The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1875-09-11
6hings sboad,


AfaO aAhcinB u more curious tnan pref
ty, but il Is strange to you and wild. YoV
would be sorry to miss seeing It, but
must explain to you that there are som,
things we may see and some that we ma,
not see. However, my friends are very
discreet and respectful, and they win ar
range with these 'almahs" exactly what
they are TO dance, and what they are tc
sing, that they are to be fully clad, and
are not to exceed in raki. They have
brought five, all dressed in various colored
gauzes, spaugles and gold coin ornaments,
troWsers frilled and gathered round the
ankle with ring and hair plated up in
two long tresses to the knee. Their in
struments are the tOm-tom, the tamborine,
and sort Of zittern.
They crack their fingers by putting their
hands together, by pulling back the second
and third fingers Of the left hand with the
index finger Of the right, and by letting
them rebound, with noise louder than any
castanets Their voices are melancholy,
nasal and boyish, and all their songs are
in a minof key. They used to set my
teeth on edge OF first, but | have grown to
love them now. lam very fond Of music,
but ! have never been able to pick up an
Arab air. II takes year before one can
perceive the difference between one air
and another, or whether it is intended to
be joyous or sorowful; but after the ini-
tiation the music becomes more express
sivo. Even their military bands, like all
their music, sound half note below the
concert pitch. You must watch them
singing. They put on a miserable look,
hang their heads sideways, turn their eyes
like dying ducks, and then out comes
wall, reminding us of an Eolian harp
hung in tree. All sit cross-legged in a
row upon the diyan, and they win sing
and sway from side to side. That Almah,
who was once the best dancer, and is now
the size Of six ordinary mortals, can no
longer dance. We are going to have a
pas seba This girl viii move about the
room with little wriggling steps, in time
to the music, nearly double herself back
ward, and throw herself in all sorts Of
contortions and attitudes, till / am con-
vinced that all their bones are made Of
gristle. One thing, which, perhaps, you
viii not understand, is that her dancing
means something whereas, ours Is only in
tended for exercise or to give people
chance Of talking. She has told you by
pantomime whole histories, Of how she
was at home with her mother, aud how
she went to market and to the bazaar; how
she did the washing and cooking; how her
father (the Shaykh) wanted to marry her,
and how she didn't want to marry, for that
Ali was fighting far away in the desert.
She wonders IL he thinks of her, and she
ooks at the moon and knows he can see
i too, and asks when he viii come back.
Now the music aud the steps change. He
IS coming back, and they are dressing her
% be his bride; she is walking in the bridal
procession, yelling her face for shame.
And so forth. The performers are clam
,ring for raki. think they deserve
little, but we must not let them have too
much. Now | will ask them for my fa-
gorite sword dance. That thin and grace
ful girl viii take her turn and describe to
you fight by pantomime. You win be
at the way she can handle
II she had learned broadsword
III her life. She whirls it round her head
Ind throat, under her arms. over her back
ike lightning, and within an inch of our
faces, as If she were slashing at sixty un-
'een enemies, dancing all the time. The
laner life Of Syria.