This newsitems describes the Iraqi capital much differently that that of today's. I normally only transcribe local and/or state news but found this very interesting and hope I am not out of line by posting it on the lists. Please accept my apology in advance if this is the case. BAGDAD’S CHARM IS TINSEL Much-Advertised Dancing by Nautch Girls is Outdone in Half of America’s Cities At nightfall the narrow streets of Bagdad are noisy with the dull rattle of tomtoms and the shrill notes of the Arab flute. Painted women in earrings, anklets and baggy trousers since and dance on the flat roofs; but the earrings and anklets are imported from Austria, the woman herself came from Port Said, and her dance is better staged in half the cities of America by women who have never seen the East- the home of "la danse du ventre". Her "act" would not be well received in any other place than Bagdad. Along the Tigris are many coffee shops, where brokers sit at night smoking "narghiles" and talking trade. Even their red fezzes came from Germany. Oil in their lamps came from the Yankee octopus- in British bottoms, of course. Only their red, turned-up shoes, their bright keffeyas and their long, flowing abbas were made in Bagdad. Squads of Armenian and Chaldean youths stroll by, with here and there a bevy of girls, all clad in semi-European clothes, significant of a changing East.- National Geographic Magazine. Fran Alverson Warren e-mail: alverson@valuelinx.net 479-369-2703 http://www.crawfordcountyarkansas.net/