Texts in English / Egypt

 

 

Egypt

 

 

Training a camel to dance, Egypt, 1702

 

Hill, Aaron: A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire. London, 1709.

 

Another Trick, they have of Getting Money, is by training Camels up to dance about the Streets, upon the Sounding of a Drum, or any other Instruments of Musick. This they do with admirable quickness in the manner following.

They make a large square hollow Place on some Stone Pavement, not unlike a Bath, of such a depth, that nothing, let down thither, can get out again but with the same Assistance, he was first put in by. Under this pav’d Floor, consisting purposely of well experienc’d Fire-Stone, is built a Furnace, into which they put a necessary quantity of Wood, and heating it to what degree they please, the Stones grow hot like some mild Oven.

 

Then they put the poor meek Camel into this square hollow, heated as it is, and standing round the edges of the Place, begin to sound their Drums, or other Instruments, continuing so to do, while the Un-hoof’d and Tender-Footed Camel, all impatient of the Heat, first draws up one Leg, then another, changing swifter, as the Heat encreasing, burns his Feet with greater Anguish, till at last, he rears himself an end, and capers nimbly on his hinder Feet, as if he strove to imitate a Dancer.

 

Thus they use him, till by frequent Practice, the unwellcome smart has made impression on the Creature’s Memory ; at which time, they begin to lead him up and down the City ; where at certain Corners of the Noted Streets, they suddenly strike up the Tunes, they us’d to play, which the poor Beast no sooner hears, but dreading the Hot-Stones, he formerly was wont to feel, when he had heard such Musick, he begins to Dance, and Skip about with strange Agility, which soon becomes not only easy, but even natural to his Performance, and is daily practis’d by him, to divert the Common People, who assemble in great Crowds to see the Sport, and pay the Owner a small Sum by voluntary Contribution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebration of a circumscision in Alexandria, Egypt, 1749

 

Hasselquist, Frederick: Voyages and travels in the Levant in the years 1749, 50, 51, 52. London, L. Davis & C. Reymers, 1766.

 

At six o’clock in the evening, we went with the French Consul to see a festival, which was celebrated by a rich Turk, whose son was to be circumcised. The father was one of the richest private persons in Egypt; he therefore spared no cost to celebrate this festival, which is by the Turks done with all imaginable grandeur. The festival lasted 30 days before the circumcision of the child, and this was the last day. The preparations had been alike each day with open table for every body, fireworks, illuminations, music and dancing, &c.

 

 

The music was to the taste of the country, with hautboys and kettle-drums. They brought us Coffee, which was of the best kind, and Carpets in case we would sit down. It was believed that the expences of this circumcision amounted to 8000 ducats. These expences are in a great measure paid by the large presents he receives from all his friends. It was rumoured that this man had received twenty or thirty camels laden with presents. On such occasions, all those that depend on him must shew their duty with some presents, which consist in camels, sheep, oxen, or something of the kind that belongs to their estate.

About noon on the 22d of June, appeared some Egyptian dancers under the windows of the French house, where I had an opportunity of seeing them. East country hath its peculiar pleasures, which from times immemorial have been adapted to the people’s dispositions. The Egyptians, inclined to a loose life, are pleased with the tricks and inventions of these common dancers, as they are entirely adapted to excite sensual desires. It is surprising, that in a country where all other women are locked up and guarded, there should be permitted by the government, not only to shew themselves to the people, but even to appear in the commonest, and, as we Europeans should think, most unbecoming habits and gestures. Those that follow this practice, and by it acquire money, are young country lasses, and sometimes married women, all dark-brown, and little better than naked, being dressed in a blue linnen garment adorned with different kinds of bells, together with a parcel of hollow silver machines which ring when they move themselves, and make part of the music that serves them in their folly. They were veiled according to the custom of the country, with a covering which only left an opening for the eyes, and hang loose over the face, which they adorned with all sorts of tinkling pieces of brass, silver, and even gold if they could afford it. They seldom appeared barefaced, but made no scruple to disclose those parts which our European ladies never expose to public view, though they shew their faces without blushing. It is a custom introduced in later times, which the greatest part of the old men imagine as unbecoming as we think it ridiculous when we see it, but retained to this day by their offspring in the East. The music they used on this occasion, beside their rattling-stuff, was a kind of drum with one head, or parchment extended on a wooden circle, which a woman beat with her fingers ; and a kind of violin with two strings to it, which sounded more like a wind instrument than a violin.

 

 

 

 

 

Female dancers in Cairo, Egypt, 1750~

 

Egmont, Van & Heyman, John: Travels through part of Europe, Asia Minor...Translated from the Low Dutch. London, Davis & Reymers, 1759, 2 vol.

We rested ourselves some time in a delightful walk, covered with vines, loaded with large bunches of grapes. But the fruits we eat were a few mulberries, and a species of small apricots, here called massa franco, from the Franks being often disordered by eating too freely of them.

Passing along the streets of Cairo, we met with several of those female dancers, of which I have given some account in describing Constantinople. They are here called anghi, and in libidinous postures and actions exceed all imagination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction of dancing, 1750~

Egmont, Van & Heyman, John: Travels through part of Europe, Asia Minor...Translated from the Low Dutch. London, Davis & Reymers, 1759, 2 vol.

 

 

“Afterwards he abolished prayer, alms, fasting, pilgrimages, sacrifices, and the abstinence of eating any thing that has life in it, which he had strictly observed in this solitude. In lieu of all these things, he used his utmost diligence to make himself famous throughout all the world by songs and music ; he also introduced dancing, buffoons, tumblers, and jugglers ; also wrestlers; but without exposing, in the least, the pudenda, either of men or women. He also enjoined, that his going to the pit of Mercury, and his daily going to the pit of the grave, should never be forgotten. And all this was done by a singular operation of that wisdom, in the contemplation of which the human mind has ever been lost. It wonders, but cannot explain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional dancers, Egypt, 1792

 

Browne, William George: Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria from the year 1792 to 1798. London, Cadell, 1799. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

The Egyptians pretend to numerous kinds of magic. The powerful influence of the name of the Divinity, Ism Ullah, an account of which is contained in the Kitab-el-ribani, is supposed to work various miracles. The mode of its application is divided into balâl, lawful, and barâm, unlawful. Though the practice terminate in perpetual disappointment, the credulous, who still confide in it, are not few. There are three or four places on the mountain, above Kahira, to which the Arabs ascribe some influence of magic. El Maraga, where they say the earth trembles. Bîr-el-kuffâr, the well of the infidels. - Cassaat el Moluk. - Ain el Siré, a spring of salt water, to which they attribute medical virtues.

The dancing girls form a distinct class. They are always attended by an old man and woman, who play on musical instruments, and look to the conduct of the girls, that they may not bestow their favours for an inadequate reward ; for, though not chaste, they are by no means common. Their dances exhibit all that the most luxurious imagination can picture - all the peculiar motions and arts for which Martial has remarked the Egyptians as celebrated, Nequitias Tellus seit dare nulla magis. Their forms are elegant, their faces rather expressive than beautiful.

The following amusements are chiefly exhibited during the Ramadân :

After breaking the fast by some refreshments, the prayer commences, which is a long one. The principal meal then has place, and then the arrival of strangers to pay their respects to the Bey, or to transact business, occupies some time. The amusements then commence. The Gerîd and various other exercises are practiced by day-light, but at night wrestling is commonly the first. In this the lower class of people in Egypt shew considerable vigour and activity at least, though perhaps not consummate skill. When the Bey and his company are tired of these exercises, singers (male) appear. The plaintive vocal music of Kahira, and the agreeable sensations occasioned by it, have been the subject of remark to many who have described Egypt. Then appear the story-tellers, who with wonderful readiness and rapidity of utterance go through the romantic adventures resembling the Thousand and One Nights, of which the varieties are innumerable. These are succeeded by wits, who with droll and unexpected similies often set the company in sits of laughter. - The adversary brings some similitude equally unexpected. - Whoever holds out the longest is rewarded as conqueror. - "Methel Sire" - "Let us wrestle in similies ;" the other answers, "Ma Methel-lak - "What is your similitude ? "You are like the city ass, look fleek and carry dung". Some of these have really a portion of wit, and it is almost the only occasion that I remember, when the Arabs exhibit any thing that can properly be so denominated. The place of these, when they have received a present according to the pleasure of the Bey, is often supplied by female singers, who frequently accompany their voices with an instrument, touched like the guitar. There are women who are highly valued for this talent of amusing the public ; and if any judgement may be formed from the manner in which they are sometimes rewarded, the gratification of their auditors is far from being moderate. There are occasions when some of the Harem exhibit their vocal powers in the presence of select company ; but this is not common ; and in that case the performer is concealed behind a curtain or lattice.

The last are the female dancers or ghawasié. These, it may be supposed, if they are able to fascinate the eye of the multitude, in the public streets, with only ordinary exertions, neglect not to have recourse to the more laboured blandishments of their art in the presence of a prince. Pehlawân, rope-dancers, &c. are introduced, whose exertions are not contemptible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Village of Sheick Atman near Cairo, Egypt, 1798~

 

Wittman, William: Travels in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria and across the desert into Egypt, during the years 1799, 1800 and 1801. London, Richard Phillips, 1803.

 

 

After our seamen had rowed on the canal for the space of half an hour, we entered the Nile, where the masts and sails were hoisted, and a fine smart breeze having sprung up from the northward, we presecuted our voyage very successfully. The large sail having been spread, Cairo was very soon at a considerable distance behind us ; and after a very agreeable voyage of three hours, we came to a village called Sheick Atman, situated on the western bank of the Nile, and distant from Cairo from twelve to fourteen miles. We landed there, and found a party of the natives assembled in the midst of a beautiful grove of date-trees, to celebrate the marriage of two young persons belonging to the village. An Arab climbed with great agility to the lofty summit of one of these trees, to procure us a supply of the ripe fruit. The moon, in its full splendour, gave a lustre to the beautifully romantic scene we had come so opportunely to witness ; and we noticed that the company had pitched two tents, from which the coffee and other refreshments were served. Several of the dancing girls, whose attendance is constantly required on these occasions, exhibited their feats and agility to the sound of the double reed, and of a kind of drum open at one of the extremities, and shaped like a bell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almées in Cairo, Egypt, 1801

 

Wittman, William: Travels in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria and across the desert into Egypt, during the years 1799, 1800 and 1801. London, Richard Phillips, 1803.

 

Of the amusements of Grand Cairo, such as they present themselves without doors to all the classes of its inhabitants, the principal consists in the exhibition of the almés, or dancing girls, who attract crowds of the populace in the squares, streets, and places of public resort. These dissolute and abandoned females have the face uncovered, which, in the countries of the east, is accounted in the women a certain indication of the most notorious profligacy. Their attire, which is well calculated to display the form of the person and limbs, is thrown on with a most indecent negligence. The movements of these young females, in dancing, are rapid, and display a greater share of pliancy and suppleness of the limbs, than of grace. Towards its close the dance becomes more animated, and is accompanied by gestures, motions, and contortions of the body still more indecent than at the commencement. The performance is usually confined to two of these females; but on particular occasions the number is more considerable. On the thumb and fore finger of each hand they wear the small cups called castanets, much in use in Spain in dancing the fandango, with which they beat time to the sound of the musical instruments, consisting either of a hautboy or of a kind of flute, accompanied by a tambourine. A concert, which is by no means either melodious or agreeable, follows the dance.

