Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1869-07-29

kish Bath as adm nistere,! in the Old world
not inappropriate. I, is taken from
'E.yrt, Arabia P-trra AMI the Holy
Lamb by J. L. Stephens, published in
1893.
IT was the season NJ the Ramaiam.
when f.r thirty DAYS. from the rising II
the setting Of the sun, the followers 1T
the Prophet arr forbidden 10 eat. drink.
and oven smoke. or take \ bath. Nv
| first inquiry was for bath. It would
not be heated or lighted up till eight -
| clock at eight O'Clock went. and was
surprised to find it 50 large and comfarta.
be. / was not long surprised. however.
! for found that 10 sooner was the sacred
I prohibition removed. than the Turks and
Arabs began 10 pour in in throncs: thew
came without any resnec: Of persons, the
naughty Turk with his pipe.haaring >lay
and the poor Arab boattnln in short.
every one WHO could raise a few raras.
1t was certainly not verv select COM
pany. nor over clean. and probably very
few Europeans would have stood tn
thing as did Nv hoatmen were al
there. They were my servants, said the
rals, and were bound 70 follow me every
where, As | was Frank, aud. rs such
expected to pay ten times as much As any
one else, | had the best place in the bath
at the head of the great reservoir of hot
water. Ny white skin made me mar
ked object among the swrrthv figures "
ing around me /; and half dozen of the
operatives, lank, bony fellows. and per-
fectly naked, came up and claimed me.
They settled it among themselves. how
ever, and gave the preference to a dried
up old man, more than sixty, perfect
living skeleton, who had been more than
forty years 4 -crubber in the bath He
took me through the first process OF rub
bing with the glove and brush and hav-
M thrown over me copious ablution of
warm water, left me to recover at leisure
lay on the marble that formed the Dor
der Of the reservoir. only two or three IN
ches above the surface of the water, into
which put my hand and found it exces-
sively hot; but the old man, satisfied with
his exertion in rubbing, sat on the edge
Of the reservoir, with his feet and legs
hanging IN the water, with every appear
ance Of satisfaction. Presently lie slid off
into the water, and, sinking up to his
! chin, remained SO moment. drew 1png
breath, and seemed to look around him
with feeling of comfort l had hardly
rails d myself to my elbow to look at this
phenomenon, before fne brawny fellow.
who had been lying for'some time toryil
by my side, rose slowly. slid off Ike a
turtle. and continued sinking until he too
had immersed himself up to his chin. l
| expressed to him my asst 'nshmcnt at his
ability to endure such heat but he told
me that he was a boatman, had been ten
days coming up from Cairo, ana was al
most frozen, aud his oniyrecret vas that
the water was not much hotter He HAD
hardly answered M before another and
another followed till all the dark naked
figures around me had vanished BY the
httnl gllmmerlng of the little lamps. all
that could see was parcel of shaved
heads on the surface Of the water, Al rest.
or turning s'osl y niquictly As on piv-
OTIS. Most Of them seemed to be enjoy
ing 1t WITH IN air OF quiet. dreamy salts
faction but the man with whom | had
spoken first seemed to be carried beyond
the bounds of Mus<ulman gravity. 1t
operated upon him ike good dinner
1t made BIN l'quaeious, and he urged me
t. come IN, nay, he even became tro,ic-
some and making heavy surge, threw
large body OF the water over the mar
be on which | was lying | almost
screamed, and started up a. il melted lead
had been poured upon me ; even while
standing up it seemed to blister tie solos
of my feet, and was ohlig . 10 keep up
dancing movement changing a. fast a.
| could, 70 the establishment ST the doing
blthers, and the utter CONSERVATION Of my
would-be friend. Rousc1 too much 10
relapse in the quiet luxury of perspira
ton, | went into another apartment of Il
cooler temperature where, after remain
ing IN a bath Of moderately warm watar,
was wrapped up in hot cloths and tow
els. and conducted into the great cham
ber :. Here selected couch, and, throw
ing myself upon it, gave N self to the
operators, who now took charge of me,
and well did they sustain the high repu-
tation OF Turkish bath my arms were
gently laid upon my breast. where the knee
of a powettul man pressed upon them !;
my joints were cracked and pulled ; back !,
arms, the palms of the hands, the solcs
of the feet, oil visited in succession ]
had teen shampooed at Smyrna, Constan-
tinople, and Cairo; but who would have
thought Of being carried to She seventh
heaven at the little town of Minyeh ?
The men who had me in hand We're per-
feet amateurs, cnthuastic, wotthy of rub
hing the hide of the sultan himself; aud
the pipe ana the coffee that followed were
worthy too of that same mighty sclgneur.
The large room WAS dimly lighted, and
turn which way | would. there was ma
ked body, apparently without a soul, ly
ing torpid, and tumbled at will by cou-
pie of workmen | had had some fears
Of the plague and Paul, though he felt
his fears gradually dsspeiied by the sooth
ing process which he underwent also, TO
the last continued TO keep particularly
clear of touching any of them but | left
the bath different man all my moral -
well as physical strength wac roustd
no longer dropped or looked back; and,
though the wind was siill blowing a hur-
ricane Ia my teeth, Was bent upon The
bes aud the Cataracts.