OF THE DERVISES. 329 



and thirteen. When they commence they cross their arms over their 

 chest, but afterwards extend and raise them, as if to assist the 

 balance. 



The dervises whirl round during the space of five or seven minutes, 

 and recommence the exercise four times. 



When the dance is finished the sheik, before retiring, offers up 

 prayers for the prosperity of the empire and the welfare of the sove- 

 reign, as well as for all Mussulmans present and absent. The der- 

 vises respond in chorus by Hou, in Arabic HIM,* meaning the Deity,, 

 after which they leave the hall without observing any regular order. 

 The sheik leaves the place the last. 



Djelaleddin was the first who introduced this custom of whirling 

 round. He gives several explanations of it in his works, of which the 

 two principal are these : In describing a circle we turn round in every 

 direction in search of God, whom we find on every side of us, because 

 God is every where present ; and again, The act of a continual change 

 of position denotes a detachment from worldly possessions, not any 

 one of which has power to arrest our attention. 



The almost literal translation of one of the odes chanted before the 

 dance presents us with a sort of summary of what has been said of 

 dervises in general, and of the Mevlevi more particularly. This ode is 

 by Djelaleddin. He composed it when separated from Chems-eddin, 

 his director in the contemplative life, and complaining of the 

 dervises of Iconium, who, as we have already observed, had compelled 

 that dervise to remove. The ode has in the original as many verses 

 as there are sentences in the translation. Each verse, composed of 

 two couplets, finishes by the same word dervichan (dervises). It must 

 be premised that in the course of this ode the word dervise has, ac- 

 cording to its etymology, one of two meanings, namely, that of a 

 poor person, and that of one who devotes all his property to the ser- 

 vice of the poor ; this, in the Persian text, makes a continual play of 

 words, the beauty of which is lost in a translation. The repetition of 

 this word, that would be wearisome to a European ear, has, in the 

 soft and harmonious sounds of the Persian, all the charm of the double 

 rondeaus of the French, the simplicity of their ancient ballads, and 

 the elegance of the refrains of their modern vaudevilles. 



ODE. 



" I am transported out of myself, and am in a delirium of enthusiasm for 

 the dervises ; but I know not where to find the dervises. 



" By dervise I do not mean every one who wears the garb of a dervise ; 

 there are many such vagabonds in the world, many wretches of that sort who 

 imitate the dervises ! 



" The dervise that I seek is he who if he hears the sigh of a poor man 

 stops and enquires of him 'What desirest thou? Behold, I am here!' 



" The dervises and their order were respected by Mohammed]: God himself 

 even sent down from heaven verses in honour of the dervises. 



" At the instant when the dervises commence the dance that is accompanied 

 by a pure delight, at that very instant God descends and enters into their spirits. 



* This is the EGO SUM QUI SUM / am that I am, of scripture. 