This is a great source of gratification to the people of Cairo, as well as to the lower classes of the population of all the towns and villages of Egypt, where it seldom happens that these dancing girls are not to be met with in the streets and places of public resort. The more respectable of the inhabitants introduce them into their houses, and even into their harems, where they give lessons of grace to the females, without a dread of the latter being contaminated by the notorious profligacy of their morals.

 

 

 

 

Motubis, up the Nile, Egypt, 1805~

 

Clarke, Edward Daniel: Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. London, 1816.

 

At half past one P.M. we came in view of Motubis, sometimes written Metubis, or Metabis [See Denon’s Travels, vol. I. p. 77. Lond. 1803], famous or infamous for those dancing women called Almehs, which however are common in most parts of Egypt. When the French army marched to Caïro, General Menou halted here, in the true spirit of French licentiousness, pretending business with the Sheiks, but in reality to gratify himself and his soldiers by the disgusting exhibition of these prostitutes. The Sheiks of the place wished to be spared, even in Motubis, the degradation attending a public display of these dances, and raised difficulties against their attendance ; but, says Denon [3 Ibid. p.78], “the presence of the generals, and especially of two hundred soldiers, removed the obstacles.” In order to heighten the dissoluteness of this Canopic festival, brandy was administered to the women in large glasses, which, says the same writer, they drank like lemonade. If, therefore, in the scene that followed, something revolting, even to the feelings of a French army, ensued, it should have been deemed rather characteristic of the Parisian rabblement who were present, than of the natural habits of the people of the country.

 

 

Almehs in Cairo, Egypt, 1805~

 

Clarke, Edward Daniel: Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. London, 1816.

 

In the evening after our arrival, some of our party went to see an exhibition of the Almehs, or Dancing women, at the house of a lady of some distinction, and where it was believed this curious remnant of antient Egyptian ceremonies might be unattended with those violations of decorum by which they are generally characterized. This however was not the case. The dance was, as usual, destitute of grace, activity, or decency. It consists wholly of gestures, calculated to express, in the most gross and revolting manner, the intercourse of the sexes. In any part of Europe, even if it were tolerated, it would be thought a degrading and wretched performance; yet the ladies of Caïro, accustomed to the introduction of these women upon festival days, regard the exercise of the Almehs with amusement, and even with applause.

If we may judge from the representations upon Grecian vases, the female Bacchanals of antient Greece exhibited in their dances a much more animated and more graceful appearance: yet the manner of dancing practised by the Almehs, however offensive in the eyes of civilized nations, is the most antient. Hence the observation of Cicero [Orat, pro Muraena.], “Nemo saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit:” and if the history of this exercise be traced to its origin, it will be found to have nearly the same character all over the world. In the anger of Moses at the dancing of the Israelites [Exod. xxxii. 19], in the reproach cast upon David, by Michal the daughter of Saul, for his conduct when dancing before the ark [2 Samuel vi. 20]; in the gratification afforded to Herod by the dance of Salome [Matth. xiv. Mark vi. Joseph. Antiq. Jud. Lib. xviii. c. 2]; we may perceive what were the characteristics of primaeval dances: and if curiosity should lead any one to inquire what sort of dancing is found among modern nations, where the exercise has not been refined by civilization, his attention may be directed to the Tarantello of Italy, the Fandango of Spain, the Barina of Russia, the Calenda of Africa, and the Timorodee of Otaheite. Egypt, where no lapse of time seems to have effected change, where the constancy of natural phaenomena appears to have been always accompanied with the same uniformity of manners and customs, Egypt preserves its pristine attachment to a licentious dance; and exhibits that dance as it was beheld, above three thousand years ago, in the annual procession to Bubastus, when the female votaries of Diana distinguished themselves in the cities through which they passed by indecency and dancing [Herodot. Euterpe, c. 60].

Considered therefore with reference to the moral character and habits of the people, as well as to their antient history, this practice of the Almehs may be entitled to some notice. Indeed, the part they sustain in the scale of society in Egypt is so considerable, and the partiality shewn to them so inveterate [“Il n’est point de fête sans elles; point de festin dont elles ne fassent l’ornément...Les Alme sont appellées dans tous les Harem... Les Alme assistent aux cérémonie de marriage, et marchent devant la mariée en jouant des instrumens. Elles figurent aussi dans les enterremens, et accompagnent le convoi en chantant des airs funèbres. Elles poussent des gémissemens,”&c. Savary, Lett. sur l’Egypte, tom. I. pp. 150, 152, 154. Paris, 1785. Strangers who reside for some time in Caïro, however disgusted by the exhibition of the Almehs at first, gradually adopt the taste of the native inhabitants. Of this we find an instance in Niebuhr’s Travels. “However much disposed to receive entertainment, they did not please us at first; their vocal and instrumental music we thought horrible; and their persons appeared disgustingly ugly, with their yellow hands, spotted faces, absurd ornaments, and hair larded with stinking pomatum. But by degrees we learned to endure them, and, for want of better, began to fancy some of them pretty, to imagine their voices agreeable, their movements graceful, though indecent, and their music not absolutely intolerable.” Travels in Arabia, vol. I. p. 140. Edinb. 1792.], that it is impossible to give a faithful account of the country without some allusion to these women.

They wear upon their fingers little bells, like small cymbals, which they use as the Italians and Spaniards do their castagnettes. They have also tambours of different kinds. The form of one of these seems to have been derived from that of the common pumpkin, which is frequent among the vegetables of Egypt; for, although the tambour is made of wood, it has exactly the appearance of half a large pumpkin, scooped, with a skin bound over it. The Arabs use hollow pumpkins, when dried, as bottles to contain water: these becoming hard, are very durable, and may have preceded the use of a hollow hemisphere of wood, in the manufacture of a tambour. The dances of the Almehs are accompanied by vocal as well as by instrumental music; if that may be termed vocal, which consists of a continual recurrence of the same shrill sounds, caused by trilling the tongue against the roof of the mouth, without the utterance of any distinct words. Yet this singular mode of expressing joy is all that constitutes the Alleluïa of the Antients. When Lord Hutchinson first entered Caïro, after the capture of the city, he was met by a number of women who greeted him with Alleluïas: they accompanied him through the streets, clapping their hands, and making this extraordinary noise, in a loud and shrill tone. It seems to be a constant repetition of the same syllable, al; uttered in this manner, Alalalalalalalalal, with the utmost rapidity, and without interruption or pause of any kind. The person who is able to continue this kind of scream for the longest time, without drawing breath, is supposed to be the best performer. The same sort of singing is practiced by the Almehs at funerals, with this difference: the Alleluïa, or cry of joy, consists in a repetition of the syllable al; and that which is used to denote grief, is formed by a similar repetition of the syllable ûl, or el, constituting the long protracted elelelelelû, or ululation [In the Prometheus Vinctus of Aeschylus, Io utters this cry of lamentation Ελελελελελεϋ, which the Scholiast denominates Θρήνωδες επίφθεγμα. See Pauw's Aeschylus, tom. I. p. 88, 877. Hag. Com. 1745. Stanley, Blomfield, & c.].

 

 

 

 

Sabre dance, Raq and Almehs in the village Sheik Atman, Egypt, 1805~

 

Clarke, Edward Daniel: Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. London, 1816.

 

In the evening, at six o’clock, we again set out in our djerm, upon an excursion to the Pyramids of Saccára, accompanied by Mr. Hammer and Dr. Whitman [This gentleman has since published an Account of his Travels in Turkey]. We arrived, about ten o’clock, in the village of Sheik Atman ; and were much gratified upon our landing by a fine moon-light scene, in which two beautiful Arab girls were performing a dance called Rack, beneath a grove of palm-trees, to the music of a tambour and a pipe made of two reeds which the Arabs call Zumana. A party of Arabs was seated in a circle round them, as spectators. The rest of the inhabitants were sleeping, either in the open air beneath the trees, or collected in tents, pell-mell, among asses, mules, and dogs. Some of their children were running up and down the palm-trees, as if these had been so many ladders, to gather bunches of ripe dates for the circle round the dancers. The broad surface of the Nile reflected the moon’s image, and conducted to the perfection of this most beautiful spectacle. The Arabs suffered us to walk among them, without being interrupted in their amusement or their repose. Some of them brought us fruit, and offered other refreshments. The women were all prostitutes, and almost naked: they wore coral necklaces, and large ivory bracelets. An Arab joined the dance, which we had never seen any of the men do before: he began by exhibiting a variety of attitudes with his drawn sabre; and then proceeded to express the tenderness of his passion for the female dancer in a very ludicrous manner, squeaking and howling like some wild animal. One of the Sheiks who had received us upon our arrival went to a neighbouring village, to procure some additional horses for the next morning. The music and the dancing continued during the whole of the night. Our boat was anchored opposite to the farthest pyramid, towards the south; Caïro being still in sight.

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After paying the sheik for the horses we had hired, and the peasants for their labour, we returned in our boat to Sheik Atman, where we had rested the preceding night; and found, as before, a party of Almehs, with bells upon their fingers, exhibiting the dance we had then noticed, as if it had continued, without intermission, from the time of our first coming to the village.

 

 

 

 

Almehs at a marriage procession, Grand Cairo, Egypt, 1805~

 

Clarke, Edward Daniel: Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. London, 1816.

 

In our road to the English head-quarters, from the convent of the Propagandists, we met a marriage procession. First came a person bearing a box, looking like the kind of show which is carried about the streets of London, covered with gilding and ornaments. The use of this we could not learn. Next followed two boys, superbly dressed, and mounted on very fine horses richly caparisoned. Two grooms were in attendance upon each of these horses. Then followed a great number of men, on foot. After these came the bride, beneath a canopy supported by four men, and preceded by a female attendant, who, as she walked, continued to fan her with one of the large semicircular fans of the country, made of differently coloured feathers. The bride was entirely covered by a veil of scarlet crape, spangled from head to foot: she was supported on each side by a female, veiled, according to the common costume of the country. Then followed a band of musicians, playing upon hautboys and tambours. After the musicians, came a party of Almehs, screaming the Alleluia, as before descibed. The procession closed with a concourse of people of all descriptions.

 

 

 

 

Women near the ruins of Sais, Egypt, 1805~

 

Clarke, Edward Daniel: Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. London, 1816.

 

Having also purchased this Torso, and conveyed it on board the vessel, as the day was now far advanced, we prepared for our departure from Saïs; much gratified by a view of the place, and by the acquisitions we had made in so short a space of time. The Arabs expressed equal satisfaction, for the whole village assembled to accompany us as far as the river; the women dancing, singing, and clapping their hands; and the men playing upon reed pipes, called here Zûmana [It is the same instrument which we noticed at Saccára, under the name of Zabûna]. Many of these women wore large bracelets of ivory; and exhibited the same indecent gestures which we had noticed among the dancing girls in our visit to Saccára. They remained dancing upon the shore until we lost sight both of them and of Sé’l Hajar.

 

 

Dancing girls and young man, Egypt, 1810~

 

Hume, Dr.: Remarks on the manners and customs of the modern inhabitants of Egypt", in Walpole, Robert: Memoirs relating... London, 1818.

