166 GRAND CAIRO. 
CHAP. In the evening after our arrival, some of our 
IV. 
Almehs. 
party went to an exhibition of the Almelis, or 
Dancing women, at the house of a lady of some 
distinction, and where it was believed this cu- 
rious remnant of antient Egyptian ceremonies 
might be unattended with those violations of 
decorum by which they are generally charac- 
terized. This, however, was not the case. The 
dance was, as usual, destitute of grace, activity, 
or decency. It consists wholly of gestures, 
calculated to express, in the most gross and 
revolting manner, the intercourse of the sexes. 
In any part of Europe, if it were tolerated, it 
would be thought a degrading and wretched 
performance ; yet the ladies of Cairo, accus- 
tomed to the introduction of these women upon 
festival days, regard the exercise of the Almehs 
with amusement, and even with applause. If 
we may judge from the representations upon 
Grecian vases, the female Bacchanals of Antient 
Greece exhibited in their dances a much more 
animated and more graceful appearance : yet 
the manner of dancing practised by the Almehs, 
however offensive in the eyes of civilized na- 
tions, is the most antient. Hence the observa- 
tion of Cicero\ "Nemo saltvvt sobrius, nisi 
(1) Orat. pro Murcmd. 
