Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-04-06
w. ID. WALLACH.
An ORIENTAL ABLUTION.
An Experience In the Turkish Bath,

An experience tne Iurk1eh BAN.
An article in the March number of the Corn
hill Magazine describes the baths of Turkey.
We extract the following description of the
sensations Of bather
ENTERING THE BATH.
"On entering the bath, the first apartment
consists Of spacious hall, or rotunda the GEN.
trail summit Of which is open, admitting a
gentle but free circulation Of air and is in
form not unlike the cupola of st. Stephens,
Walbrook. Running round by the wall is a
raised dais or platform, covered with q carpet,
and divided into compartments, one of which
Is appropriated to each visitor. In the center
OF the building is a fountain, which plays re-
freshlngly into marble basin, raised on a
pedestal of masonry. On a couch, on the plat
form above mentioned, you undress; your clo-
thing is tied up in napkin. and you are at
tired in three scarfs of towelling of a peculiar
fabric, warm and rough, but yet soft and gaily
bordered with blue red raw silk; one of
these, the sUbitgaT or snbtigaculum of the
Romans, girds the loins: another is thrown
over the shoulder, and the last is twisted up
into turban for the head. Throughout this
operation, every care is taken to preserve
decorumi and with a scrupulousness and deli
cacy almost unknown, we regret to add, to
Europeans. Two attendants hold a cloth be-
lore you until you have undressed and properly
adjusted the bathing attire; you then are fur
nlshed with wooden pattens, and quit the un-
dressing room (ap0dytgTIRBi) for the heated
chambers; the two attendants, walking be-
hind, still accompany you, and as you are on
pattens, each holds you by the arm"
BEGINNING OF THE BATH.
" The swinging doors give access to a narrow
passage, where the heat strikes upon the face
and announces very sensibly that the bath has
begun. This passage makes a sudden turn at
right angle, and the heat then increases;
though the temperature is still not high, and
the mist of vapOr is very slight, if at all per-
nm L.
the teptdariHn Of the ancients Sometimes
the passage above alluded to, is dispensed
WITH, and the teptdarJHEn itself forms the
junction between the two halls. In the latter
case 1t Is o5lOng in form, and has a marble
platform on each side, raised about a foot and
nall above the central part; this, serving as
passage, Is Of course on the same level as the
two chambers which it connects; but whether
as passage or as hall in itself it is all paved
with marble. The mattress and cushion which
are carried before you are laid upon the dais
and against the wall; the paraphernalia of
other guests being similarly disposed all round
Coffee and pipes are now brought. In this
apartment dimly lighted day sometimes being
quite excluded, a Pickering lamp reveals un.
certainly the nature of the place and of its oc-
cupants The perspirstiOn gently starts from
It's myriad daets, whilst the solemn murky air
tranqullIzes the spirit, and seems to exclude
with lull Of calmness thoughts of the fretful
world. 1t is here that a stranger in town or
village first mingles with the inhabitants, and
glldes lmperceptibly, and divested of the ad-
ventitious aids of dress and attendance, into
the niche " hich his social status qualities him
TO occupy. A gentle foretaste or shampooing
Is gwen In this apartment; an attendant chafes
the feet, or lightly taps the neck and the
hRSs b9oE5 70 its5t the the p@ergpsat0n @ When i has
chamber (ealdariW7s or kaconicuDl) which you
now enter"
THE HOT CHAMBER
This is somewhat similar in form to the
hrst hall, and is generally covered in with a
dome, the light being admitted through loop
holes filed with stained glass. Early in the
morning the place Is quite clear and the at
mosphere is dry, but as the washing takes
place here, 1t becomes at a later hour of the
day filled with vapor; this has led many to i'm
agine that the Turkish bath is, like the Rus
sian, essentially vapor bath, which is not the
case. The Turkish bath is in principle, and
In fact, hot-air bath; the vapor being almost
an accident. Here the towels are all removed
except that which encircles the loins. Ablu-
ton is then performed, to which the sounds of
clsnking bowls and dropping water duly cor
respond Through the light gray mist the at
tendants and oathers fit in spectral manner
and ever and anon there arises a clapping of
the hands, which is the bathmsn's method of
signalizlng. The process of shampooing which
is here undergone is most peculiar and is that
part OF the bath which Of all others will be
found least easy of adoption into this country
Itis in itself an art of no mean attainment and
proves, as has been well remarked, that ami
NAL magnetism has been practised in the East
Tor centuries, and rendered so practically man
ageable as to De fairly designated the hand
maiden of health.
"Mr. Urquhart's description of the perform
ance, as II is given in his work the Pillars of
Hercules is as follows: Under the dome
there is an extensive platform of marble slabs;
on this you get up; the cloths are taken from
your head and shoulders; one is spread for you
70 lie on, the other is rolled for your head; YOU
lie down on your back; the tellak two, if the
operanon is properly performed0 kneels at
your side, and bending over, grips and presses
your chest, arms aad legs, passing from part
TO part like bird shifting its place on a perch;
ne brings his whole weight on you with a Jerk
follows the line of muscle with anatomical
thumb, draws the open hand strongly over the
surface, particularly round the shoulders turn
ing you half up in so doing; stands with his
feet on your thighs, and on the chest, and slips
down the RIBS, then up again three times; and
lastly, doubling your arms one after the other
on the chest, pushes with both hands down,
beginning at the elbow, and then putting an
arm under the back, and applying his chest to
your crossed elbows, rolls on YOU across till
you crack You are now turned on your face,
and, IN addition to the operation above de-
scrioed, ne works his elbow round the edges of
your shoulder blades, and with the heel plies
Va yOuL neck, ne concludes by haul
ing the body half up by each arm successive.
~, while he stands with one foot on the oppo-
ate thigh. You are then raised for moment
70 sitting posture, and q contortion is given
70 the small Of the back with the knee, and
jerk to the neck by the two hands holding the
temples
!" The reader must guard against the suppo.
suon that all this cracking Of the joints and
supple members, this kneading of the flesh. is
attended with discomfort or pain When it is
skllfully performed, the sensation is even
Pleasurable; indeed this is signifed by the Ara
cately."
THE RUBBING.
Next comss the washing. or rather the use
OF the glove made of camels or goats hair.
After remoistening the body, which you do for
yourself, with cup given you for that purpose,
you, IN sitting position, bend toward the at.
tendant, who bending over you, rubs down the
back, commanding from the neck. The Ioos-
ened scarf skin peels of in little elongated
rolls, and if collected will form a ball as big as