h
exercise others occasionally took part in a quiet manner. After a while
they knelt in line opposite their leader and began to chant in louder
tones, occasionally bowing forward full length. Matters down below
progressed slowly at first, and were getting monotonous. One of my feet,
unaccustomed to its novel position, had gone to sleep, and I was in a
cramped state generally. Moreover, we were not the sole occupants of the
gallery: the sheepskins were full of them, and I began to think that if
the dervishes did not soon begin to howl, _I_ should. Some traveler has
said that on the coast of Syria the Arabs have a proverb that the
"sultan of _fleas_ holds his court in Jaffa, and the grand vizier in
Cairo." Certainly some very high dignitary of the realm presides over
Constantinople, and makes his head-quarters in the mosque of the Howling
Dervishes.

[Illustration: CASTLE OF EUROPE, ON THE BOSPHORUS.]

The dervishes now stood up in line, taking hold of hands, and swayed
backward, forward and sideways, with perfect uniformity, wildly
chanting, or rather howling, verses of the Koran, and keeping time with
their movements. They commenced slowly, and increased the rapidity of
their gymnastics as they became more excited and devout. The whole
performance lasted an hour or more, and at the end they naturally seemed
quite exhausted. Then little children were brought in, laid on the
floor, and the head-dervish stepped on their bodies. I suppose he
stepped in such a manner as not to hurt them, as they did not utter a
sound. Perhaps the breath was so squeezed out of them that they could
not. One child was quite a baby, and on this he rested his foot lightly,
leaning his weight on a man's shoulder. I could not find out exactly
what this ceremony signified, but was told it was considered a cure for
sickness, and also a preventive.

We concluded to _do_ the dervishes, and so next day went to see the
spinning ones. They have a much larger and handsomer mosque than their
howling brethren. First they chanted, then they indulged in a "walk
around." Every time they passed the leader, who kept his place at the
head of the room, they bowed profoundly to him, then passed before him,
and, turning on the other side, bowed again. After this interchange of
courtesies had lasted a while, they sailed off around the room, spinning
with the smooth, even motion of a top--arms folded, head on one side and
eyes shut. Sometimes this would be varied by