CONSTANTINOPLE. 
23 
sary to see them, in order to believe that they are really prac¬ 
tised by human beings, as acts of devotion. We saw them 
both; and first were conducted to behold the dance at Tophana. 
As we entered the mosque, we observed twelve or fourteen 
dervishes walking slowly round, before a superior, in a small 
space surrounded with rails, beneath the dome of the build¬ 
ing. Several spectators were stationed on the outside of the 
railing ; and being, as usual, ordered ta take off our shoes, we 
joined the party. In a gallery over the entrance were sta¬ 
tioned two or three performers on the tambourine and Turk¬ 
ish pipes. Presently the dervishes, crossing their arms over 
their breasts, and with each of their hands grasping their 
shoulders, began obeisance to the superior, who stood with his 
back against the wall, facing the door of the mosque. Then 
each, in succession, as he passed the superior, having finished 
his bow, began to turn round, first slow ly, but afterward with 
such velocity, that his long garments flying out in the rotatory 
motion, the whole party appeared spinning like so many um¬ 
brellas upon their handies. As they began, their hands were 
disengaged from their shoulders, and raised gradually above 
their heads. At length, as the velocity of the whirl increased, 
they were all seen with their arms extended horizontally, 
and their eyes closed, turning with inconceivable rapidity. 
The music, accompanied by voices, served to animate them; 
while a steady old fellow, in a green pelisse, continued to 
walk among them, with a fixed countenance, and expressing 
as much care and watchfulness as if his life would expire with 
the slightest failure in the ceremony. I noticed a method 
they all observed in the exhibition ; it was that of turning 
one of their feet with the toes as much inward as possible, at 
every w hirl of the body, w hile the other foot kept its natural 
position. The elder of these dervishes appeared to me to 
perform the task with so little labour or exertion, that, al¬ 
though their bodies were in violent agitation, their counte¬ 
nances resembled those of persons in an easy sleep. The 
younger part of the dancers moved with no less velocity than 
the others ; but it seemed in them a less mechanical opera¬ 
tion. This extraordinary exercise continued for the space of 
fifteen minutes; a length of time, it might be supposed, suffi¬ 
cient to exhaust life itself during such an exertion ; and our 
eyes began to ache with the sight of so many objects all turn¬ 
ing one way. Suddenly, on a signal given by the directors ©f 
the dance, unobserved by the spectators, the dervishes all stop- 
