Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/291

Rh cisely like the sword dances which are performed at our Highland gatherings in the present day.

The religious dances are executed by Lamas only; they take place in this same enclosure. The monks are attired in a variety of dresses, all composed of the most magnificent Chinese stuffs; they are so stiff with embroidery that they almost stand alone. Each man wears a gigantic head-piece made of papier mâché, which comes down as far as his shoulders. Some of these masks (though properly speaking they are not masks, for they cover the whole head of the wearer) are ornamented with fruits and flowers, modelled four times their natural size, and painted in brilliant colours. They perform several different dances; in one, two men are dressed up to represent a Chinese mandarin and his wife; in another, the two actors who come last upon the scene wear masks resembling ferocious-looking dogs; one places himself against the entrance door, the other guards the door of exit. They remind one of the dwar-palas, or door-keepers, whose statues are frequently seen placed as guards on each side of the shrine of some old Hindù temple, as, for instance, at the so-called Seven Pagodas near Madras, and in other parts of Southern India.

To those who have seen much of Eastern life, the street scenes of Cairo are not very striking; but to any one fresh from Europe all is new and interesting. Many of the men of the higher and middle classes have adopted European costume; they retain, however, their national head-dress—the fez. Those belonging to quite the lower classes wear a long blue skirt and a fez; the women keep to their own national dress. When walking in the streets Egyptian females veil themselves, with the exception of the wives and daughters of peasant cultivators who come in from the country to dispose of their fruit and vegetables. Certain women (those of Circassian descent only, we believe) wear when out of doors a kind of black silk domino;