The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-29 00:00:00

A DANCING SALOON IN EGYPT.

It was proposed to us, and with some hesitation det-r-
-mined, that we should invite ourselves to join the party.
TtA application was received with politeness, and the
raaster of the house himself came out to introduce us.
Presently, therefore, we wore comfortably installed in a
large room, dimly lighted with oil lamps, upon divans,
with pipe and fiugan in hand, in company with as strange
a set as it has ever been my lot to associate with. The
Bouluk himself was a genteel sort of ruffian enough. He
was treating another Bouluk, just arrived from Esneh--
a great burley, drunken, roaring villain, who was rolling
about in a place of honour at the upper end of the room.
AbJut half-a-dozen other Arnaouts, all of cut-throat
physiognon y; a few handsome, quiet men, said to be
Circassian blemlocks: the Sheikh-el-Beled, and other
magnates of the village, sat around; and near the door
was a crowd of inferior people, Araaouts and others.
There were seven or eight dancing girls, all more or
less agreeable. The principal one, Hesneh herself, was
really a tall, elegantly•shsped, beautiful woman, and
would have attracted atimiraton and applause in any
European ball-room. Her eyes, which, as the custom,
she generally kept half-closed in dancing, the lashes
sometimes even resting on the cheeks, seemed, when
they opened and beamed around the room, to fill it with
redoubled light; her nose, her mouth, her chin—her
every feature—was exquisitely moulded, and nothing
could exceed the beauty of her arms and hands. In this
instance, fame had fallen short of the truth.
I will not describe the performance of this Egyptian
Aphrodite—as superior to Kutchuk as a pine apple to a
potato—because I should have in a groat measure to re-
peat what has been said in another place. Hesneh, how-
ever, but slightly overpassed the bounds of delicacy, and
gave real pleasure by the supple elegance of her move-
ments. Both herself and her companions seemed under
the mark in animal spirits, and went through their task
with very little enthusiasm, refusing even to drink the
arraki that was (Aired. It is probable, therefore, that
what we were told was true—namely, that their services
were forced and gratuitous. It is the custom to make
presents at the end of every applauded dance, or at any
rate, towards the close of the evening; but not a pare
made its appearance. We asked the Sheikh-el-Beled, in
a whisper, whether wo should give the girls something;
but be said by no means, as the Arnaouts would be of-
fended. If we were in a generous mood, however, we
might make a present to the servants at the door I"--
Social Life in Egypt.

NOTE CIECULATION OF TILE BANK OF ENGL. AND,
—A return of the note circulation of the Bank of Eng-
land, for the four weeks ending the 11th, 18th, and 25th
spptember, and the 2nd instant, shows a decrese of
539,0941. in the note circulation of England and Wales,
and a decrease of 63,226/. in the circulation of the
United Kingdom when compared with the. returns for
t)acm
the previous four weeks, ending the 4th of September.
The note circulation of the private and Joint stock banks
of England and Wales was 1;638,9641. below
(r Scotland
I
authorized to be issued; and that, inclusive
and Ireland, the circulation was on balance, 2,761.900/,
below the fixed amount. The average amount of coin
and bullion held by the Bank of England in both depart.
ments during the four weeks ending the 2nd inst. was
21,781,236/, showing a decrease on the previous month's
return of 110,069/. The avera..,e stock of specie held
by the Irish banks during the same period was
1,102,5561., being a decrease on the return for the pre-
vious four weeks of 49,100/. The average of specie
held by the Scotch banks during the same term was
897,539/ ; decrease on the previous month. 4,610/ In
the item of specie there is a decrriva of 163 7791.
Compared with the corresponding period of 1851, these
figures show an increase of 3,232,026/. in the note cir-
culation of England and Wales, and an increase of
4,167,983/ in the circulation of the United Kingdom.