Mower County transcript., 1869-12-23
Curious Scene il lEgyptJThe Shiekh's
Ride over a Roadway OF Living ROdios..

niue over ROADWAY OIL Living Bodies.
The accounts given by special CORE
spondents at Cairo Of the festivities in hon
or OF the prophets bir, hday this year are
very curious. Among the most singular
features OF the festival is the ride Of the
oneikh over roadway of living bodies to-
va. "a.''S Tue mosque; q progref . thus f cord
'As q sort of advance guard, there came
8 mop OF nall naked men shouting. yelIin,
bowling. Some whirlcd round md ronn6
tossing their. aims aloft as thev whirIed
some were foaming at their mouth, Others
had snakes coiled round their .necf.
snakes hanging from their teeth, snakes.
twisted and squeezed between their hands:
some had bare swords, which they br&nd-
ished in the air. There were men with
skewers stuck th,ongh their, cheeks, men
with iron spikes headed with heavy iron
balls. who kept spinning the point OF. the
spike upon. their palms till the pieces OF
sharp jagged steel attached by chains to
the ball, began to fly round and round, and
then they made a feint to bring the whiri-
ing ball so near their cheeks as to alash
and cash the nose, mouth and eyes withgthe
revolving blades; a feint which, however,
was not carried into action. as the police
seized them, and pushed them on. =,
|. AS tho harsh strains ofthe .band came
sharper and clearer, the yelling grew more
frantic. the shouts more like the inarticu-
late cries of animals in pain, less like those
OF human beings. And then the shrieks,
yells and cries were drowned for moment
as the colleges of deryishes came marching
past, each with its sacred banner and its
band Of music. There was some attempt
at melody, but it seemed to ME az X the
by the frenzy of the moment and played
upon their Instruments as their fingers
chanted the fall, while they joined in the
yelling shrek OF. .Allah.el-Allahr On they
came, troops of green.turbaned dervishes,
with their flags and music, and between
every two troops there pressed and pushed
! the rear-guard of the mad, sore aiming mob
| which led the way in front. Over the
bodies in the street, dervishes, flag beare rs,
players, and their followers, tramped for
ward with unshod feet. Sf'S't = ~1'-
tThen At the end of the street appeared
the Shoakh himself mounted ON a-xhito
Arab steed. Except in bnrlesque, Ineves
saw SO huge a tlrban as that he wore. The
enormous folds OF. green muslin were wound
round and round his head Till the weight
must have been hard TO snppert, eyen III
your brain were clear; and the wearer, to
all outward sembiance, was In dead faint,
He looked ike.asman helpiessly drunk. Ct
drngged with the fumes Of tobacco till he
had lost all CONSEQUENCES Of where he was,
all power, ofnsing his limbs. Il His head,
surmounted by it's huge turban, hung down
helplessly over his left shoulder, his frame
kept lollipg, toand: fro; so that kea would
have fallen off the saddle if there had not
been men propping him up on either side;
his mouth was open, the saliva wasrupning
down from the corners OF his hips,
'tThe yelling and tho shoutang had been
well nigh deaiening before; but itswelled
to very Babel of shrieEs and sorears as
the &hite horse and his rider were led
slowly on over the pavement Of bodies,
Tramp. tramp, the hoofs came down over
the PROSTATE figures, and even a.aId the
uproar Of the crowd. you could hear the
dull strutch as the horse trad on his wav.
AS the Sheikh moved onwards the men
sprung from theground. on which they Law.
Pale as death half fainting, gasping for
breath, writhing as IL in mortal pain, they
Iooked one and all as if they were in the
various stages of epileptic commissions.
Their eyeballs glared ont Of. their sockets;
their features were contorted with hideous
spasms; they threw themselves about as il
they would dash thei- heads againts the
stone walls, and struggled hercely with the
friends whose arms were passed around
their shoulders to prevent them from fall.
ing to the ground. = z
Everybody knows the face and form Of
the boy possessed by DEVILS who kneeled
at the foot Of the mount, in Raphael:s pic.
ture of the Trans6guratioa: Well, among
the men over whom the horse had ridden
there seemed to be any number Of lad!
possessed, from whom the devils had no
{ yet been driven forth. I saw 1aen biting ths
ears, wrenching open the clenched teeth
pulling at the cramp- -knotted arms ofthes'
epileptic wretches. I heard shrieks, sobi
and groans. The very women in the shol
opposite, Who had squeezed forward Il
see the horse trample on the PROSTATE men
had turned their heads away. The who'll
scene was Rhastly horrihle. : fs!5s.,9 al