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

A DANCING SALOON IN EGYPT.

It was proposed to us , and with some hesitation dot, r-
mined, that we shouldinvite ourselves to join the party.
Tee application was received with politeness, and the
tauter of the house himself came out to introduce us.
Presently, therefore, we were comfortably installed in a
large room, dimly lighted with oil lamps, upon divans,
with pipe and fingan in hand, in company with as strange
a set as it has ever been my lot to associate with. The
l3ouluk himself was a genteel sort of ruffian enough. Ile
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.
About half-a-dozen other Arnaouts, all of cut-throat
physiognomy; a few handsome, quiet men, said to be
Circassian elemlocks: the Sheikh-el-Beled, and other
magnates of the village, sat around; and near the door
was a crowd of inferior people, Arnaouts and others.
There were seven or eight dancing girls, all more or
less agreeable. 'rho principal one, Ilesneh herself, was
really a tall, elegantly shaped, beautiful woman, and
would have attracted admiration 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. liesneh, 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
arralti that was offered. It is probable, therefore, that
what wo 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 we should give the girls something;
but he 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 1"
Social Life in Egypt.

NOTE CIRCULATION OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
—A return of the note circulation of the Bank of Eng-
land, for the four weeks ending the 11th, 18th, and 25th
September, and the 2nd instant, shows a decrese
of
539,0941. in the note circulation of England and Wales,
and a decrease of 63,2261. in the circulation of the
United Kingdom when compared with the returns for
the previous four weeks, ending the 4th of September.
The note circulation of the private end joint stock banks
of England and Wales was 1,638,9641. below the amount
authorized to be issued; and that, inclusive of Scotland
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
21,781,2361., showing it decrease on the previous month's
return of 110,069/. The nyerage 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 49,1001. The average of specio
held by the Scotch banks during tho same term was
897,5391; decrease on the previous month, 4,6101 In
the item of specie there is a decrease of 163,779/.
Compared with the corresponding period of 1851, these
figures show an increase of 3,232,0261. in the note cir-
ciliation of England and Wales, and an increase of
4,167,9831. iv the circulation of the United Kingdom.