 

The Moslem marriages are always regulated by the elder females, the bridegroom seldom or never seeing the bride's face, until the day of marriage. It is merely a civil contract made between their mutual friends, and signed by the young man and his father. There is a procession, consisting of many persons, male and female, who accompany the bride on a horse richly caparisoned to the house of the bridegroom, where she is received by his female friends. Some time after this, the mother of the young man informs the assembled females that the marriage has been solemnized, who immediately raise a loud and shrill cry, which they repeat at intervals during the entertainment which follows. It is the common demonstration of joy among the women, consisting of a quick guttural pronunciation of Luy, Luy, Luy [A similar sound expressive of mirth is used by the women on the coast of Barbary ; it seems to be a corruption (says Shaw) of Halleluiah, 242. The ολολύζω of the Greeks was generally applied to the conclamation of women in affiction, but it also expressed joy. - Schultens in Job, c.10, v. 15], and may be heard at some distance. After the first burst of joy, they make a procession through the streets, the women all veiled, and a person mounted on a horse richly caparisoned as before, carrying a red banner-like handkerchief fixed to the end of a long pole.

They then return to the bridal house, and pass the remainder of the day and part of the night in feasting and carousing, entertaining themselves with seeing dancing girls, and listening to singing men, who are placed in an outer apartment or balcony. I was allowed to be present at one of these marriages, but I did not see the bride. Cakes, sweetmeats, coffee, and sherbet were distributed, and wine for the Nazarani (myself). These and similar feasts are called Fantasias ; at some which I have attended the women were unveiled ; but they were not females of good character. At Alexandria there were very few dancing girls, but I have seen a young man habited as a woman perform all the part of a dancing girl. He appeared to be drunk ; yet displayed many surprising feats of agility. At one of these entertainments, I heard some Arabic songs, sung by singing men, and accompanied with music. The musicians were Jews; but the singers were Arabs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional dancing girls, Egypt, 1815~

 

Turner, William: Journal of a tour in the Levant. London, John Murray, 1820, 2 vol.

 

The Aelmé (dancing girls) of Upper and Lower Egypt, are a distinct race, and boast descent from one of the Viziers of the Caliph Haroun Alraschid: their laws among each other are curious: they are generally married, but hardly ever confer their first favours on their husbands; and there is no greater reproach to one of them than accusing her of having slept in her husband’s bed, because it implies that she could find no other lover: they are all strumpets from the richest to the poorest. - S. I.

 

 

 

 

Boy dancer on board, Cairo, Egypt, 1817~

 

Richardson, Robert: Travels along the Mediterranean... London, T. Cadell & W. Blackwood, 1822, 2 vol.

 

The noble traveller having now resolved to extend his researches into Upper Egypt, many articles necessary for our accommodation were brought from the Ospray, which was sent to winter at Malta, the harbor of Alexandria not being sufficiently to be depended upon, on account of its exposure to the western winds ; and from the early appearance of the plague on the sea-port towns of Egypt in the spring of the year, the unavoidable intercourse with the natives might have been attended with the most serious consequences. On the 27th of October our arrangements were completed, and we left Cairo in the evening, and got on board the two maashes that were lying for us at Boulak. We remained there all that night and all next day, occasionally witnessing the absurd amusement of one of the Arab sailors, who called himself a man of pleasure, and who danced, or rather attitudinized alone, to the sound of the tambour, accompanied occasionally with the ribobeh, a sort of violin. The dance was performed by a single person in the bottom of the vessel in the sailors’ department, which is at the prow ; the rest all standing or sitting round, and looking on. It consisted solely in libidinous looks, attitudes, and gesticulations ; and till then I never had the least idea what a lascivious looking, goatish animal an abandoned man, or rather boy, could make himself ; and was perfectly shocked to see how the natives could sit and look on, and not only tolerate, but enjoy and applaud the exhibition. They were perfect gluttons, and at every lascivious look, or indecent gesture that was happily executed, it is inconceivable how they hung and gloated upon it. Yet this young Mendes that so animalized or brutified himself, was a remarkably handsome youth, with a mild and pleasing aspect, and a graceful and easy demeanor, from which the most finished European beau might have taken a lesson in the management of his hands and feet. It was horrible to see a man so degraded. I never witnessed the exhibition in Syria, Greece, or Asia Minor ; and I believe it is only tolerated in Egypt, as a counterpart to the exhibitions of the Almai. As soon as the Reis was informed that such an exhibition was disagreeable, we saw no more of it ; although they occasionally regaled themselves with it on board the one vessel, while we were dining on board the other. The Egyptians are still a gross and licentious people, as they were of yore.

 

 

  

 

 

Painting in the grottoes of Eleithias, Egypt, 1817~

 

Richardson, Robert: Travels along the Mediterranean... London, T. Cadell & W. Blackwood, 1822, 2 vol.

 

Music is superadded to enhance the delight of the entertainment. One female plays on a harp with nine strings ; another on a double flute, and, what is curious, covers the holes of the flute on the left side with the fingers of the right hand. She who plays on the harp is attired in a head-dress with feathers, unlike the player on the harp exhibited in the tomb in Thebes, whose head is uncovered and closely shaved. Along with the music dancers are also introduced : three females are dancing together, and one little man is capering and flourishing away by himself, with a club in each hand, which he is ready to discharge into the air, now that the fields are clear, and the flocks can feed more at large, without so frequently disturbing his repose. The farm-yard is filled with oxen, cows, sheep, goats, mules, asses, and a herd of unclean swine, all waiting to be entertained in their turn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dervishes at Farjout, Egypt, 1817~

 

Richardson, Robert: Travels along the Mediterranean... London, T. Cadell & W. Blackwood, 1822, 2 vol.

 

We remained all night opposite to Fardjout, which is surrounded by a grove of Thebaic and other palm-trees, and about an hour and a half distant from the river. Here we saw many crocodiles, which were fired at by several of the party, but without effect. Next morning the wind was still high and contrary and cold. The Arabs call this month Shahr Amsheer ; ten days of it are said to be peculiarly severe upon the goats, an many of them die in consequence of the cold ; if they can withstand this, they have nothing to fear from climate during the rest of the year. On the morning of the 16th it was calm, and we made considerable way ; but the wind got up about noon, and obliged the rowers to desist, and we got on but slowly. The monotony of this day’s sail was somewhat broken by observing a troop of dervises on each side of the river. They had two large drums and two stands of colors which they displayed in going from place to place, in order to collect a crowd, or when they ran, or danced, or exhibited any of their wonderful feats. One of them was mounted on an ass, and wore a high cap, resembling the tutulus or Persian cap. They had in every respect the appearance of a band of strolling mountebanks wandering about the country to play tricks, and cheat the people of their money.

 

 

Street dancing at Fouah, Egypt, 07/03/1822

 

Madox, John: Excursions in the Holy Land, Egypt, Nubia, Syria, &c. London, Richard Bentley, 1934, 2 volumes. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

March 7 – We set off early and arrived at the end of the canal at six A.M. The Nile enters this canal by two branches, of which we took the most southern and were soon in a fine wide open river. The country was flat all around. When it got late, we fastened the cangea to the bank close to the town of Fouah for the night. Hearing the sound of drums, we lit our lantern, landed, and went through some very narrow streets, muddy pathways, and bazaars. The streets were so narrow, that two persons could not walk abreast, and in one of these the demon of discord appeared to have broken loose, for we met a number of the inhabitants, some with flambeaux, others with kettledrums, and all making a hideous howling noise: one fellow was carrying a fire in a small grate elevated upon the top of a pole.

We quickly mounted upon some of the stalls, (the bazaars being shut,) to give them room to pass; but they soon discovered we were strangers, and halted to dance and jump about before us. Having given them something, we got on as fast as we could, and entered a coffee-house through a dark hole, lighted badly by three or four lamps; when, sitting down upon the matting among the natives, coffee was handed to us. Opposite sat two old fellows singing and playing upon a kind of guitar, making a most discordant noise; and we found that all this tumult was in celebration of a marriage which had taken place that evening. I was told by a Frenchman, who has a manufactory there, and machinery for pounding rice, that Fouah contains about five thousand inhabitants. The poverty and meanness, which we everywhere beheld, are produced by the monopoly in all things of the Pasha.

 

 

A fool at Alexandria, Egypt, 23/04/1822~

 

Madox, John: Excursions in the Holy Land, Egypt, Nubia, Syria, &c. London, Richard Bentley, 1934, 2 volumes. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

April 23.- This being the day on which his late Britannic Majesty’s birth-day was commemorated, Mr. Lee had a levee in the morning, at which the different consuls attended. It was over by twelve o’clock, when small guns called patteras were fired, and a Turkish band played the whole day round the great gates. It was but an indifferent one, and consisted of four fellows sitting cross-legged, each playing upon two small kettle-drums, five men standing up, having each a much larger drum slung across the shoulders, which they were beating at the same time, and three or four others with trumpets, making altogether a dismal noise. These musicians indulged in occasional long “rests,” in order to smoke their pipes. To add to the motley scene, a fellow, who appeared to be a privileged fool, danced and reeled about amongst the group, without any one interfering with him. I met a large party at the Consul’s, where the usual loyal toasts were drunk. After a pleasant afternoon spent in much conviviality, the party broke up.

 

 

 

 

 

Musician's dancing, Nikleh, Egypt, 1823

 

Madox, John: Excursions in the Holy Land, Egypt, Nubia, Syria, &c. London, Richard Bentley, 1934, 2 volumes. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

We next arrived at Nikleh, which is said to be half way between Rosetta and Cairo. The sailors always like to land here; they get good bread, which in shape is flat and round, not unlike a pancake. The Arabs break it up into small pieces, and, having put it into a wooden bowl, pour hot liquid upon it, bringing it to the consistency of pea-soup. They all then sit round this bowl, and take out its contents with their fingers, one of the young men meanwhile generally blowing a musical instrument, the harsh tarabok, which has the outward appearance of a small double flageolet, and in sound resembles a Scotch bagpipe; both halves are played upon at once. Sometimes, too, the perfomer dances to it, slipping his legs about in all directions as if he were loose-jointed, and generally finishing with a twist or wriggle of his whole body.

 

Black girl and singer-musician in Esneh, Upper Egypt, 06/10/1823~

 

Madox, John: Excursions in the Holy Land, Egypt, Nubia, Syria, &c. London, Richard Bentley, 1934, 2 volumes. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

Oct. 6 – Esneh is a large town, but in a ruinous state, standing rather high, which saves it from Nile; it contains a few cannon and some Turks. I walked about unattended, saw three or four very large ostriches, and, accompanied by my servant, went to the remains of a very large temple, walled in, and much concealed by the débris around it. On my return to the cangea, a group arrived, consisting of a musician and a dancer - the former, a man, singing and beating a kind of tambourine, to which the latter, a young jet-black girl, was dancing. She had on only one covering or chemise, with a handkerchief tied round her waist; she was fancifully ornamented with an abundance of coins, and had also many ornaments round her neck and arms, with rings on every finger, and a sort of copper or brass castanets on her thumbs. The dancing consisted only in twisting herself about in an extraordinary manner, occasionally twirling round, grinning, and showing her fine white teeth. Another band then arrived, to whom I was obliged to give a backshish, or present, to get rid of them, finding I had paid the first party too well.

 

 

 

 

 

Rows of men and girls in Upper Egypt, 1823~

 

Madox, John: Excursions in the Holy Land, Egypt, Nubia, Syria, &c. London, Richard Bentley, 1934, 2 volumes. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

It was nearly dark when I sat down under that species of acacia which produces the gum-arabic : many natives came and placed themselves near me, as well as numbers of children, to whom I gave a handful of paras, when they immediately ran away. The women, fetching water close by in jars, which they carry on their heads, I observed, do not here hide their faces, as I have remarked elsewhere. They are very plain in their persons, very thin, and very poor.

