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

220 NUBIAN BALLET.
or at the Acad^mie Royale de Musique in Paris,
could be compared to such natural decorations !
And now for the performers—the Elslers and
Ceritos of Korosko. They were Nubian and
Abyssinian dancing-women, six in number, some
of them finely formed, and with pleasing counte-
nances, all of them dressed in the fashion I have
told you is peculiar to the females of this coun-
try, and as fine and fragrant as nose-rings, ear-
rings, bracelets, and castor-oil could render them.
Their dances are quite dissimilar to those of the
Turkish and Egyptian Bayaderes, and far less
objectionable, for they do not offend delicacy,
although they certainly are in direct opposition
to all our European pre-conceived ideas of grace.
If I had not previously been aware that what
I was about to witness was dancing, I should
have supposed that our corps de ballet had been
simultaneously seized with epileptic convulsions;
so extraordinary was the series of contortions
executed by them in cadence to the clapping of
bands and stamping of feet. The most admired
of these performances consists in throwing back
the head, gradually protruding the chest and
stomach with measured jerks, and bending back-
wards until the body is perfectly arched, and the
head nearly touches the heels. Then at the very