The New York herald., 1870-08-20

engendered by two hun lred mile ride over
bad road completely left us. Then came the
soaping part Of the process. A shallow coppsr
basin, filled with lather, was brought h and the
operator, by means Of bunch OF soft COCO FIBRE
washed our bodies, mine, ut any rate, had never
been washed before. Our hair, too. was cut short
and depopnlated, and our sranty boards scraped
oil. All this took about an hour, by which time
the pleasant anguor produced by the process be-
gan To show itself. Then we were enveloped in
an abundance Of sheets and brought out into
the cold aod laid upon a divan. For half
an hour, we stayed there in a state Of inexpress
bly delightful repose, smoking nargheelah and
slipping coffee and chatting. And then we stepped
into clean garments and felt once more like hu
man beiags--the sole masters Of our bodies. This
is the Turkish bath it exists in the land OF its
origin, and no words can describe how great an
aleviation it is Of the inevitable ills of Turkish
travel. Nearly every town Of any Importance
whatever boasts humam, and hencciorth l.
ayailed myself of every opportunity to thus recu-
perate myself.
CAMILLE EFTENpI.
At Kerkook we stayed over day TO rest the
chief Of which is Turk of good family, named
Camille Effend His father was at one time
Christian, bnt was circumcised and became Mos
lem aud AZ the same time colonel in the irregular
service. Perhaps am uttcrlng very heterodox
sentiment-one which would shock my good
friends of the American mission-when say that
Camille is probably much more hospitable and
pleasant host on account OF his having been bred
Mussuman. But such is, / think, The fact not
only in his case, but all over the country. The
wise traveller will always, in Turkey, avoid as
much as he can the compaDionship OF Eastern
Christians, who are, beyond all doubt, the most
extortionate ,thevish, lying, roguish section Of the
population. Stay at Mussulman village
and you will be certain to get the best lodging
procurable and whatever can be got TO eat,
as well as the most frank ard kindly hos
pitalty. But stay with Christian "dogsn aud you
viii lind that they indeed deserve the epithcts of
abuse and contempt showered upon them by the
Turks. And it should be remembered that to the
Turks an English-spealSing man u Christian OF a
respectable type. The Turks know, and praise
us for the fact, that we do not worship female
god, nor bow down to idols of stone and silver
snd wood nor PROSTATE ourselves before pic
tures, as do the dogs Of Christians who are sub
ject TO the Sultan. The Turks, indeed, look upon
us as almost Mussulman's for they also believe in
Jesus Christ as great prophet, and acknowledge
the sacred character Of the Bible.
TURKISH sPREE.
The night we were at Camille Enendi's | shall
remember all my life one of the most amusing
revels have ever enjoyed. The Pacha's son,
who is his fathers Lieutenant Governor, came TO
dine with the Frank gentlemen who had honored
a bear leader in the shape of hajee Ga man who
some years ago made the pilgrimage to Mecca,
and was, therefore, necessarily worthy guide
and instructor of yOuth) and an Italian
dinner is an awful ordeal An hour or SO before
the time Of eating huge bottle OF arrak, a sweet
strong spirit, was brought In, together with some
half dozen little trays, filed with almonds, and
of -four and salt and spice all of which are sup
posed TO do wonders In the way Of exciting thirst.
For an hour and half we tolied steadily ON at
the liquid and solid cheer. l should not like to
hazard guess as to how many glasses of arrack
found their way down the haJee's throat, good
pOus man that he is but he was tho acknow-
lodged conqueror ia the contest engaged in for
the honor of first drinker in the company An hour
t~lg
minutes, on an empty stomach, too, may be easily
imagined to have had rather sensible effect upon
US. We were, indeed, already drunk when the din
ner began. OF what we had to eat have no very
clear idea. l remember the repast began with
eggs and spinach and wound up with gigantic
piiaf. The intervening dishes comprised sweets,
sours and meats and birds, Of many and
wonderful descriptions. Each dish was brought
on separately. We had plenty Of wine OF a
red vintage, peculiar TO Kerkook, which was
| really very good, though somewhat too sweet for
| q dinner wine. The hajee and the Pacha's son
Mussulmans though they were, made no bone:
| whatever of drinking the fermented juice of Tn,
grape; in fact, think they excelled even our
selves in that direction. Subsequently to tn,
dinner have no very clear recollection Of wha
happened, except that there was constant augh
ter and an earnest proposal to me from the Pacha'
son to turn Massul,nan and marry In the country
@ course which for the moment ! had grea
| mind to accept. also remember that ut the close
| OF the evening the hajee said it was time to go
1
duce the Pachas son to rise At last, however, they
| got under way for the door, but the two untortu
nate gentlemen tumbed ignominiously in heap
upon the floor. But the rest Of US, with infinite
difficulty, succeeded ultimately in conveying both
OF them 10 the serial.
ALTouN KIrPRf.
The day after we left kerkGok we stayed at
Altoun Kupri or Golden Bridge The river Zap
which was crossed by the Ten Thousand on their
retreat from Persia, and also by Alexander the
Great on his way to India flows around the town,
being crossed by couple OF BRIGGS of very sim
gular construction. The bridges are very old
and date probably back to the time of Caiiph
Haroun er Raschid. They are built OF stone with
| one wide arch, supported ON each side by two
smaller ones. In shape they are very curious
! being nearly semi-circlc. Crossing them one
| might almost imagine he was going up and down
stairs, 30 steep are they in fact, 1t Is impossible
to ride over them; every one has TO dismount aud
lead his horse. The river itself Is very deep, and
of deep green hue Its banks are formed Of "a
soft conglomerate Of mud and shells, and have
been worn away by freshets into huge cayerns.
The river ab0unds with FISH, In spite of ts many
advantages, however-for the Zap runs into the
Tgrisand in spite OF its former greatness Alloun
K1pri Is at present miserable little town Of
seven or eight hundred people. When MIR. Bueh-
mgham, the English traveller, passed here, in the
beginning Of the century, the population he says,
was three or four thousand. That ia a great diff
ference but perhaps the same terrible decrease
has taken place all over Asiatic Turkey.
AN ARAD DINNER.
At Altoun Kupri our dinner was striking con-
trast to the one we had been at the day before.
This also was sort Of state dinner, given by our
host in honor of a young and very rich Ara,
shcikh, whose tribe have settled near by. The
sheikh was extremely handsome, and was dressed
in very costly Arab costume. HIS cloak was o,
the finest camlet, embroidered with gold thread
his turban was OF silk his dagger ht was Of solid
silver. His hands, too, more wonderful than all
for an Arab, were scrupulously clean and very
soft the nails even were innocent of dirt. Our
n in,,a Arat IN INN. hat 10 IN all tI,a
dishes were placed on the table together. We all
squatted round on crossed legs, instead Of on
chairs, had been the case the previous evening,
and were forced to eat solely with our fingers. At
Kerkook we had been INDUCED with fork and
spoon though the PacEa's son and the others, like
our present companions, used only such forks as
nature mad provided them with. The sheikh, who
was very attentive to u.s. constantly placed deli
cate morscls upon the cake of bread which con-
stituted our plates. This dinner, though there