Hearing some tinkling sounds, I thought I might as well know what was going on, and therefore had the cangea taken lower down, at no great distance, to a village, where I found there was a festa, or rejoicing. Having landed, I walked under a grove of trees, principally the acacia, which smells pleasantly at this season of the year. I sent word by a man, who was an acquaintance of the reis on board, that I was an Englishman, going up to the second cataract, and should like to see them dance. This message being well received, I was soon after shown the way to a cot, where, to my surprise, I found the party almost in darkness, between high walls, with a small wood fire, whose embers, being now and then stirred up, gave me a sight of the motley group. One of them was beating a noisy drum.

About ten or a dozen men, and as many girls, were literally kicking up the greatest dust possible, having selected for their dance, as it was called, this confined and dusty spot. Beating time with their hands, and shuffling along with their naked feet, the men of the party advanced towards the young women, who remained stationary, and then retreated. This continued for some time. A seat was offered me, upon which were lying two or three little black urchins, fast asleep: a light being placed near, I commenced smoking my long pipe, Abdrebbo and some of my men being in company. The whole place was not more than forty or fifty feet square.

After the men had, as I thought, enticed the lovely, black, greasy-headed damsels long enough to come forward, by talking and whispering to them, I began to suspect something was plotting, but upon enquiry I found the men were relating a story to them, before they began dancing. The black ladies now advanced, not tripping it briskly, but with a slow and gentle motion, ad the black heroes retreated. This was repeated many times, until they were all enveloped in dust, eight or ten standing in a row, and the same number facing them. In this way they continued some time, clapping their hands with much earnestness, and the women at times uttering a yell or scream, which I was told, was their shout of joy or welcome. They were very modestly dressed, being covered up nearly to the throat in loose dark-coloured robes, tied round their waist, and without shoes or stockings. The men wore large coarse pantaloons, and a loose garment flung either round or over their shoulders.

After some respite, another movement took place; the black charmers advanced with a sort of grace and elegance, just gliding by their admiring partners, and gently inclining their bodies in an undulating motion: this being repeated several times, they all advanced again face to face, making a horrible noise and dust. The moon was now luckily peeping over the wall, and I, being unable, with all my smoking, to keep the dust out of my throat, and also to distinguish the features of this motley assemblage, begged to be off, and giving them a backshish, retired, surrounded by forty or fifty of them. The master of the ceremonies, the man who had conducted us thither, one of the natives, accompanied us back to the cangea, and I gave him a few piastres: thus all ended well.

I walked for some time by moonlight in the fresh air on the banks, and after having washed and supped, retired to bed at eleven o’clock. Again I felt the curious effect of the water-wheels, which in the dead of the night somewhat resembled a peal of bells at a distance.

 

 

 

A man tambourine player and a young girl dancer at Carnac, Egypt, 04/01/1824

 

Madox, John: Excursions in the Holy Land, Egypt, Nubia, Syria, &c. London, Richard Bentley, 1934, 2 volumes. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

Jan. 4 – This being the first day of the festival of the marriage of my servant Abdrebbo, the village was all in an uproar, and the inhabitants playing on a sort of tambourine under my window. The men were singing and clapping their hands, and the women making their usual savage sounds of rejoicing. The man who strikes the tambourine is a sort of mountebank, or fool pro tempore. He is attended by a young girl dressed up in all sorts of finery, with trinkets round her neck, a large ring with ornaments in it, through the left side of her nose, and another through the upper part of the ear, besides smaller ones. In dancing, she kept time to the tambourine. Abdrebbo asked me to go and see his relations; I gave them some piastres, which the tambourine player stuck on his forehead.

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

A wedding at Damietta, Egypt, 1824

 

Carne, John: Letters from the East... London, Henry Colburn, 1826, 2 volumes.

 

A wedding that took place at Damietta, on the occasion of the marriage of the Consul’s daughter, afforded an amusing scene. The Consul, who was a native of the country, invited all the travellers to the ceremony and the feast. The bride was attired in her gaudiest apparel, her hair braided in the most exquisite manner, and her eyelashes and brows tinged with surmeh. All the relations, and a great number of friends were present, and the banquet was profuse and luxurious; the company sitting on cushions ranged against the walls. The dishes, of the Turkish and Grecian cookery, were handed round in succession, with various kinds of wines, and a profusion of sweetmeats and sherbet. At last, when the music was brought, and the lights threw a vivid glare through the room, the company became gay and joyous, and a number of Almeh girls commenced their voluptuous dance to the noise of the tambour and castanets. Many of the guests of both sexes joined in dancing, while others formed in groups to enjoy their chibouque and coffee.

 

 

Festival at Cairo, Egypt, 16/08/1824

 

Carne, John: Letters from the East... London, Henry Colburn, 1826, 2 volumes.

 

The 16th of August was the day fixed on for the celebrated cutting of the bank of the Nile; a time of great rejoicing with the Egyptians, the inundation being now at its height. It is the custom for a vast number of people of different nations to assemble and pass the night near the appointed spot. We resolved to go and mingle among them, not doubting that something highly interesting would occur. We arrived at the place about eight at night, it being distant a few miles from the city: there was firing of cannon, illuminations in their way, and exhibitions of fireworks. The shores of the Nile for a long way down from Boulac were covered with groups of people, some seated beneath the large-spreading sycamores, smoking; others gathered around parties of Arabs, who were dancing with infinite gaiety and pleasure, and uttering loud exclamations of joy, affording an amusing contrast to the passionless demeanour and tranquil features of their Moslem oppressors. After some time, we crossed to the opposite shore: the scene was here much more interesting: ranks of people were closely seated on the shelving banks of the Nile, and behind them was a long line of persons selling various articles of fruit and eatables. A little to the left, amidst widely scattered groups of trees, stood several tents, and temporary coffee-houses, canopied over, and lighted with lamps.

………….

The night was wearing fast away, and, leaving the tent, we again joined the various parties in the shade, or on the shore; some feasting and dancing, others buried in sleep. The other side of the beautiful river, which shone like glass in the splendid light, still presented a gay appearance; lights moving to and fro amidst the trees, boats pushing off with new comers, and sounds of gaiety, with the firing of musquetry, being still heard.

 

 

 

Almehs at Monfalut, near Siout, Upper Egypt, 1824

 

Carne, John: Letters from the East... London, Henry Colburn, 1826, 2 volumes.

 

Leaving Radamouni, we arrived next day at Monfalut, an ancient town from the appearance of the wall that encircled it. Here was a very good bazaar, and, as usual, a number of Albanian troops. These men, remarkable for their fine and healthy appearance in their own country, seem to languish beneath this sultry climate, and become sallow and faded. Here we had an opportunity of witnessing the celebrated dance of the Almék girls, who abound in the towns in Upper Egypt, and are devoted to this profession from childhood by their parents, and dress in a gaudy and fantastic manner. They wear long rows of gold coins on each side of the head, which are attached to the tresses of the hair by means of a hole bored in the middle of the coin. They are often beautifully formed, but the features are in general plain, and a young woman of five-and-twenty always appears forty. They danced, five or six in number, to the sound of the tambour and guitar, and their gestures were as voluptuous as can possibly be conceived; for in the manner and variety of these the whole skill of the dance appeared to consist: altogether it was a very disgusting exhibition.

 

 

 

 

Bairam at Siout, Upper Egypt, 1824

 

Carne, John: Letters from the East... London, Henry Colburn, 1826, 2 volumes.

 

It was the first day of the second bairam, and all the Turks and Egyptians were taking each other by the hand in the streets, and, having mutually kissed the cheek as brethren in the faith, they placed the right hand on the breast with an air of the utmost kindness and pleasure, and expressed their joy at the arrival of this happy day. It was a universal holiday: the Arabs, like boys released from school, formed in large groups in the open spaces, and danced and sang with all their might.

 

 

 

 

 Almehs at Keneh, Upper Egypt, 1824-1825

 

Carne, John: Letters from the East... London, Henry Colburn, 1826, 2 volumes.

 

The town of Kenéh is the most commercial in Upper Egypt. Numerous caravans arrive here from the Red Sea, by way of Cossair, and bring Mocha coffee, the shawls and spices of India, and various other articles; and carry back corn, sugar, honey, and oil. The bazaars are not so good as in many of the other towns; but the market for meat is everywhere indifferent. A butcher who is about to cut up a sheep is quickly surrounded by customers, who direct him to separate the part of the animal they like, and in a short time it all disappears. - The women of pleasure of various nations and colours, are met with in every street, in this place, and are adorned with strings of gold coins on each side the face, rings in their noses, or heavy bracelets on their wrists, each after her own taste. At evening we frequently heard the sounds of music and dancing from the houses where they were assembled with the Albanian soldiers or the merchants. Two or three times several of them came to the river-side, and set up a sort of song or dirge, with clapping of hands, the effect of which was not likely to entice any hapless traveller ashore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almehs at Cairo, Egypt, 1824-1825

 

Carne, John: Letters from the East... London, Henry Colburn, 1826, 2 volumes.

 

On the halt of a caravan at evening, when the groups are seated at their tent-doors round the fire, a tale from one of the company is a favourite and never failing source of amusement. You will observe on those occasions men of various nations suspend their converse, and listen intensely to every word that falls from the speaker’s lips. The women are debarred this amusement; but there are at Cairo a superior sort of Almeh girls, who are sent for by the ladies, and amuse them with dancing, singing, and music: it was probably a dance of this voluptuous kind that Herodias performed to please Herod and his officers, and it is a favourite throughout the East.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Almées in Egypt, 05/1826

 

Madden, R. R.: Travels in Turkey, Egypt, Nubia and Palestine in 1824, 1825, 1826, and 1827. London, Henry Coburn, 1829, 2 volumes.

 

At Damenour, near the mouth of the canal, I had an opportunity of witnessing the performances of the dancing ladies, called Alme. Some five and twenty of them were living in their tents here, assembling every evening in an adjoining coffeehouse, to exhibit before the passengers of the various boats; the crews of which club their ten or twelve paras, to have their first of all enjoyments, music and dancing. The Alme are called Zinganee, in Constantinople, and Ghasie, in Cairo. Niebuhr calls them gypsies. It is little known that the dancing girls of Egypt are of the same race as our gypsies; who were first called Egyptians, from their native country, Egypt. About 1512, Selim the First, having conquered Egypt, drove his opponents into the Desert, where one party of them, headed by a swarthy slave, called Zinganeus, became formidable to the towns adjoining the Desert, by their frequent depredations; they were at length dispersed by the Turks and Bedouins, and straggled about various countries as magicians, fortune-tellers, and dancers; preserving always a distinct character wherever they went; and remarkable no less for their swarthy features, than for their dissolute habits and knavish practices. I have heard some of them boast of their common origin from a Grand Vizier of one of the Caliphs, and talk of their yet being restored to the possession of Egypt, and with as much certainty as the Jews speak of regaining Jerusalem. This tribe of the Zinganees take the name of Alme, in Lower Egypt, and are the only professors and performers of dancing. Notwithstanding the dissoluteness of their conduct, they are brought by the most respectable Turks into their harems to teach the young ladies the voluptuous mazes of the dance, to teach them the most befitting postures for reclining on the divan, or presenting a chibouque; and to instruct them in the art of feigning raptures which they do not feel.

