The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-05-09
CAIRO DERv1SHEs.
THEIR ROWLING AND WHlRLiNo ON
THE BANKS OF THE NILE.

a Performance OF Which Much Has Boon
Written Described by an Eyewitneas-An
Entertainment Which Put tho Boston
Chaplain to Thinking.
Cairo has ON entertainment every Fri.
day afternoon which draws we'll It Is
the function Of tho bowling and whirl-
Ing dervtshes In the mosque Of Kasr-el-
Ain, ON tho road to old Cairo, near the
bank Of the Nile There wero formerly
two entertainments, one Of the howlers,
tho other Of the whirlers lido not know
how they happened to DO united sup
pose 1t came from the tendency toward
consolidation and combination 80 preya-
lent In these tmea It Is much more
convenient now. In the former times
tourists were obliged to hurry from one
to the other, as they both come off at
the Same hour. Now they can 20 leisure.
ly after an early lunch We assembled
with 100 or 200 Of our fellow travellers
ut the appointed hour, or rather some
time before, in order to secure good
seats
The performance is given In circu-
lar room crowned by lofty dome
Chairs arc supplied for moderate sti.
pend On the occasion when we assisted
there were about 80 performers The
leader of the troop was q very respect,
able looking man. He sat In the place
OF honor ON ono side of tho room The
others formed O semicircle in front of
him The exercise began with d short
invocation and dovout oboisanoes At
first the dervishcs lneeled on mats The
leader opened with brief chant, and
the others responded vigorously, duck
ing their heads to the floor. Then O be-
nevolent looking senior member struck
up song which had something of the
effect of a pig under gate This seem
cd to be sti >nlating, for all the others
rose and began rhythmic bowling, keep
ing time by moving their heads forward
and backward, with occasional varia-
tons to tho right and left
The bowling was varied by q snort
ing chorus, which, with practice be-
comes very effective This was followed
by deep and loud breathing, the heads
all the time wagging in the most yigor-
GUS manner. The accompanying music
at first was only flute and small
drum, but Ms they warmed up larger
drums and cymbals wprc brought in,
and the moro violent action was accent
ell by tremendous din About half tho
deryishcs had long hair, and tho move
mcnt of their heads was sufficient to
throw it forward and backward at every
stroke This was real addition to tho
effect After they got woll at work ono
OF them glided into the center of tho cir
Gle and began to whirl, keeping dmo to
the music and tho bowling, which kept
going faster and faster.
Now and then the leader would make
signal to stop Some of the performers
seemed unable to do this promptly, but
kept ON swnying and bowling until they
wcIo run down Only one of them fell
III swoon. and he seemed to be In
fair way to recover when wo left This
was aslight disappointment. Some DAYS
there arc moro events Of this nature,
which always increase the pleasure of
the audience. am almost inclined to
fear that the ''show" element has been
allowed to creep into this performance
though 1T appears to be carried on In
dead earnest There is no fee for adlnis-
sion, but every visitor is expected to
drop something into the ''plate' as he
goes out, besides paying for his chair.
The performers at first struck me as a
JOB lott of loafers picked up in the
street for the purpose, but was assured
by one who ought to know that they
wero real dcrvishcs, we'll practiced in
their business. Certainly no company
without good deal of practice could 90
through what they did without great
er list Of casualties did not SEQ any
indication on single face that there
was anything amusing about it. As this
was religious function, the chaplain
naturally took the right of the line. /
saw that he was intensely interested and
presumed that he was looking for
deeper meaning underlying the strange
spectacle 1t seems that he was consid-
ering the possibility of introducing
something of this nature to give warmth
and color to the religious services in the
churches of Boston, which are too apt to
be coldly dccorous, especially under the
chilling influences of the Back Bay.
Two carefully selected and we'll or
ganized troops, one of whirlers and
the other of howlers, would add real
life and interest to any one Of our
churches where the members Of the con-
gregation arc now apt to be sleepy. Any
thing in reason, the chaplain says, to
get people out Of their ruts of self COM
placency. l can scarcely venture to ex-
press an opinion here as to the spiritual
effect, but feel sure that congrega
ton, drowsy with overlooking on baked
beans and brown bread, would be made
wide awake by joining moderately in