272 
SIMILAR FETES OF THE MEN. 
devotees shake their feathers like birds from a refreshing shower; 
and tripping lightly forward, with garments, and, perhaps, looks, 
a little the worse for the wear of the preceding evening, plunge 
at once again, into all the depths of its amusements. Coffee, 
sweetmeats, kaliouns, as before, accompany every obstreperous 
repetition of the midnight song and dance; and all being 
followed up by a plentiful breakfast of rice, meats, fruits, &c., 
towards noon the party separate; after having spent between 
fifteen and sixteen hours in this riotous festivity. 
Fetes of the same kind are sometimes in request with the 
husbands of the ladies ; when, to the great surprise of the latter, 
in spite of the enjoyment they are said to produce, it is always 
understood that they pass in almost total silence on the part of 
the spectators. I had the curiosity to be present at one of these 
scenes of taciturn jollity, which took place at one of the most 
respectable houses in Bagdad. After sunset, is the time of 
rendezvous for the gentlemen; and, as they are excluded from 
the ladies’ coteries, I had no hope of seeing any of the gentler 
sex at this. The details of the entertainment, with regard to 
the order of refreshments, kaliouns, coffee, dinner, supper; and 
of the amusements, dancing, singing, and music of as many in¬ 
struments and sounds, as those which drowned the cries of some 
Moloch feast, were performed before us with as much diligence 
as uproar. But with us, all the performers were men and boys; 
and the latter, being dancers, were dressed in female habits of 
the wildest garb. Their black hair, allowed to grow exceedingly 
long, full, and bushy, hung loosely down their backs, and fell over 
their faces in huge disordered masses. A light vesture of silk, 
or gaudily decorated stuff, covered their bodies, bound at the 