These dancing girls intermarry with people of their own tribe, blacksmiths and farriers; and these gentlemen deem it no disgrace to see their wives in the arms of their paramours after the dance, but just think as little of it as a man of fashion does in London, to see his wife waltzing with a stranger, whose hands are as familiar with her waist as the fondest husband could wish his own. The Alme are dressed for the dance in a flame-coloured silk gown, fitted closely to their shapes, and confined over the hips by a large shawl; an immense pair of chintz drawers completes the costume: their hair is plaited in ringlets, and in Lower Egypt, is smeared with suet, or castor oil in the upper country: their chins and lips are tattooed with blue spots, their eyelids are painted black, their hands and feet yellow, and she who desires to surpass the others in beauty, has her nose bored, and a tremendous ring hanging over her mouth.

The music is a rude sort of lute, called seminge, and a tambourine, or kettle drum, made of an earthen pot covered with parchment. Five or six ladies commonly set too at a time, singing at the commencement "a merry dump," which becomes more thrilling as the vibrations of their joints increase, and at length becomes so languid, that "the dying fall" of the music is lost in languishing sighs corresponding with the soft passion their dance is meant to illustrate. Denon, in a few words, has described the Alme, "leur danse fut d'abord voluptueuse; mais bientôt elle devint lascive, ce ne fut plus que l'expression grossière et indécente de l'emportement des sens:” when it terminated, the ladies seemed quite exhausted; they accosted me with a demand for money and a few glasses of brandy; I had no brandy, but gave them two bottles of wine, which they finished in a very few minutes. The most endearing terms of yahnooni and yahabibi followed;and a Greek, who was quite overcome with the tenderness of the scene, unfortunately for him, put one of the young ladies sitting on his knee, and got a coffee-pot thrown at his head for forgetting he was a rayah. The scalding coffee appeared to banish in a moment all the sentiment of the poor Greek ; he roared vengeance on the coffeehouse keeper, flung the Alme on the floor, and retreated to his boat. I followed his example, notwithstanding many assurances of respect from the very man who abused the Greek, for conversing with a Mahometan woman: but I was a hakim to a Konsul, and was likely to have a few piastres to spend in coffee.

 

The Sardinian Consul's ball in Cairo, Egypt, 1827

 

Lushington, Mrs. Charles: Narrative of a journey from Calcutta to Europe by way of Egypt, in the years 1827 and 1828. London, John Murray, 1829.

 

 

The Sardinian Consul having kindly asked me to a ball ; I gladly availed myself of the invitation, that I might judge of the state of foreign manners in the Egyptian capital. My wishes, however, were in some degree disappointed, as the party was thinly attended, for reasons which generally prevail in small societies. I was struck with the extraordinary agility of the gentlemen ; they danced with a zeal, spirit, and indefatigability worthy of a better cause. The ladies, on the contrary, were very quiet, and danced languidly. Every dance which was called, with the exception of one quadrille, was une contredanse Anglaise ; and, strange to say, by no effort of example or explanation, for I just got up to show them, could even the common figure of the lady turning the gentleman, and the gentleman turning the lady, down the middle and up again, be accomplished. One couple would come up to the top after every figure, another went down the middle when they ought to have turned, and about the sixth couple there was such a complete jumble, that the consequent clamour became the signal for the band striking up the waltz. Every face brightened, every couple found their place, and they whirled about till they were tired, when again came the effort of memory in the contredanse Anglaise. One gentleman, whose agility had been most remarkable, came to beg the honour of dancing with me. I declined, and ended by saying, I never danced. "Jamais ! vous ne dansez jamais ! et comment vous amusez-vous donc ?" I was so amused at the oddity of such a question, at the wonder expressed in the man's countenance, and at the importance attached to dancing, so little felt by English women, that I could scarcely restrain my laughter.

 

The Austrian Consul's daughter, a child of six years of age, entered the room by herself, went up to her acquaintance, kissed the ladies first on one cheek, then on the other, and behaved with all the self-possession of one long used to the gay world. Her own hair hung in ringlets on her shoulders ; her little head was dressed with a profusion of curls (false I believe), in addition to five bows of pink satin ribbon, and several artificial flowers ; whilst a large fan in one hand, and her reticule in the other, gave her the appearance of the little ladies and gentlemen we see in the prints of the days of the ancien régime in France. The poor child danced and waltzed till two in the morning. On one of the ladies telling me the known fact of the difficulty of rearing European children in Cairo, I hinted that, as the climate was so inimical, double care might be necessary, and perhaps that such late hours and hot rooms might not agree with their health. "Cela se peut ; mais comment les amuser, pauvres petites ! c'est un pays si triste." I enquired whether this dissipation did not interfere with the schooling next day ? "Yes, that was true enough, it turned their heads a little " - "Mais comment les amuser ? " was again her question ; and then at the risk of being considered very rigid, I told my new acquaintance, that, in England, children of that age would generally have bread and milk for supper, and be sent to bed at eight o'clock.

 

There was no variety in the dress of the ladies excepting two, who were in the Levantine costume. This dress is not pretty, nor agreeable to English taste or decorum. I was amused by a gay little Piedmontese, who related the adventure of his being on shore at the battle of Navarino, and not finding an adequate place for shelter, he hid himself as well as he was able behind a rock, which, however, proved too small to screen his whole person ; so thinking it pleasanter to lose his heels than his head, he placed the latter on the ground, and permitted his kegs to remain exposed to the fire of the fleet.

 

One of the Italian instructors of the Pasha's new levees was at the ball dancing all the evening, and apparently the person in the assembly least likely to have any serious business on his mind ; but it was mentioned openly, that the next morning he was engaged to fight a duel. This report would have excited anxiety, had it not been known that Cairo duels are seldom attended with bloodshed, as the Pasha has declared that he does not understand such Frank customs, and that he who kills a man in his dominions shall be hanged.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harem women in Egypt, 1835~

 

Scott, C. Rochfort: Rambles in Egypt and Candia... London, Henry Colburn, 1837, 2 vol.

 

 

The Arabs, though permitted by their religion to have four wives, seldom possess more than two, and, indeed, (as they must be in “comfortable circumstances” to support even that number,) most of them are obliged - like hapless Christians - to be content with one. A very small stock of wordly goods enables them, however, to make a settlement - the moderate sum of three hundred piastres being considered quite sufficient to set up an establishment. Concubines are maintained only by the rich.

 

The inmates of the harems describe their lives as being very happy, and, deprived as they are of all education, they possibly may not find their confinement very irksome. Their acquirements amount to a knowledge of the arts of embroidery, confectionary, and shampooing ; to which some few add the accomplishments of music, dancing, and smoking. They make themselves as captivating as possible, by tinging their nails and fingers with hennah, and colouring the insides of their eye-lids with a dark powder, which they doubtless suppose makes their eyes shoot stronger. They are extremely vain of showing their wardrobes, and curious to examine the costume of the Frank ladies, who are occasionally permitted to visit them. Of course, the monotony of their lives is broken by numerous little bickerings and jealousies, and not unfrequently by amatory intrigues.

 

...............................................................

 

Arab music is mere noise, without the slightest pretensions to harmony ; and obtains favour in Egyptian ears in proportion to the din and discord produced. The common instruments in use amongst the Fellahs are the reed pipe, and a kind of drum, or tambourine, made of an earthenware pot, covered with a sheep-skin, on which they thrum with their hands most unmercifully and unceasingly. There are, also, several kinds of stringed instruments, of the lyre and guitar kind ; but they are seldom heard outside the walls of the hareems.

 

The songs of the Arabs are monotonous ditties, set to the simplest airs. The awali and dancing girls usually accompany their voices by castanets.

 

 

 

A public ball in Cairo, Egypt, 1837-1838

 

Wilde, W.R.: Narrative of a voyage to Madeira, Tenerife, and along the shores of the Mediterranean… Dublin, William Curry, 1840, 2 vols.

 

 

An invitation from the managers introduced me to a public ball, held in the house of one of the European representatives. The scene was one calculated to inspire particular interest in a foreigner, as, from the number and diversity of costumes, it had all the appearance of a masquerade, while the ridiculous oddity of the dress of some of the men strengthened the illusion. These being for the most part in the native service, and glad of an opportunity of reviving, even in dress, the recollections of their father-land, had assumed in part their old garbs, but had covered their heads (shaven to meet the “regulation”) with the red turboosh, which made them look as if they had crowned their finery with old Kilmarnock night-caps.

A number of ladies were present, principally French, but dressed in the Levantine costume. Some few were natives, Jews, Copts, or Syrian Christians. The general effect of their costume was pleasing, though strange ; the wide trowsers, tied tightly round the ankles, made their beautiful little feet look still smaller ; the loose, flowing robe of pink or white, and the short undergarment, were very becoming. In the east, the bosom is, however, much more exposed than in England, low as we have of late descended in that respect ; indeed, it is generally stripped in front as low as the waist, which is worn immediately under the arm-pits. The upper part of the person is clothed in a velvet spencer, broidered with gold, hanging below the waist, open in front, and the sleeves reaching half-way down to the elbow. Notwithstanding that there is much of beauty, taste, and elegance in the costume of the upper ranks of ladies, yet, according to our notions of form, they are wretched figures, and evidently made for the ottoman, and not the dance. Their hands, fingers, and nails, were stained with henna, (lawsonia inermis, or Egyptian privet,) and the eye-lids were painted with the kohl, a black powder used by all classes of females to darken the edges of the lids, produced by burning a kind of liban, or aromatic resin, and sometimes shells of almonds ; - lead, and formerly antimony was much used for this purpose. This marking of the eyelids is, I confess, only seen in perfection in persons of very dark complexion, and natural depth of colour ; in persons of light complexion, is it by no means pretty.

I here saw a style of head-dress peculiarly oriental, and surpassing every thing I could have conceived of its grace and beauty. The whole of the hair, which was of vast length and jetty blackness, was plaited in numberless small plaits, each about the size of a piece of whipcord, and at every inch or two of their length was fastened, or worked into the plait, a small gold coin. These spangled tresses, which hung down on the neck and shoulders far below the waist, when sparkling in the light of the ball-room, had quite the appearance of a delicately-embroidered veil ; - this is called the safa. One or two large plaits of hair were brought round the head, and on the front was hung an ornament formed by a number of small thin coins, set in a kind of mail-work, that fell some way over the forehead, called a choors. Others wore the turboosh ; while the more elderly had their heads enveloped in the folds of broad and highly-ornamented turbans ; and all wore a profusion of gold and precious stones ; and costly shawls, that hung down behind to the very ground, were tied round the lower part of the body.

The room, which was small, was crowded to excess, and hot in proportion. The disagreeably loud and discordant music of Pandean pipes, harpsichords, guitars, and mandolins, was only overcome by the authoritative roar of the master of the ceremonies, who marshalled the dancers through the quadrille.

There cannot be much amusement in these balls, and I fear we must proceed into an adjoining apartment, where a certain stillness, and a dense crowd surrounding a long table, may offer some explanation. Here the collection of anxious faces, and the display of gold and cards, solve the mystery. Faro is, I believe, the true and only incentive to these meetings. Some Jews held the table, and although I understood they paid a large sum for having it in this gentleman’s house, yet it seemed a thriving speculation. The rage for gambling, both here and at Alexandria, is almost incredible. You cannot go into a Frank coffee-house, or any place of public entertainment, without seeing cards and dice at every moment of the day. The Mooslims are proverbial gamblers, and meet ready companions in the Greek and Italian residents, and an occasional gull in some English sea-captain, trading to the Levant.

