CALENDA: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF A CULTURAL IMAGE 61

 their ebony faces. All at once they broke out into a chant, whose measure
 was accented by the clapping of hands, and in which all the spectators
 joined. It was an utterly rude melody, but somehow had a fascination in its
 monotony and its wild, high notes. This was the song, utterly unintelligible
 at the time, but afterward obtained from one of the performers:

 I went to Long Hall well:
 I meet Seeago Day.
 I ask her to lend me the bucket
 The bucket to draw little water
 The water to boil little junfy
 The junfy to go on me belly.
 0, yaw, 0, yaw, 0, yaw,
 Knock me kenaw
 0, yaw, knock me kenaw
 Come in, yaw,
 Den me knock your kenaw.

 'Junfy' [Note: junfy>funji] signifies the Indian meal with which the plantation
 negroes were fed in the slave days, and to "knock me kenaw" [Note: kenaw
 < ken < skin] was an invitation to touch stomachs together, which was so
 frequent a movement in the dance. ... Meanwhile the children were not the
 least amusing part of the spectacle. They were thoroughly infected with
 the spirit of the music, and all danced and bobbed and jogged together,
 down to the smallest tot, who could hardly stand on his little brown legs,
 with indefatigable activity and in perfect time to the music. Their little faces
 shone with perspiration and delight, their beady eyes glistened, and their
 teeth glittered in a silent laugh of enjoyment. When the first performers
 became tired or had danced their time, for they seemed absolutely
 indefatigable, they were succeeded by others, and sometimes four or six
 were dancing at a time to apparently the same measure, and if the chant
 differed in words, its rhythm was the same. One old man with grey hair
 showed as much activity as the younger ones, and hopped and capered
 with even greater variety to the palpitations of his heels and the
 grotesqueness of his movements.
 There was absolutely nothing indecent about the dance, nothing but an
 exhibition of animal good humour and possession of the spirit of music ...
 The dance which I saw was chiefly an exhibition got up for my benefit and,
 although genuine in its way, and, when begun, fully entered into by the
 performers, it was doubtless a somewhat artificial relic of ancient days.
 (Williams 1898: 111-7)

 The words baudoula and rooma which Williams said were part of the
chorus can be regarded as two variant names for the dance. The word
baudoula goes right back to Labat' s baboula, whereas rooma is apparently a
variant of rhumba/rumba. This is the first time that this name is associated
with the dance. The rumba is generally regarded as Afro-Cuban and is said to