[481]. The courtesans of other classes abound in every town of Egypt; but in and about the metropolis, these and the others before mentioned are particularly numerous; some quarters being inhabited almost exclusively by them. These women frequently conduct themselves with the most audacious effrontery. Their dress is such as I have described as being worn by the Ghawázee, or differs from that of respectable women in being a little more gay, and less disguising. Some women of the venal class in Cairo not only wear the burko’ (or face-veil), but dress, in every respect, like modest women; from whom they cannot be distinguished, excepting by those to whom they choose to discover themselves. Such women are found in almost every quarter of the metropolis. Many of them are divorced women, or widows; and many are the wives of men whom business obliges to be often abroad.
[482]. The term “Gháïsh” (plural, “Gheeyásh”) is also applied to a person of this class.
[483]. See Psalm lviii. 4, 5; Eccles. x. 11; and Jerem. viii. 17.
[484]. In the account of the Moolid en-Nebee, in the first of the chapters on periodical public festivals, etc.
[485]. So called from his feats with serpents.
[486]. They tattoo, or make those blue marks upon the skin which I have described in the first chapter of this work; and perform the operation alluded to in a note inserted, page 48.
[487]. Thus vulgarly pronounced for “’Ewad.”
[488]. A description of this will be found in a subsequent chapter.
[489]. A kind of paste, resembling vermicelli.
[490]. This exhibition is called in Arabic “khayál ed-dill,” or, more correctly, “— edh-dhill.”