bending forward, their elbows resting on their thighs, and hiding the sides of their faces which were towards the audience with fans, made I think of crimson and gilt paper which sparkled in the light.
On their arms they wore numbers of gold bangles and their fingers were covered with diamond rings. In their cars also they had fastened the small but pretty diamond buttons so much affected by Malays, and indeed now, by Western ladies.
On our entrance the Band struck up, and our especial attention was called to the orchestra as the instruments were Javanese and seldom seen in the Malay Peninsula.
There were two chief performers. one playing on a sort of wooden piano—the wooden keys being the only resemblance, for with them the machinery of the instrument began and ended—knocking the notes with pieces of stick which he held in each hand—The other, with similar pieces of wood, played on inverted bowls of metal.
Both these performers seemed to have sufficiently hard work, but they played with the greatest spirit from 10 p. m. till 5 a. m.
The other members of the Band consisted of. a very small boy who played, with a very large and thick stick. on a gigantic gong—a very old women who beat a drum with two sticks, and several other boys who played on instruments like triangles.
All these performers, we were told with much solemnity, were artists of the first order, masters and a mistress in their craft, and I think they proved the justice of the praise.