Presently an Arab servant entered, crying “punch ! punch !” and carrying a tray of half-and-half, composed of raw new rum or brandy, and boiling water; by way of distinction, it was pressed upon the British who were present, and their polite refusal of the scalding liquid not a little astonished the Turks, who all imagine, and with some reason I confess, that spirits, in some shape or another, are necessary to the existence, or at least to the enjoyment of these western islanders.

I left the assemble at an early hour, to prepare for an excursion I had purposed to the tombs and pyramids of Sackara and Dashoor, while my friends remained to share in the more social pleasures of the capital.

 

Dervishes in Cairo, Egypt, 1838-1839

 

Sandwich, The Earl of: A voyage performed by the late Earl of Sandwich round the Mediterranean in the years 1738 and 1739. London, Cadell & Davies, 1849.

 

Though their belief agrees in every particular with the strictest rule of Mahometism, yet their prayers are performed in a very different manner from those of other musulmen. To each convent is belonging a private mosque, in which, every Tuesday and Thursday, they offer up their oraisons, attended with many enthusiastic ceremonies, to which they admit, as spectators, both men and women, even of different religions. Their mosques are always of a circular figure, round which are seated, upon the ground, at equal distances, twenty and sometimes thirty dervises. The ceremony begins with a sermon, which usually lasts about an hour and half. Then the dervises rise from their seats, and going up one by one to the place where the superior of the convent stands, make him a very low bow, and immediately begin to turn round upon their heel with surprising agility and swiftness. There are constantly twelve performers, who are so expert as to keep two motions at the same time, the one in turning upon their own heels, and the other round the room, without ever being in one another’s way, or so much as one man’s moving out of his proper place. This exercise continues above an hour to the sound of a tabor, and an instrument something like a German flute, the notes of which are by no means harsh or unharmonious, though wild and irregular. When at a sign from the superior the music ceases, they all stop in an instant, and remain motionless in the spot of ground where they at that time happen to be. They are so accustomed to this work, as never to be troubled with the least giddiness, though it is so hard labour that it immediately puts them into the deepest sweat, fatiguing them to such a degree, that they are seldom able to go out of the mosque without the assistance of their companions.

 

Boatmen on the river Nile, Egypt, 10/1839

 

Roberts, Emma: Notes of an overland journey through France and Egypt to Bombay. 1841.

 

 

We were much pleased with the alacrity and good humour of our boatmen, and the untiring manner in which they performed their laborious duties. When a favouring breeze allowed them to rest, they seldom indulged in sleep, but, sitting round in a ring upon the narrow deck, either told stories, or were amused by the dancing of one of the group, who, without changing his place, contrived to shift his feet very vigorously to the music of his own voice, and that of two sticks struck together to keep the time. They frequently used their oars in parts of the river where they could not find a towing-path, and when rowing, invariably accompanied their labours with a song, which, though rude, was not unpleasant.

 

 

Figures depicted in tombs, Egypt, Antiquity

 

Wilkinson, Sir Gardner: Modern Egypt and Thebes… London, John Murray, 1843, 2 vols.

 

On the opposite wall are some buffoons who dance to the sound of a drum, and other subjects.

…………….

No. 34. has the name of the same Amunoph, and of Thothmes I., his immediate predecessor. It contains a curious design of a garden and vineyard, with other subjects. The next tomb to this, on the south, though much ruined, offers some excellent drawing, particularly in some dancing figures to the left (entering), whose graceful attitudes remind us rather of the Greek than the Egyptian school; and indeed were we not assured by the name of Amunoph II. of the remote period at which they were executed, we might suppose them the production of a Greek pencil [See Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii, p. 329. Woodcut.]

Women at Esné, Egypt, 1841~

 

Wilkinson, Sir Gardner: Modern Egypt and Thebes… London, John Murray, 1843, 2 vols.

 

Esné has become the place of exile for all the Almehs [Almeh, or Ulmeh, “learned women.”], and other women of Cairo, who offend against the rules of the police, or shock the prejudices of the Ulemas [The doctors of law ; Ulmas, or Ulemas, the priests of Islam.]. The learning of these “learned women” has long ceased; their poetry has sunk into absurd songs; their dancing would degrade even the motus Ionicos of antiquity ; and their title Almeh has been changed to the less respectable name of Ghoàzee, or women of the Memlooks. In 1832 the Pasha permitted them publicly to exercise their vocation in Cairo, and the Almeh’s dance was allowed to satisfy the curiosity of strangers, or the taste of the inhabitants. But the doctors of Islam took alarm, the government was obliged to give up the annual tax levied, à l’instar de Paris, upon this class of the community, and their dancing was forbidden. And such is the consistency of these modern Pharisees, that they, in the true spirit of straining at gnats and swallowing camels, permit men publicly to assume the dress of women, and dance in their stead.

 

Boys in Cairo, Egypt, 23/08/1842

 

Pfeiffer, Ida: A visit to the Holy Land, Egypt and Italy. Translated from the German by H. W. Dulcken.

 

During my short stay at Cairo one of the chief feasts of the Mahommedans - namely, the Mashdalansher, or birthday of the Prophet - occurred. This feast is celebrated on a great open space outside the town. A number of large tents are erected; they are open in front, and beneath their shelter all kinds of things are carried on. In one tent, Mahommedans are praying; in another, a party of dervishes throw themselves with their faces to the ground and call upon Allah; while in a third, a juggler or storyteller may be driving his trade.

In the midst of all stood a large tent, the entrance to which was concealed by curtains. Here the "bayaderes" were dancing; any one can obtain admission by paying a trifling sum. Of course I went in to see these celebrated dancers. There were, however, only two pairs; two boys were elegantly clothed in a female garb, richly decorated with gold coins. They looked very pretty and delicate, so that I really thought they were girls. The dance itself is very monotonous, slow, and wearisome; it consists only of some steps to and fro, accompanied by some rather indecorous movements of the upper part of the body. These gestures are said to be very difficult, as the dancer must stand perfectly still, and only move the upper part of his person. The music consisted of a tambourine, a flageolet, and a bagpipe.

Much has been written concerning the indecency of these dances; but I am of opinion that many of our ballets afford much greater cause of complaint. It may, however, be that other dances are performed of which the general public are not allowed to be spectators; but I only speak of what is done openly. I would also by far prefer a popular festival in the East to a fair in our highly-civilised states. The Oriental feasts were to me a source of much enjoyment, for the people always behaved most decorously. They certainly shouted, and pushed, and elbowed each other like an European mob; but no drunken men were to be seen, and it was very seldom that a serious quarrel occurred. The commonest man, too, would never think of offering an insult to one of the opposite sex. I should feel no compunction in sending a young girl to this festival, though I should never think of letting her go to the fair held at Vienna on St. Bridget's day.

 

 

Inside the Pyramids, Egypt, 1843-1845

 

Schroeder, Francis: Shores of the Mediterranean, with sketches of travel 1843-45. London, John Murray, 1846, 2 volumes.

 

 

The size of the apartment is about thirty-five feet long, fifteen wide, and, it is said, twenty feet high, though we saw no roof. The sarcophagus, of perfectly plain design is at one end of the chamber, without a lid, and contains some rubbish and dust, over which we made the usual appropriate reflections, and due mention was made of loam and the “bungholes of beer barrels,” in the vein of Hamlet. We were all, moreover, several times in want of each other’s assurance that we were wide awake, and positively sane in the heart of the Pyramids; that there were four hundred feet of massive wall on all sides of us, and that we were not in some mountain cavern of Nature’s own. The sound of our voices struck us strangely, answered by the purest and most perfect echo, ringing and metallic as the hollow of a bell. A song was proposed, and never was such a music hall; the slightest giving of voice had tremendous effect, and a plaintive melody was singularly sweet in the chime of the vault; the tones would tremble and thrill upon the ear with the most assisting effect imaginable.

 

Presently the Bedouins continued the scena with a grand finale of infernal chorus. They lifted the torches high, flung out their arms, and gave a most terrific yell, which roared throughout the Pyramid. The yell was succeeded by a low chaunt, which rose crescendo to the fiercest screams, while they danced about with grimaces and wild gestures like demons. It was the most startling picture I ever saw, and far surpassing all Der Freischützes, “wilde jagds,” and Roberts les Diables; their dark, half-naked forms, the glare of the torches deepening the crimson of their caps and the black waves of their beards, their arms brandishing the torches, and their lips uttering the most savage yells. Never was such devil’s dance performed as in this tomb of the king. How the antique soul of his majesty must have been edified!

 

 

Bee-dance in Alexandria, Egypt, 1853

 

Burton, Sir Richard Francis: Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah. 2 volumes. London, 1855.

 

 

My leisure hours were employed in visiting the baths and coffee-houses, in attending the bazars, and in shopping,-an operation which hereabouts consists of sitting upon a chapman's counter, smoking, sipping coffee, and telling your beads the while, to show that you are not of the slaves for whom time is made; in fact, in pitting your patience against that of your adversary, the vendor. I found time for a short excursion to a country village on the banks of the canal; nor was an opportunity of seeing "Al-nahl," the "Bee-dance;" neglected, for it would be some months before my eyes might dwell on such a pleasant spectacle again.

 

Dancing boys in Cairo, Egypt, 1853~

 

Burton, Sir Richard Francis: Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah. 2 volumes. London, 1855.

 

 

The next day, first of the three composing the Bayram or Id (the Lesser Festival), we arose before dawn, performed our ablutions, and repaired to the Mosque, to recite the peculiar prayer of the season, and to hear the sermon which bade us be "merry and wise." After which we ate and drank heartily; then, with pipes and tobacco-pouches in hand, we sauntered out to enjoy the contemplation of smiling faces and street scenery.

 

The favourite resort on this occasion is the large cemetery beyond the Bab al-Nasr - that stern, old, massive gateway which opens upon the Suez road. There we found a scene of jollity. Tents and ambulant coffee-houses were full of men equipped in their-anglice - "Sunday best," listening to singers and musicians, smoking, chatting, and looking at jugglers, buffoons, snake-charmers, Darwayshes, ape-leaders, and dancing boys habited in women's attire.

