Arrekel Bey took us to see the wells made in the rock in Moncullu, where the most deliciously cool water is pumped up. The convicts looked fine, strong, muscular fellows, but gentlemen that one would not like to meet alone on a dark night. They had just left off work, it being sunset, six o'clock.
We then adjourned to dinner, which was laid out in a large oblong hut made of grass. This is the way that houses are made in Moncullu, as a free current of air passes through the whole structure, and any other material would be too hot.
We had a regular Turkish dinner, and not at all a bad one either. We first began by drinking, as is the Turkish fashion, some excellent liqueur which is called in these parts "araké." I believe it is made in Smyrna, but it is very good. As some of my readers may know, a Turkish dinner consists of a great number of dishes, which are handed about to the guests in quick succession. I managed to get through most of them, and I think I could have succeeded in doing more, but for the circumstance that the champagne had not been iced; in fact, ice in those parts is an unknown luxury. It is only in India that Europeans can really _live_ in a hot country.
After dinner we were taken to a large marquee. The ground outside was surrounded by a circle of torches held in braziers, somewhat like a beacon, burning wood which was replenished by the Egyptian soldiers, a large number of whom had been "told off" for this purpose.
There were divans in the marquee, on which we reclined. We had waited about a quarter of an hour, when some musicians appeared with tom-toms and rude guitars, on which they began strumming, and making a hideous noise. Then some dancing girls were brought in, and their extraordinary performance surpassed anything I had ever seen either in India or at Covent Garden.
The natives of Moncullu were ranged round the open part of the marquee, singing to the music and keeping time by clapping their hands. All the dancing girls did was to sway their bodies about in an affected manner, stamp with their feet on the ground, and wag their heads backward and forward, making their long plaited hair swing across their faces. They were highly scented with musk, etc., _à la mode Arabe_. Like all Arab women, they were very small but beautifully made, with tiny hands and feet.