The most beautiful women in Persia are devoted to the profession of dancing; the transparency of their shift, which is the only covering they use to conceal their persons, the exquisite symmetry of their forms, their apparent agitation, and the licentiousness of their verses, are so many incentives to a passion which requires more philosophy than the Persians possess to restrain.

Edward Scott Waring, A Tour to Sheeraz. London, 1807. p. 55

Two lovely girls prepared for the dance…..went to change and came out again in wide green trousers, embroidered white bodices, which did not cover more than their breasts; and with castanets of silver blended metal on their fingers.

The musicians tuned up and the two girls began.

Their foot movements were controlled and unimportant. It was the upper part of their bodies which moved. Sinuous and supple, they waved their arms gracefully backwards and forwards above their heads, while their fingers played with the castanets so that they sometimes clapped like Spanish castanets and sometimes rang like a chime of bells…….The tempo of the dance increased until the dancers’ feet flew over the mat so lightly that the soft thudding of their feet was scarcely even heard.

Urged on by the dance and the music, the audience began to shout to the girls, who suddenly stood on their heads, turned somersaults, and made snake-like movements. The audience was delighted.

Countess Maud Von Rosen, Persian Pilgrimage. London, 1937. p.109