 

 

Almés at Karnak, Luxor, Egypt, Sunday 02/12/1855

 

Senior, Nassau William: Conversations and journals in Egypt and Malta. London, Sampson Low, 1882, 2 vols. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

We had talked about the dances of the Almés, and this evening a carpet was spread on the bank opposite to our boat, illuminated by three bale-fires, and six women, from 16 to 25 years old, danced to us for an hour and a half, during which time they consumed about a bottle and a half of brandy. They advanced and retreated, sat and rose up, shook their bodies and kicked their legs very ungracefully with monotonous violence. Madame Lafosse and Mrs. Senior said that it was just what they had seen in the hareems, but rather more decent. A crowd collected on the bank and looked on apathetically.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dervishes in Cairo, Egypt, 28/12/1855

 

Senior, Nassau William: Conversations and journals in Egypt and Malta. London, Sampson Low, 1882, 2 vols. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

Friday, December 28. - We drove to the convent of Kadreeyeh Dervishes at old Cairo. We passed through an outer court, a spacious antechamber with a fountain for the preparatory ablutions, and reached a large square hall with lofty dome. About forty men mostly wearing the conical felt hat peculiar to the Dervishes, but some in ordinary Egyptian dress, formed a circle. Within this circle were four persons : one of them repeated slowly something in Arabic, which I believe was a part of the Koran ; another, an exceedingly handsome man, took the lead in making short responses, in which the circle joined. The two others, holding their heads on one side, and extending their arms, one hand opened to the sky, the other to the earth, whirled rapidly round, their long wide dresses spreading out like the petticoats of an opera-dancer. In about ten minutes the reading ceased, and the man who had led the responses, and apparently was the chief priest, walked slowly round and round the circle, bowing to the persons opposite to him. His bows were very dignified and graceful, and at each of them the whole circle bowed, and shouted in unison a word which sounded to me like "Allah". The whirlers, after spinning for about twenty minutes, stopped, and were succeeded by two others, who also whirled for twenty minutes, when the first two took their places and began again to spin. In the meantime the bowing and shouting went on with constantly increasing vehemence. The performers flung down their turbans and caps and displayed immense manes of hair, dyed I fancy with henna, which, as their heads sank to their knees, fell over their faces. They were all at the beginning warmly clad, this being considered very cold weather ; but they threw off covering after covering, and at last wore little but shirts, waistcoats and trousers. The bows became deeper and deeper and more and more rapid, the shouts became inarticulate from fatigue and want of breath, and degenerated into something like a bowl. Drums and tambourines which hung on the wall were taken down and beaten violently, but with scarcely any tune, the spinners whirled like teetotums, when suddenly, at a sign of the chief priest, the performance closed, the whirlers and bowers, who, a minute before, seemed inspired of possessed, ran to collect their clothes and to shuffle on their slippers, and the chief priest came and bowed as gracefully as before, though not quite so low, to ask us for backsheesh

 

 

 

 

 

A visit to Ismail's harem at Cairo, Egypt, 1855-1856

 

Senior, Nassau William: Conversations and journals in Egypt and Malta. London, Sampson Low, 1882, 2 vols. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

Madame Lafosse and Mrs. Senior, with Madame Bonfort as their interpreter, visited the hareem of Ismail Pasha, the heir, after Achmed Pasha, to the Viceroyalty. They were received by eunuchs, who opened to them a large anteroom in which were seven or eight young female slaves magnificently dressed. Thence they went into an apartment, where they found Ismail’s two wives, apparently about twenty years old, who conducted them to an inner apartment in which was the widow of Ibrahim Pasha and mother of Ismail. She is a dark-looking woman of about forty, with dignified manners and an intelligent countenance. She sat on a high divan, on which she placed her guests. The younger Princesses sat on stools below; they seemed much in awe of their mother-in-law, and were silent in her presence, but laughed and talked whenever she left the room. First the slaves sang very ill, accompanying themselves on stringed instruments like small guitars, and on flat harps resting on the knees. Then coffee and pipes were brought in, but the pipes were offered only to the guests. None of the Princesses smoke. Then came dancing girls, about ten or twelve years old, who waved their red handkerchiefs and shook and twisted their bodies with wonderful suppleness, but not much grace. Then the Princess showed them over her apartments, four or five large rooms with fine European carpets, divans and very handsome inlaid cabinets. Then came coffee again, but without the pipes, and the visit, which had lasted three hours, was over. The Princesses would not allow the ladies to kiss their hands, but did not, like Indji Hanem, embrace them.

The native language of the Princess is Turkish ; she speaks Arabic imperfectly. Madame Bonfort speaks Arabic, but no Turkish. There was therefore but little conversation. The Princess inquired after the ladies' husbands, and sent her compliments to them, said that her son was in France, and expressed her wish for his return, as things went on much better when he was at home. She begged Mrs. Senior to talk some English, which they had never heard, and it seemed to amuse them. 

 

 

 

Visit to Nasli Hanem, Mehemet Ali's favourite daughter, widow of Defterdar Bey, governor of Sudan, Cairo, Egypt, 1855-1856

 

Senior, Nassau William: Conversations and journals in Egypt and Malta. London, Sampson Low, 1882, 2 vols. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

The enormities of Nashi Hanem, or probably the disgust with which they filled Europeans and the discredit which they threw on the viceregal family, at last so thoroughly conquered Mehemet Ali's affection that he determined to have her got rid of. Abbas Pasha prevailed on him to spare her, and complained bitterly that she rewarded him by going to Constantinople to intrigue against him.

 

She was once handsome. She is now sixty-five ; what remains of her are magnificent large black eyes, with long eyelashes, a yellow face, and the short thick figure which belongs to her family. She is said to be thoroughly tired of life, but to be in great fear of death ; is never left alone, and never without light.

 

Such are the past and the present of the lady whom Mrs. Senior went to visit. She was rather unwilling to do so, but I begged her to go, as she would to see a tigress at the Zoological Gardens. They drove through several narrow streets to a small dusty garden, at the end of which stands her Palace. Black eunuchs received them at the door, and led them through a fine hall to the staircase. On the first floor they found the great central hall, and the large rooms opening out of it, which belong to all the Cairene palaces. One of them was her audience-room. It contained a bed (the couch of honour of the Viceroy when he visits his sister), a divan, and several sofas and chairs.

 

Here they had sherbet and coffee in gold cups, covered with diamonds and rubies, and afterwards pipes with amber mouthpieces inlaid with diamonds. About twenty slaves, magnificently dressed, stood about ; and two girls, one about twenty years old, the other twelve, both of them covered with diamonds and pearls, and said to be the Princess's favourites, did the honours of the palace in her absence. Three or four other visitors, all Mussulman, and one, by her peculiar head-dress, Turkish, came in.

 

At last, after a delay of about two hours, the Princess entered, took her place on the divan, received her visitors very graciously, and desired them to be seated : the Europeans in the arm-chairs. Pipes and coffee were again brought in, and a band of seven performers entered, and made very loud unpleasant music. Dancing-girls, one of them pretty, accompanied them not very gracefully.

 

 

 

 

Secret dancing in the Viceroy's harem, Cairo, Egypt, 1862-1864

 

Lott, Emeline: The governess in Egypt. Harem life in Egypt and Constantinople. London, Richard Bentley, 1865, 2 vol. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

A few nights afterwards, about eleven o’clock, when I had closed my window, and had sat down to continue my journal, I was disturbed by the sounds of loud revelry.  At first I was at a loss to conceive whence the noise issued, as I knew that the eunuchs always locked the outer doors leading down to the staircases at ten o’clock. Still, as the romping and laughing appeared to come from near the Harem gardens, at first I thought that, perhaps, some of His Highness's [Ismael Pacha] the Viceroy’s guests had become rather jovial, and had rambled about in the Pavilion gardens, in the vicinity of the Harem.

 

Listening, however, for a few moments, I heard the well-known laugh of one of my own slave attendants. Rising from my seat, I extinguished the wax-lights, opened the window softly, peeped out into the grounds, and, lo! there, to my utter amazement, I beheld a motley group of black female slaves. Moving about them were figures closely resembling the soldiers, when muffled up in their cloaks, who usually mounted guard at the outside gates o the Harem. Looking through my opera-glass, I immediately discerned several of the eunuchs "tripping along the verdant green;" others were dancing and singing as merrily as if they were an "elfin band."

 

I had heard much, and read a great deal, about the impossibility of men entering the Harems of the East, considered so "sacred" by all Moslems, that no true believer has ever been known to visit the "Abode of Bliss" of a true Mussulman. But now that I had seen the female slaves of the Viceregal Harem rambling about at night with the eunuchs, "the guardians of those girls," and other muffled figures, I could not help giving credence to the assertion of a celebrated writer on Oriental life, that, crabbed and cross-grained as the eunuchs may be, still there are many of them who bow the knee to that sovereign ruler of Egypt, Prince Baksheesh, and that golden keys do sometimes throw back the rusty hinges of the doors they guard; or else how came the slaves and their partners, those muffled figures,

“To be dancing on the verdant lawn, In the bright moonlight

 

 

 

 

Ballet in the Princess's appartments, Cairo, Egypt, 1862-1864

 

Lott, Emeline: The governess in Egypt. Harem life in Egypt and Constantinople. London, Richard Bentley, 1865, 2 vol. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

“Having thus ran through the whole suite, I was conducted back again to the aparment which I had quitted with my ciceroni. There I resumed my place near Her Highness, and my pipe was again replenished, and coffee handed to me, by the beautiful Circassion slave. A short time afterwards, three white slaves sat themselves down, just as adroitly as if they had been Europeans, at the farther end of the room, upon rush-bottom chairs - yes, upon wretched-looking rush-bottom chairs! One of them took up the oud (a kind of guitar), the strings of which she strick with a piece of shell; another played a long flute, resembling in shape that which the ancient painters always sketch Cecilia as placing to her lips; while the third one passed her small hand upon a tar (similar to a tambourine, but rather larger), which she beat hurriedly. The whole of these three instruments were out of tune, so that it was extremely difficult to catch any harmony, for the whole produced a most dull and monotonous, but yet not unpleasing, sound. A fourth slave, the melody of whose voice Her Highness had much praised, ought to have sung to that accompaniment; but, I cannot tell how, the poor girl had been so imprudent as to catch a cold; so that it was utterly out of her power to sing a single note. She blushed deeply with confusion, trembled with fear, evidently foreseeing the storm which was about to break over her head; for she came and cast herself at the Princess’s feet. How I longed to take her place! and kiss Nuzly’s pretty little feet, to obtain pardon for the fault of which the slave had so unintentionally been guilty.

 

“By what right had a slave to catch cold - to lose that voice which did not belong to her, but which was the sole property of her who had bought her? What an abominable crime! The haughty Princess, whom this untoward accident had greatly disconcerted, more especially as it had disarranged the fantasia that Her Highness had prepared for a foreign visitor, frowned most darkly at the prostrate girl; her eyebrows almost met, and her countenance assumed an expression of fiendish cruelty. Then well did I see that she was a fitting consort for the Nero-like Defterdar. "May the voice," said she to the poor slave, in a threatening tone, as she kicked her from her, "remain for ever dumb!" She clapped her hands twice; then two eunuchs appeared, and led away the poor innocent victim of her malevolence.

 

“Whether it was my imagination or reality I know not, but it seemed to me that I soon after heard stifled cries and a cracking of the courbache (or native whip, made from strips of buffalo hides); but those mournful shrieks were soon drowned by the discordant sounds of the instuments. The countenance of the Princess, which had borne such a sombre aspect, now appeared all radiant with smiles.

 

“After the concert was terminated, them the ballet began. Four dancers glided into the apartment, holding copper saganets (castanets), from which vibrated a complete rush of sonorous notes. All four of them had recently been sent, as a present to the Princess, from Constantinople. They were attired in red silk trousers, trimmed with gold, and elegant blue damask jackets, open at the chest, and which set off their fine figures to the greatest advantage. Their black raven hair hung down their backs in long curls, like that of the other slaves; but one of them was quite fair, and her hair was cut in the Savoyard fashion. The most beautiful of the four, a charming creature of about twenty years of age, led the dance à la mode Taglioni. Nothing could possibly surpass the agility, nimbleness, and grace of all her attitudes: her whole contour was the personification of elegance itself. Her head was thrown back, her small mouth half open, the eyes half closed, as she bounded about the room like a graceful gazelle; and every time that her artistic enthusiasm lead her in front of one of the immense mirrors which reached from the ceiling down to the floor, she glanced coquettishly at her own figure - most assuredly excusable in so lovely a creature; for it was impossible to conceive a more exquisite specimen of  feminine beauty and symmetry.

