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

272 BANISHED GHAWAZEE.
perfect, and as fresh as if painted yesterday. Not-
withstanding that I am quite wrong in my ad-
miration of this fragment of a temple, I have not
altered my first opinion of it, and it still appears
to me to be both a grand and beautiful specimen
of architecture ; but I am not going to give you
a second edition of my false impressions.
Did I tell you that Esneh is the head-quarter
to which the Ghawazee^ or dancing women o^
Cairo, were banished by order of the Viceroy ?
The government allows them house-rent free, and
to each individual three loaves of bread and one
piaster ten paras per diem (about twopence
English), upon which, in this cheap country, they
contrive to live very well. Of the original Cairo-
bred Ghawazee, only two now remain, and one
of these, the celebrated Sofia, the favourite of
Abbas Pasha (Mahommed All's grandson, and
the governor of Cairo,) who kept a separate
establishment for her, before the race became
proscribed, now lives in Esneh. As this woman
was considered one of the most accomplished
Ghawazee in Egypt, I was very curious to see her,
and we therefore desired Mohammed to arrange
that she should exhibit herself, and some speci-
mens of her talents, to us ;
premising that English
taste cannot tolerate those wanton displays in