A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

ARAB DANCES. 117
keeping with the strange sounds produced
by it. In the midst of the circle Avas one of
tlie crew with a long stick in his hand, perform-
ing one of those extraordinary dances (in this
country called the the wasp dance) which used to
be peculiar to the (now banished) Ghawazees, or
dancing-girls of Cairo — evidently of the same
origin as the Mosca, or Fly Dance, which I saw
performed by the Gitanas of Granada, and like it
characterized by all those strange attitudes and
gesticulations of the body which form the base of
Oriental dancing. On the prow sat Reis Ali,
whiffing away at his chibouque in calm dignity,
as though quite unconscious of the noisy scene
that was enacting two paces behind him ; his
young son, Salem, seated at his feet, and his own
large crimson turban and decorous blue robes
forming a distinguishing contrast to the white
turbans and shirts, and naked dark limbs of his
crew. Altogether the group would have formed
a study for an artist like Decamp,—and such a
background as there was to the picture ! The
sky
flooded with the deep amber tints of sunset,
melting first into pale green and then into a
purple flush, as they mingled with the dark blue
of the west; and, standing out against it in
strong relief, the pyramids of Ghizeh, with the