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

136 THE GHAWAZEE.
that nothing is to be destroyed for the mere
pleasure of destroying ; in short, nothing is to he
fired at that does not come within the class of
game.
The tracking system also enables us to stop at
villages, which we should pass by unnoticed were
the wind propitious; in this manner we got a
peep at Dishna (a very unimportant little place
in itself) of some of that proscribed race, the
Ghawazee, or public dancing-girls—so often mis-
takenly termed Alm^ by travellers—whom Mo-
hammed Ali has caused to be banished from
Cairo on account of the indelicacy of their exhi-
bitions, and the immorality of their lives These
women have been assigned a domicile in one or
two small towns of Upper Egypt, thinly popu-
lated i^laces where the licence of their example
must necessarily be circumscribed to a few ;
but
although the capital has been strictly prohibited
to them, yet, nevertheless, a few are still to be
found in Cairo, who clandestinely exhibit their
performance to strangers for a very high remune-
ration. One of these Ghawazee was standing on
the bank when we reached Dishna, and, struck
by the picturesque arrangement of her dress and
ornaments, we desired Mohammed to bring her
into the boat that we might inspect her more