TWO GREAT MOORISH RELIGIOUS DANCES 781 
AISAWA DANCERS EATING EARTH 
Sultan, Mulai Ismail, fearing the con- 
tinually growing power of the brother- 
hood founded by his contemporary, 
M’Hammed Ben Aisa, banished that per- 
son; whereupon M’Hammed, who ap- 
parently had taken no _ inconsiderable 
sum from his well, offered to buy the 
city of Maknez from the Sultan and to 
pay therefor no small price. The Sultan, 
thinking that M’Hammed—in American 
vernacular—was “bluffing”, agreed to 
this, and was much surprised when the 
saint produced the cash and took posses- 
sion of the city. 
Whereupon the Sultan, with true sul- 
tanic powers, refused to abide by the 
terms of the agreement, as a consequence 
of which it was agreed between them 
that from the twelfth to the nineteenth 
day of Sefar only should the members 
of the Aisawa be allowed on the streets 
of the city. Whether or not the wise old 
saint anticipated the result of this it 
would be hard to say, but it is an his- 
torical fact that in order to avoid being 
shut up in their houses for seven days 
‘Ay 
ele 
Photo by George &. Holt 
all the inhabitants of the city joined the 
Aisawa brotherhood, which was not what 
the Sultan had anticipated. 
Time passed and the saint M’Hammed 
Ben Aisa was gathered to the smiles of 
the Prophet. Then the Sultan Mulai 
Ismail became busy. He prepared a nest 
of snakes and commanded the Aisawa, 
who had boasted of their immunity to 
snake bites and poisons that would kill 
the average person, to enter the pit and 
face the reptiles and to eat poison food. 
Naturally there was at first some hesita- 
tion, but finally one Khamisah, a wife of 
one of the Aisawa, and braver than the 
rest, sprang into the pit and the rest fol- 
lowed. It is said that they suffered not 
the least, either from the snake bites or 
the poisonous food, and also that the 
woman Khamisah became upon her 
death Lalla Khamisah, herself a saint. 
No one ever knows exactly when the 
great dance will take place in Tangier. 
Usually it is definitely set for half a 
dozen different days before it finally 
comes, and when it does it is almost 