 

“The ballet was the ‘lion’ of the fantasia, and its representation took place amidst a breathless silence, only broken at intervals by the clinking of the saganets, and it occupied a whole hour.

 

"The Princess scarcely bestowed any attention upon an amusement which was no noverlty to her, and with which she had entertained me as being a foreigner of distinction. As Her Highness reclined indolently on her divan, her red lips were placed from time to time to the beautiful amber mouthpiece of her chibouk, from which she puffed forth light clouds of perfumed smoke. Occasionally she seemed as if lost in deep thought; but those piercing dark orbs of hers never took their glance off me; and even when they were withdrawn, I still felt their fascinating influence upon me, for the very marrow in my bones appeared to become frozen within me.

 

"The slaves who were unemployed stood at the end of the saloon, but many of them kept constantly moving about; and from the number that I saw that day, I should think that Her Highness must have had not less than a hundred white, and a much greater number of black ones. Some of them were not more than six years old. While the dancing was going on, several of them were employed in handing us violet, jasmine, and rose sherbet, with various kinds of confectionery, but especially that of Rahat-loukoum (so much prized by the Turks, and which had been sent to Her Highness from Constantinople, where it is made in perfection), which was served up in beautifully-embossed silver vases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Court ball in Alexandria, Egypt, 1864

 

Lott, Emeline: The governess in Egypt. Harem life in Egypt and Constantinople. London, Richard Bentley, 1865, 2 vol. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

The second was fitted up as a buffet on the occasion of the grand state ball on the 8th of June, 1864; and here it was that the Kopeks, "dogs" of Christians drank freely of those choice wines which the quondam Crimean suttlers knew so well how to select, and to charge for too. At the time we visited it, it was arranged for that forthcoming fête. In the centre stood a long table; in each corner a case of stuffed birds. Chairs covered with plain crimson morocco were placed in a row down each side.

 

We then proceeded to the ball-room, a circular apartment, which is well lighted by a handsome stained-glass cupola. The floor was of red and white marqueterie, highly polished. The walls were covered with white satin paper, having a roseate hue. White lace and pink silk curtains hung in festoons from the cupola, fastened with bouquets and white and pink silk rosettes, having long streamers attached. The windows were similarly arranged. Most magnificent cut-glass lustres hung down from each side of the cupola, and several lustre candelabras were fixed to the walls. A semi-circular orchestra, covered with crimson cloth, occupied one half of the circumference, which, as well as the whole of the apartment, was decorated with vases filled with real and artificial flowers.

 

The artist who had fitted up these apartments for this state ball, happened to be in the Palace as we were making our tour of inspection, and he presented both myself and H. H. the Grand Pacha with several artificial flowers and bouquets of most fragrant exotics.

 

Here it was, that on the 8th of June, 1864, H. H. the Viceroy Ismael Pacha gave the grand state ball. On that occasion the whole line of the route leading from the Place de Consuls to the Palace was most brilliantly illuminated with thousands of flambeaux, and the police arrangements were admirably conducted. My pen-drawing must necessarily fall very short of the splendid tout ensemble of the fête, par excellence of the Alexandrian season. Still, I cannot but observe, that as the powerful rays of those torches fell upon the well-appointed equipages which rolled along to the festive scene, they brought out in bold relief the animated countenances of their fair, elegantly-dressed female occupants, whose hair was ornamented with many a lovely spray and brilliant tiara of diamonds, which formed a most becoming addition to their well-selected yet variegated coloured costumes and elaborate toilettes.

 

I have not of late years amused myself by a perusal of any of the numerous beautifully illustrated editions of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments" which have been published, although I must plead guilty to having been a resident within those "gilded cages," where such are narrated nightly, and believed in most scrupulously. Yet, as I gazed on the busy turmoil (for on that day I took no official part in that festivity), as it was being rapidly whirled past me, I almost fancied that I had been carried away by some genii, and was at that moment an inhabitant of one of those spots, that the "rubbing up" of Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp is said to have the gift to call into existence.

 

I have already described the decorations of those splendid suites of apartments as I walked through them in the daytime; but when I entered them on this night, the coup d'oeil that burst upon my sight, as I most carefully walked up and down that beautiful mosaic pavement, was magnificently imposing. The stewards, quite ignorant of their duties as masters of the ceremonies, had forgotten one of the most essential precautions in a ball-room, but most especially where the flooring is of highly-polished marqueterie - to have it strewn with finely-powdered perfumed chalk.

 

I observed a good-natured smile cross the fine features of H. H. the Viceroy Ismael Pacha, as he graciously received the homage of his ministers and brilliant staff, closely attended by that small circle of Europeans yclept the clique who have the entrée at Court. His condescending salaam was given with all that grace of deportment and suavity of manner, which we should only have expected to see displayed by a Prince who had been educated in the school of the first gentleman of Europe (George the Fourth of England), when he received the presentations of that bevy of European ladies (kopeks, "dogs" of Christian women), who were presented to him by their own "Special Princes," many of whom officiated as masters of the ceremonies.

 

This fête will ever be remembered as a most remarkable occurrence in the annals of Egyptian history, as it is the first time that any Mussulman Prince gave audience to the fair daughters of Christendom. We did not perceive any of the dark-eyed daughters of Israel, although there was a pretty fair sprinkling of members of the Hebrew persuasion.

 

His Highness the Viceroy acknowledged the attendance of such a numerous body of his European population with much apparent satisfaction, walked about the rooms, showed considerable attention to the officers of the United States frigate, Constellation, and appointed them some attendants to escort them about the Palace; seemed much pleased at the entente cordiale which appeared to exist among the different classes and nations of Europeans; expressed his entire approbation of the whole of the arrangements that had been made to carry out his princely hospitality; and remained  until a late hour, evidently gratified and amused most thoroughly at the dancing and hilarity of his guests.

 

I was credibly informed that this entertainment cost no less a sum than 40,000 l. to 50,000 l. A few days afterwards H. H. the Viceroy visited the vessels in the port of Alexandria belonging to the Pacific and Oriental Company, and the Messagéries Impériales presented the officers and crews with rings and baksheesh respectively; but his crowning and princely gifts were a tiara of diamonds, each valued at 1,200 l., to each of the wives of the agents of these companies, Mrs. B. and Madame L. in consideration of the polite personal services rendered to His Highness by their husbands.

 

 

Dervishes of Cairo, Egypt, 1879

 

McGarvey, John William: Lands of the Bible. Philadelphia & London, Lippincott, 1881. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

The dance, or rather the whirl, of the Dervishes is the strangest and wildest exhibition of religious fanaticism I have ever seen. They are a kind if Mohammedan monks, and they live at Cairo in a dingy, tumble-down old convent. At a certain point in their Sabbath worship (Friday is their Sabbath), they walk out upon a circular space in the middle of the large room surrounded by a railing, and commence whirling like children turning round on their tip-toes ; and they whirl so fast that their long skirts, shaped like a woman's dress, stand out nearly straight. They kept this up, accompanied by screeching music from a choir in the gallery, for just 25 minutes, with only two intervals of rest of about one minute each ; yet none of them seemed to be dizzy, but all walked without staggering when they were through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ulemas and dervishes in procession, Cairo, Egypt, 1881

 

Tristram, Henry Baker: Eastern customs in Bible lands. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1894. Reprinted by Elibron Classics.

 

 

Dancing. - The nations of the East have ever combined the dance as well as music with their most solemn religious ceremonies. There is nothing frivolous or trifling in the manner in which Orientals strive by the rhythmical movements and gestures of the body to express joy or praise. Just as our music might be divided into sacred, martial, and operatic (including in the latter all lighter melodies), so there are still among the Mohammedans three very distinct classes of dance, corresponding to these three divisions. From the various allusions to the dance in Holy Scripture, we may reasonably believe that their dances, as well as their music, have come down with little change from their Jewish predecessors. Of the third class of dance, performed exclusively by women, we need say nothing. Such was the dancing of the daughter of Herodias before Herod ; such are the exhibitions of the dancing girls of Egypt, or the Nautch girls of India, all of them an abomination to the Lord. In the East the sexes always danced separately, nor was it otherwise when David led the triumphal procession before the Ark. The men preceded with a leaping step, swaying to the sound of the music ; then followed the musicians, and after them the damsels dancing by themselves.

I had an opportunity of seeing such a religious dance in 1881, when Arabi Pasha led the procession with the sacred carpet for the Kaaba of Mecca out of Cairo, on its way to the Prophet's shrine. This is one of the greatest ceremonies of Mohammedanism ; and the carpet, the gift of the khalif, is renewed only at intervals of several years. It was borne aloft on camels, and surrounded by troops ; but in front was a vast crowd of ulemas and dervishes, with the chief muftis at their head, leaping, bounding, swaying their arms, and whirling round in time to the din of drums, trumpets, and cymbals which followed them. The men chanted, or rather yelled, verses of the Koran as they danced, suggesting to one rather the frantic frenzy of the prophets of Baal with Elijah on Carmel, than a religious triumphal procession. The excitement and the music soon drove many of them into a state of ecstatic rigidity. They seemed lost to the sense of pain, and one and another laid themselves down with stiffened limbs in front of the horses, which walked over their bodies without inflicting any apparent injury. The horses, however, were not shod. The same insensibility to pain and muscular rigidity is exhibited habitually by the dancing dervishes, as all Eastern travellers have seen ; and is the result of physical excitement.

But let it not be supposed that the contortions of the modern dervish are representative of the dancing before the ark of Jehovah, any more than the yells of Mohammed,  Mohammed, rashoul il Allah ! (the prophet of God !), are like the glorious strain, "Let God arise : let His enemies be scattered"; "Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and the ark of Thy strength," or the chanting in alternate verses of the heart-stirring twenty-fourth Psalm. The modern is but the parody, by a corrupt and degrading superstition, of the solemn grandeur of the worship of Jehovah.

 

 

 

 

 

Statuette of ancient dancers, Egypt, 03/1884

 

Loti, Pierre: Egypt (La mort de Philae). Translated from the French by W. P. Baines.

 

 

The master of the house, while his Bedouin servants are gone to open and light up for us the underground habitations of the Apis, shows us his latest astonishing find, made this morning in a hypogeum of one of the most ancient dynasties. It is there on a table, a group of little people of wood, of the size of the marionettes of our theatres. And since it was the custom to put in a tomb only those figures or objects which were most pleasing to him who dwelt in it, the man-mummy to whom this toy was offered in times anterior to all precise chronology must have been extremely partial to dancing-girls.

 

In the middle of the group the man himself is represented, sitting in an armchair, and on his knee he holds his favourite dancing-girl. Other girls posture before him in a dance of the period; and on the ground sit musicians touching tambourines and strangely fashioned harps. All wear their hair in a long plait, which falls below their shoulders like the pigtail of the Chinese. It was the distinguishing mark of these kinds of courtesans. And these little people had kept their pose in the darkness for some three thousand years before the commencement of the Christian era...

 

In order to show it to us better the group is brought to the window, and the mournful light which enters from across the infinite solitudes of the desert colours them yellow and shows us in detail their little doll-like attitudes and their comical and frightened appearance - frightened perhaps to find themselves so old and issuing from so deep a night. They had not seen a setting of the sun, such as they now regard with their queer eyes, too long and too wide oepn, they had not seen such a thing for some five thousand years...