DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0350
322 . TRAVELS IN UPPER
The breaking down of the dike, which closes
the entrance of the canal, constitutes a festival and
a day of jollity for the people of Cairo. The
pacha and beys are present on the occasion with
great ceremony. In 1777 it took place on the
9th of August.
As the canal dried up, its bottom, which was
never cleansed, and on which was deposited all the
filth brought from the sewers of the city, emitted
an offensive stench, which rendered the houses
bordering upon it scarcely habitable. Happily
the heat accelerated the process of its drying up,
when it became a street, wider than most in the
city, and as much frequented.
I spent one day at the windows of the consul's
house, behind which the canal passes. This being
dry at the time of my last residence at Cairo was
become a sort of theatre. There were dancing
girls whose steps and leaps have no resemblance
to those used in the dances of our countries. For
the greater part of the time their dances consist of
quick and astonishing movements of the loins,
which these women agitate with extreme supple-
ness, but great indecency, the rest of the body
remaining still. These movements are interrupted
by quick and light leaps. These dances, or rather
agitations, are performed to the music of a hautbois,
a three-
The breaking down of the dike, which closes
the entrance of the canal, constitutes a festival and
a day of jollity for the people of Cairo. The
pacha and beys are present on the occasion with
great ceremony. In 1777 it took place on the
9th of August.
As the canal dried up, its bottom, which was
never cleansed, and on which was deposited all the
filth brought from the sewers of the city, emitted
an offensive stench, which rendered the houses
bordering upon it scarcely habitable. Happily
the heat accelerated the process of its drying up,
when it became a street, wider than most in the
city, and as much frequented.
I spent one day at the windows of the consul's
house, behind which the canal passes. This being
dry at the time of my last residence at Cairo was
become a sort of theatre. There were dancing
girls whose steps and leaps have no resemblance
to those used in the dances of our countries. For
the greater part of the time their dances consist of
quick and astonishing movements of the loins,
which these women agitate with extreme supple-
ness, but great indecency, the rest of the body
remaining still. These movements are interrupted
by quick and light leaps. These dances, or rather
agitations, are performed to the music of a hautbois,
a three-