158 GRAND CAIRO. 
CHAP, procession to Buhastus, when the female votaries 
<,. -yi I of Diana distinguished themselves in the cities 
through which they passed by indecency and 
dancino'. Considered therefore with reference 
to the moral character and habits of the people, 
as well as to their antient history, this prac- 
tice of the Almehs may be entitled to some 
notice. Indeed, the part they sustain in the 
scale of society in Egypt is so considerable, and 
the partiality shewn to them so inveterate ^ that 
it is impossible to give a faithful account of the 
country without some allusion to these women. 
They wear upon their lingers little bells, like 
(1) Herodot. Euterpe, f. 60. 
(2) " 11 n'est j)omt de fete sans elles ; point de fest'm dont elles ne fas- 
sent rornSmeiit Les Alme sont appellees dans tous les Harem. 
Les Alme assistent aux cMmonie de marriage, el marckent 
devant la mariee enjouant des instriimens. Elles jigurent aiissi dans 
les enterremens, et accompagnent le convoi en chantant des airs funebres. 
Elles poiissetit des gemissemens," &c. Savari/, Lett, sur VEgypte, torn. I. 
pp. 150, 152, 154. Paris, 1785. Strangers who reside for some time 
in Ca'iro, however disgusted by the exhibition of the Almehs at first, 
gradually adopt the taste of the native inhabitants. Of this we find an 
instance in Niebuhr's Travels. " However much disposed to receive 
entertainment, they did not please us at first ; their vocal and instru- 
mental music we tliought horrible ; and their persons appeared dis- 
gustingly ugly, with their yellow hands, spotted faces, absurd orna- 
ments, and hair larded with stinking pomatum. But by degrees we 
learned to endure them, and, for want of better, began to fancy some 
of them pretty, to imagine their voices agreeable, their movements 
graceful, though indecent, and their music not absolutely intolerable." 
Travels in Arabia, vol. I. p. 140, Edinh. 1792. 
