. A trip through Italy, Sicily, Tunisia, Algeria and southern France. of music and the ladies who wereto perform the dance customary throughout thecountry. During the evening one of the Aisawa Dervishdances was being performed in another part ofthe town; this was the dance we had witnessed atKairouan; but after our experiences in the sacredcity, we had not the courage to face another ex-hibition of the kind and preferred to attend themore ordinary affair, which, as I have said, was adismal failure. Our guide felt distinctly hurt at our refusing towitness the Aisawa, and regarded it as a want o
. A trip through Italy, Sicily, Tunisia, Algeria and southern France. of music and the ladies who wereto perform the dance customary throughout thecountry. During the evening one of the Aisawa Dervishdances was being performed in another part ofthe town; this was the dance we had witnessed atKairouan; but after our experiences in the sacredcity, we had not the courage to face another ex-hibition of the kind and preferred to attend themore ordinary affair, which, as I have said, was adismal failure. Our guide felt distinctly hurt at our refusing towitness the Aisawa, and regarded it as a want oftaste on our part. He let us know that at least ahundred performers took part in the entertain-ment and wonderful feats were performed,quite a number removing an eye from theirheads, eating nails (those large spikes such as areused on a railroad), and also devouring snakes andscorpions, finishing up with broken glass fordessert. We should not have believed him had wenot witnessed most of these things with our owneyes at Kairouan. Payne and I came to the con- [96]. Q< I H LA CALLE TO CONSTANTINE elusion that evening that we could congratulateourselves on being believers in a religion whichpermitted us to lead a much simpler life, andallowed us to exist without the necessity of sacri-ficing ourselves and mutilating our bodies to theextent that these poor wretches did. The street scenes throughout Constantine, andespecially in the part of the city where we werethat night, are of the greatest interest. A strongguard is on watch during the night to keep is a wise precaution, as the thoroughfarethrough which we passed consisted chiefly of cafesand gambling dens. The hotel in which we were staying is builtdirectly over a very fine cavern, which is one ofthe sights of Constantine. It is reached by meansof the hotel elevator, which descends through thefloor of the hotel down into the cavern beneath. [97 GONSTANTINE TO EL KANTARA ALL that night in Constantine it rained int
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