The morning call., 1892-08-20
H0WLING DERVISHES.
They Make Spectators Sick in Madison.
Square Garden.
New York Trihr,o An, IN


Square Garden.
New York Tribune. Aug 10.
Thirty unkempt, leather-skinned der.
wishes spun on their toes around the Madi.
son-square Garden amphitheater yesterday
made WY faces, ate glass, chewed snakes,
and entertained party of actors and news
paper men with other little diversions of the
Orient. Several days ago Z. NJ. Malluk,
a Cairo rug merchant. brought &
group of bowling dervishes on the
Trinacra, and lie is now looking for &
place to exhibit them. Yesterday he
turned them loose in the Garden, and
fer three hours they gave an exhibition
Which for realism surpassed any show
ever given in New York. The name dervish
is synonymou with fakir, but the I'M
washed strangers from the Orient did things
which were all too real.
The performance began at 8 o'clock in the
afternoon and continued as long as the spec
tatorS could stand the strain. a few skins
- ----a -. 40 AI~<9Seos, r-cauA
end oil tie amphitbeater, upon which the der.
wishes stood shoulder to shoulder sWayino
their bodies 10 and fro and contemplating
their own noses from about hundred
different angles. They were dressed in lone
flowing robes or brown and gray stuffs and
upon their feet they wore Turkish Slippers.
For nearly an hour they Squirmed and
%rlggled and murmured weird incantation
The manager had announced that his COM
pany would give thanksgiving perform
ance, but the wild and haggard men who
returned thanks yesterday had evidently
never heard OF the Toast-turkey-and- pumD-
kin-p Thanksgiving of the United States.
The clunching OF a glass bottle was the
signal for change in the programme and
the whole tribe was next chewing flint glass.
The bottles were not the harmless bits
of gelatine used by the American "fakirs,"
but were apparently of the hardest glass.
Several OF the shattered bottles were exam
ined and they were found to be smeared with
blood. pleasing little pastime was the
piercing of the cheeks with needle-like in
strument called tie "daboos." Upon the end
of it was a ball of metal. The performer
stuck the pointed instrument into his right
cheek, twisted Ii about and stretched the
skin. Not neglecting the letter of the law,
he turned out the other cheek and then
punctured the flesh under the chin. The
performer seemed to be unconscious of
pain.
The feature of the entertainment, as it is
OF all variety performances in these days,
was the serpentine dance. 1t was per-
formed without the aid of gauZe skirts and
calcium lights, but there can be no
doubt that it was the only and original ser
pentine dance. Ali HaSsan, the high priest
of the tribe, faced the spectators carrying a
big snake about three feet long, while he
executed a series Of steps which would put
the dancers of the roof gardens to shame.
The dervish hung the reptile about his neck
and permitted it 10 crawl over his body
and to entwine itself about his arms.
Then he seized it with both hands and bit
off the head The body writing was passed
around tho circle of dervishes and before
the sight of the spectators each man
seemed TO bite off portion OF the Shiny
coil. The persons in the boxes who had come
to see display Of juggling looked SICK and
one by one they made their way into the
street. The performance continued until
o'clock, when the rug merchant took his
company from the garden.
The Turkish Consul-General, who was
present, said that the performers were un-
doubleday dervishes from Asia Minor. The
word dervish is from the Persian,
and means the sill of door," sig
nifylns that the deryish begs from
door to door. The derviSh is religious
devotee. and represents the mystic side of
Islam. The people live by begging, Juggling
and selling medicine