Art. XVI.—The Gypsies of Egypt

Extract

Those who chance to sojourn in the land of the Pharaohs longer than tha ordinary run of travellers, and roam about the streets and environs of its large towns, can hardly fail to notice the strange appearance of certain females, whose features at once distinguish them from the ordinary Fellah Arabs and Copts of the country. In dress they differ little from the common Fellah females, the dark blue cotton tob being common to both; but they seldom wear the shintiyan (drawers), and are remarkable for going abroad without the burka, or veil. With the skin of a gazelle, or that of a sheep, thrown over their shoulders, they frequent the bazars and principal thoroughfares of the great towns, with unveiled faces bronzed by exposure, or stroll from village to village, occasionally calling out, in Arabic, in piercing but not unpleasing tones: “Come, ye that desire to foresee your destiny! the past and the future shall be revealed unto you;” or in shorter phrases, such as “Come and see your fortunes!” (Taali, taali, shuft el bakkt), &c.