the lower part frequently flies open, and discloses beneath it a rich robe of silk or satin of a pale blue or pink colour, and round the head is wound a veil of the very finest book muslin, which envelopes the whole of the face except the eyes; but the material is of such a transparent texture that all their features are distinctly visible.
One of the sights of Cairo is to witness the dervishes perform their exercises—they hardly deserve the name of religious ones, though they esteem them such. The name dervish[1] is applied to a particular class of Turkish priests or monks who lead a very austere life, and profess extreme proverty, though they are permitted to marry.
This word was originally a Persian one: it signifies a beggar, or one who has nothing; and because religious persons, particularly the followers of Mevelava, pretend not to possess anything, religious persons in general, and the Mevelites in particular, are called dervises or dervishes. The followers of Mevelava have now become exceedingly numerous; their chief monastery is situated near Cogna, in Natolia (Asia Minor), where their general resides, and where the assemblies of the order are held; the other houses are all dependent upon this, by virtue of a privilege granted to this monastery by Othoman I.
The dervishes affect a great deal of modesty, humility, and charity. They go bare-legged and open-breasted, and are said to burn themselves frequently with hot irons in order to inure themselves to suffering. They fast regularly on Wednesdays till after sunset, and on Tuesdays and Fridays they hold meetings, at which the superior of the house presides. The dancing dervishes perform their religious exercises in memory of Mevelava, the founder of their order; who, as they pretend, turned round and round miraculously during the space of four days, remaining all that time without food or refreshment; they also add that a man named Hansa, his companion, played all that time upon the flute as an accompaniment to his movements; that at the expiration of this period Mevelava fell into an ecstacy, and when in that condition received wonderful revelations regarding the establishment of his order. They regard the flute as an instrument consecrated by Jacob and the shepherds of the Old Testament, and say that the latter sang the praises of God to its accompaniment. The
- ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica.
