The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-06-04
From the Alta California.
A Yankee Woman in a Turkish Bath.

rIon tuc Alld Cal1Offlll
A Yankee Woman in a Turkish Bath
CoNsTANTINoPLE, Feb. l6 | have reat
certainly not less than fifty times elabor
atc descriptions Of genuine Turkish bath:
by Bayard Taylor, Ross Browne, anC
others, and | had always had my imagin
atlon filled with combined ecstacies of be
ing scrubbed with hot water and perfumeG
soap, and iced sherbet, and made up my
mind not to leave Turkey without having
had that delightful experience. You know
that L belong to the softer sex, and they
40 not bathe promiscuously here as in
Baden Baden, Long Branch and many
other fashionable places.
This bath where | went is for ladies
alone, and not even the common herd be-
ing admitted, for the charge is very high.
| have made a few friends among the ma
tives since came here, and can speak q
lew words of Greek the predominant
! tongue,) and owing to my acquaintance
with them [ got a glimpse, OF rather a
whole days sight, of paradise where
man is excluded The exterior OF these
baths is of the usual style, or no style, of
Turkish architecture-butth the interior fully
| recompenses for the lack of beauty with
out. 1t 10 in tho uPPui ps,It VI Galat,t, .urrd
you must 60 in sedan chairs, which wait
Tor you, as you must take the EXTREMIST
care OF yourself in coming out OF the bath
particularly at this season of the year. A
cold taken after Il Turkish bath is always
fatal
Four Of us went, together with two ser
wants who carried our towels, bathing
dresses and lunch. 1t is an all days Job,
and the ladies all take lunch with them.
| had 4 number of very handsome and
curious things given me at the exposition
by the Egyptian and Turkish commissions
and among them We're large bathing towels
with borders Of gold woven in also Il
bathing dress similarly decorated My
friends insisted on my taking them, and
they made Of me while in the bath per
son of no ordinary Importance, for as it
happens, no one but royal ladies are per-
mitted to wear such in public baths; how
ever, nobody interfered with my right to
wear them only admired me, not always
from distance.
THE FIRST CHAMBER
On entering we We're conducted to 4
room where we must undress and leave
our things. think there We're fifty women
there in all stages of undress. who all
paused to regard Us with curiosity while
we disrobed. Men can pull off their most
sacred garments, toss them in 4 heap, and
run about as if nothing were amiss, but
somehow | felt as Eve did when she made
the discovery that she was little too thin
ly clad for that time Of the year.
4 servant caught up our bathing dresses
and left the room, beckoning US to follow
We ran the gauntlet of a hundred pair of
eyes before we reached the divan where
was laid, like a deiunct, still with no
clothes on. raised my head to see if
could not tinda friendly towel OF anything,
but the attendant ducked my head back
on the pillow again, as much as to say,
"lic there | did, but rolled my eyes
around little and saw that there were at
least twenty more women lying around in
spots like myself: but they all seemed to
take it very easily.
warmer perceptjbly, though how don't
sutfocate, until my heart beat painfully
and grew Very faint, when one Of the
women gave me some lemonade, OF which
| drank two glasses. Then, all OF Il sud
den, began to perspire, and looked like
a pumpEin that had LAIN out all night in Il
heavy dew | felt as if was dissolving,
and waited patiently till the end should
come, and should be but the transparent
essence of what was once a very substan-
tial body: but that time had not come. |
| was 50 sleepy that felt like calling very
hard names, when the woman came in
and made me get up after She had rubbed
me down like 4 race horse with Il pair of
\ ~, Orln at i,t
as red rs lobster Then We all bein-
in the same state, Were led into another
great, vaulted, muble-floored room
where the divans are made Of marble
which is not at all soft to lie ON This
room vas warmer than the last, the more
vaporv, and the vapor was more strongly
pertumed with sandal wood. Alter lying
L few moments the marble grows soft, and
a sense Of the most delicious repose comes
over YOU You feel soft languor and 4
dreamy content, and your eyes close, and
you lay with Il smile Of exquisite laziness
on your lips, and your imagination flies
Oft in every possible direction, when the
sweet repose is again rudely broken. and
| YOU have again to 'move ON"
LED INTO PARADISE.
| 4NON. luttcNt, Optll9 lHt Nopl VI }lit
disc; YOU are led still without other COW
| erlng than nature gives you, into Il large
circular room, with marble pillars sup
| porting the blue dome that is spangled
with stars All around the room are mar
bic divans, and in the centre is an immense
fountain, in the basin of which are sixty
or seventy girls and women playing in the
warm, pertllmcd water, or lying in AL at
titudes on the marble edges of the basin
The water rises in one grand column oyel
fifty feet, and falls back into an upper
basin, while the lower one is undistTbea,
except by the beautiful white forms that
it most delights to receive.
On all the divans lay women of all ages
and compilations, even TO some negresses
who only served to make the white bodie,
and polished limbs to appear more lovely
than ever Small fountains were place(
at regular intervals around the larg,
room, and from these the attendant
poured continuously over the bodies 0
those who lay on the divans warm water
which was carried off by pipes.
One attendant stood at my head, hold
ing my gold embroidered bathing appara
tus. one lathered me with perfumed soal
till | began to imagine myself n gigantic
rose, and all these beautiful beings laugh
ing and singing and gliding around M
but other specimens of flowers Anothc
attendant rubbed me with gloves mad
of sponge, and another poured warm wa
ter over me incessantly, not dashing il