The Washington times., 1918-12-22
NUMBER Of durweeshes had sud-
\ denly risen as though through the
y stone tagging and were driving

= = stone tagging and were driving
the crowd back with sticks until Con,
stance was pressed almost to suffocation.
but she struggled valiantly and managed
to keep her place by the column as well
as to see what was to happen.
Some of the men wore the ordinary
turban and dress of Egypt, others the
Turkish padded bonnet, still others the
high cap shaped like a sugar loaf. A cir
Gle formed, they began to perform their
ziIr, exclaiming over and over again,
allah! AIlah!" and at each exclamation
bowling the head and body and taking q
step to the right, the whole ring moving
slowly around-slowly at first, then more
rapidly, while the cries of %Allah!" re-
doubled in rapidity and Tehemence.
One man, springing as the others seemed
to have done, from the earth, appeared
suddenly in the center of the moving cir
Gle and began to whirl, more and more
rapidly, his arms extended, his feet flying,
until his dress stood straight out from his
body like an open umbrella. The dur
yeeshes in the outer circle were now
springing to the right instead Of stopping
and another circle within the outer one
was formed, smaller one, each man pfac-
ing his hands on the shoulders of those
next to him, the bowling and leaping and
the cries of "Allah!" being now rapid and
furious.
Through her burka Constance breathed
with difficulty. The air was like that in
vapcr bath, but none Of those nearest
her, women or men, seemed to be aware
Of the sitting heat or pressure. There was
a suppressed air Of excitement and expec-
tation, and underneath the mad commo-
ton Of the zikr was the drone Of a thou
sahd voices hushed, but poignant with
fervor or passion.
Constance gasped for breath. but she
felt no weakness. Instead, she seemed
born with a new strength to see and I'M
derstand all that was passing about her.
1t was the same thing that she had ex.
peTienced there, before, in the street with
Alan, the sense of feeling the heartbeats
of those next her Literally. indeed, of
drinking to the dregs on this night at
least the cup Of human life and expert
ence.
She had become a primitive, sharing
with the crowd the mad fervor Of the
dancing men, the belief in the ginn of the
ashr, and the gold of the Enchanted
Trough. She was of all time. 1t seemed
that she had witnessed all this before in
some previous incarnation.
The East was flowing through her veins,
making her a part Of itself, a mere in
stinct with the primitive passions Of love,
hate, fear predominant, celebrating the
cool and orderly processes Of reasoning.
diversion now occurred. Some of the
of them playing on a large tar or kind of
tambourine without the pieces of tinkling
metal, others on kettledrums, and these
sounds, beginning slowly in a cadence, in
creasing rapidly, we're something like what
she imagined the beating Of tom-toms must
be. The noises in the Threats of the dur
weeshes were savage, too, and in a mo-
ment there was another kind of dance
from some newcomers, more wildly aban-
doned than the other dance, which by con-
trast seemed almost stately. Each dur
weesh seemed to be performing the antics
Of a mailman, moving his body up and
down, gesticulating wildly, jumping,
screaming, each trying to excel the other
in, a kind of fantastic orgy of buffoonery.
Constance could have laughed, but she
dared not, for the passion that underlay
this exhibition showed that it was no
ld0k0luR Win anu pEcScHll1
she had a proof of their fervor. One Of
the men, a dark, spare individual Of mid
die age, who had excelled the others in
the extravaganza Of his performance.
rushed toward the center of the ring
formed by his brothers beating tars, where
there had been placed a sort of chatting
dish of copper filled with red-hot charcoal
The durweesh leaned forward quickly
and in his fingers seized a piece of live
charcoal, which he put into his mouth.
Then he took another-and another, until
his mouth was full. Constance shuddered
in horror, but saw him chew these Goals,
opening his mouth wider every moment.
Each time he inhaled the Goals appeared
almost at white heat, the inside Of his
mouth glowing like furnace, and when
he exhaled sparks few in a fountain of
fire. In CONSERVATION, she saw him actu-
ally chew and swallow the coal and then
resume his dancing.
Another durweesh ate glass, then sud-
denly, as though in a frenzy, sprang up TO
q long rafter OF wood, which extended
across an arch above the columns Of the
Iiwan, and ran slong>i When in the mid
die, above the heads of the crowd, he
halted suddenly, barred an arm and, wetting
a finger in his mouth, struck his bare arm
with It, causing blood to now. Constance
saw this with her own eyes, for he was