The women o f FezZan generally have a great fondness for dancing
and. every amusement, and the wanton manners and public freedoms
which, although Mahometans, they are permitted, astonishes
the Mahometan traveller. They dance publicly in the open places
of the town, not only in the day-time, but even after sunset. Two
or three men stand together with their tambourines ; the women
immediately form a circle round ; the men beat a tune, and those in
thé circle accompany it with singing and clapping of hands ; a girl
then advances dancing towards the drummers ; the men, as" she approaches
neat, join in the dance and press towards her; on which she
makes some steps backwards, and then'falls oil lier back with her
body and limbs stiff and perfectly straight, when the Women behind
catch her in the fall, a few spans from the ground, and toss her in
the air, whence she descends on her feet. The men then resume
their station in the centre, and a second female dancer repeats the
sport, which is successively engaged in by ^ach brisk damsel of ;the
circle.
The men of Kezzan'arc much addicted to drunkenness. Their
beverage is the .fresh juice of the date ;tree, .called /z/gifa’;. or a drink
Galled busa,which is prepared from the dates, and is very intoxicating.
.When friends assemble in the evening,, the ordinary; amusement
is mere drinking;, but ¡sometimes a singing girl, or kadankà,
is sent for,:j kadankà is a Soudan word, and answers to the term
.used at €jiiro. • • to n») i. ■ ii , jili s
The. siHigüof. thesefFezzan,girls ¡is Sôudanic.. Their musical m-
sfru;nent igrcalled,,r/!iuja%:;i?.it:is:an excavated hemisphere, made
from a shell, of the gourd'kind, and covered with leather ; .,to; this, a
long handle is fixed, on which is stretched a string of horse ¡ hairs
longitudinally closed and compact as one cord, about the thickness
of a quill. This is played upon with a bow. I was once of a party
with Sidi Mintesser, the brother of the sultan, at a small house,
some distance from the palace, when he ordered a Kadanka to be
brought, and. with whom he soon after withdrew. On her return
to the company, she was asked with a significant smile where she
had been. She immediately took up her instrument, played upon it,-
and sung, in the Arabian language, “ Sweet is Sidi Mintesser, a s :
the waters of the Nile, but yet sweeter is he in his embraces ; how •
could I resist?” As a natural consequence of the great freedoms:
allowed to the sex in Mourzouk, there are more women pf a certain
description to be found in that capital, than in any other of the Same.
extent and population ; and the general character of improvidence,
and consequent misery and distress, belong as fully to the frail
sisterhood of this place, as of any Other.
There are various sorts of venereal disorders prevalent inFezzan;-:
that imported from Soudan is the worst. The common lues venerea
brought from Tripoly and Cairo, is called franzi, or the frank evil.
For the cure of either species they usé salts, and the fruit handal,
(colycinth), as powerful cathartics; and the sores;, if any, are:at
the same time washed with natron water, or dissolved soda;, These
remedies seldom fail, unless the disease has taken a very deep root.
The other maladies prevalent here are hæmorrhoides, no doubt-
greatly increased by the immoderate use of red pepper; and a fever :
and ague, which is. particularly dangerous to foreigners. In these
disorders there is no remedy whatever known or used but amulets,
consisting of certain sentences, transcribed from the Koran, on à
slip of paper, which the patient wears about his neck, and in bad;
cases is made to swallow. Phlebotomy is unknown ; but blood is
occasionally drawn by means of cupping. As to surgery, I heard
L