The record-union., 1899-05-01
WITH THE lSAWIYAH.
STRANGE ANTICS OF RELIC
IOUs DEvoTEEs.
A New Description of the Self
Torture of the Famous North
African Sect.

that bathed everything in haze OF
mellow turquoise green The white
washed mud walls of the village, which
struggled up a bare hillside shone with
phcsphorescent light, and at the top OF
all the domes and cupolas of a great
mosque glowed pale green against the
darker green of the sky. Now and then
there fitted along the wallis a. deep indi-
go shadow, cast by some passing figure
with pale, shrouded head and white
burnous-itself almost invisible against
the whitewashed walls. Only at rare
intervals the dazzling brightness of the
turquoise town was broken by the
formless blot Of a doorway or window
or the uncanny growth of huge prickly
pears.
The mosque of the Isawiyah was not
the big one which crowned the hight
but a little squar-domed building OH the
outskirts of the village. Already round
the door was gathered a crowd of sol
emn Arabs; we went through the door
way down into a little white moonlii
courtyard, and from that, with whis-
pered hint from our host to suppress
our sense of hunor, down more steps
into the mosque. The length of the
buildings was at right angles to the
doorway, opposite which was a small
apse where seats were put for us. 1r
this way we We're cut off from any pos
sibidty of exit by the whole congrega-
ton, an arrangement which made lis
hope that the spirit might not work toe
nightly that night. From the low
whitewashed domes hung colored lamps
~
to end of the building sat cross legged
on the ground a, double row of singers
and musicians, and behind these stood
the line of dancers on whom the CHIEF
burden of the ceremony fell. Seated az
we were behind the musicians, we look
ed over their heads at the faces of the
dancers. Between the second row OF
the musicians and the long line OF
dancers was LETT an open space in which
at some distance apart stood two mer
whom I will call Stewards these neither
danced nor sang, their duty was to re-
main impressive, the sole depositories
as it were of the standards, of ordinary
life 1t was an office for which we felt
grateful in the paroxysmal orgy thai
followed.
The light of the hanging lamps and
of a row Of candles placed between the
singers on the floor threw a warm, vel
low glow on the dusky vaulted roof
which faded into gloom at either end
But the dancers we're in a blaze s5o1
light, and the line of white, swathed
figures, their red turbans and even
their dark features cut a sharp ever
changing silhouette on the darkness Of
the aisle behind and the night sky seer
through the sopen door. Dusky ochre
white and red We're the dominant tones
of the whole, but among the elder men
who sang or merely looked on, were
some rich gandaras of turquoise anG
pale green, others of violet, puce and
Scarlet.
WEIRD CHORISTERS.
When everything was ready the music
began. All Arab music is strange &c
European ears, but the Isawiyah has q
system of religious inharmony of its
own, in which the peculiar nasal dis
cords of Arab music are exaggerated Il
an eXasperating pitch, while the rhythm
is as complex and as frenzied as the
dance it accompanies. The singers anG
musicians were mostly elderly men in
whom the youthful ecstasies of self i'm
notation had given place to soberer and
ma&urer joys. The tambourine was the
only instrument, and as they played al
sang words from the writings of Side
ben Isa. 1 call it singing, but the tense
and painful expressions Of these elders
the corners of their mouths drawn
down, the eyes screwed up to mere Sits
Ia. 4
that of a row OF fierce animals serenad
ing the moon in the desert rather than
a church choir. The only exception was
the holy man sitting just opposite to us
in whose face, beatifed with the re-
ligious exercise, was reflected the light
of a heavenly vision, unmarried for him
by the fact that his private life, like
that of some European saints, was not
entirely free from reproach. Meanwhile
the tambourinas ratified necessarily
with dull wooden sound; the ictus of
the rhythm was marked by the holy
mans hftAg his tambourine above his
head with a sudden jerk and giving it
a violent thump from below while he
gazed up at it as though it's dirty parch-
ment covered an imminent paradise
AS the music grew faster and more
orgiastic the dancers became more and
more violent. Standing shoulder to
shoulder in close-packed line, each
grasped his neighbours hand held rigidly
down against the thigh. The basis of
the dance. which continued with scarce
ly any intermission for the whole two
hours of the service, was a rapid jig
ging up and down of the line of dane
H. -se-fr
stiff, and only the heads wagging
Imply from side to side with the move
ment. In the center Of the line stood
the leader, the elected President of the
sect, handsome, finely built youth of
about 20, who had been engaged all day
in making our hosts new croquet
ground He it was who marked the
changes in the dance by leaving the
line, spinning around on his heels and
his hands above his head. AT
a sign from him the whole line would
bend their bodies forward till their
heads nearly touched the ground, with
scarce a mome4t's pause in the inter-
jig.
AS the music rose to creScendo and
the rhythm became more frantic and
involved, the dancers got visibly more
excited and less conscious of their sur
roundings, their eyes taking on a fixed
and vacant expression. Then the leader
of the dance applied what seemed to be
the most effective and eliminating in
toxicant At each ictus in the dance
all the heads We're strained forward.
and every one gave a deep staccato
groan like the roar of a wild beast.
while the blood rushed to the head and
the muscles of the neck were strung
like ropes under the strain. 1t was not
long before this produced the results
for which all were waiting. A man of