National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-16

An AMERICAN WOMAN AMONG THE
BEAUTIES or THE EAST.

MYSTERIES OF THE BATH In OONSA<N
NoPLE-TURKISH BEAUTY UNADoRNED-
how THE BATH Is ADMINIsTERED-AN
EesTATIC EXPERIENCE - WONDERS of
THE TURKISH FEMALE TOILET
Foliye Harper,s Letter to the Alta California;
CoSsrANTISoPLE, February Il, lSI4
I have read, certainly not less thsn nfty
times, elaborate descriptions of genuine TURK
Lab baths. by Baysrd Taylor, Ross Browne and
others. and have always had my imagination
.Is,led with the combined ecstscies of being
scrubbed with hot water and perfumed soap
and iced sherbet, and 1 made up my mind not
to leave Turkey without having had that de-
Iiph.ful experience. You know that belong
to the softer sex, and that they do not battle
promiscuously here as 10 Baden, Long Branch
and many other fashionable places. This bath
where went is for ladies alone, not even the
t'common herd" being admitted, for the charge
Is very high.
! have made few friends among the natives
since / came here, and can speak few words
of Greek (the predominant tongue,) and owing
to my acquaintance with these ladies, got q
glimpse, or rather a whole days sight, Of q
paradise where man is excluded. The exterior
Of these baths is in the usual style, or no STYLE
of Turkish architecture; but the interior fully
<ecompenses for the lack of beauty without. 1t
Is In the upper part of Galata, and you have to
20 in sedan chairs, which wait for you, as you
must take the EXTREMIST care of yourself in
coming out, particularly at this season of the
year A cold after Turkish bath is almost
always fatal.
uIGH-ToNED BATHING-DREssEs.
-Four of us went, together with two women
. servants, who carried our towels, Soathing-
dresses and lunch. 1t is an sll-day's job, and
the ladies all take lunch with them. 1 had a
number of very handsome and curious things
given me at the exposition by the Egyptian and
Turkish commissions, and among them were
large bathing towels, with borders of gold
woven in; also bathing-dress similarly decor
ated. 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 hap
pens, no one but royal ladies are permitted to
wear such in public baths; however, nobody
interfered with my right to wear them, only
admired me, not always from distance.
1 On entering we were conducted to large
ROOM where we must undress and leave our
things. think there were nearly fifty women
there in all stages of undress, who all paused
to regard US with curiosity while we disrobed.
Men can pull of their most sacred garments,
toss them in a heap, and run about as if moth
eng were amiss, but somehow felt as Eve did
when she had made the discovery that she was
little too thinly clad for the time of the year.
A servant caught up our bathing dresses and
left the room, beckoning US to follow. We ran
the gauntlet of hundred pair of eyes before
we reached the divap where was laid, like a
defunct, still with no clothes on. raised my
head to see If could not find friendly towel,
or anything, but the attendant ducked my head
back on the pillow again, as much as to say,
ellie 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.
4 The room was very warm and grew warmer
perceptibly, though how, don't know, until
began to feel as if should suffocate, my heart
beat painfully hard and grew very faint, when
one of the women gave me some lemonade, OF
which drank two glasses. Then all Of a sud-
den, / began to psrspire, and looked like a
pumpkin that had laid out all night in heavy
dew. felt as If l was dissolving, and waited
patiently till the end should come, and should
be but the transparent essence of what was
once a very substantial body but that time
had not come. 1 was so sleepy that felt like
calling very hard names, when the woman
came and made me get up after she had rubbed
me down like a race horse with a pair of very
scratchy gloves, which left my skin red as a
lobster. Then, we all being in the same state,
were led into another great vaulted
MARBLE FLooRED ROOM,
where the divans are made of marble, which
is not at all soft to lie on. This room was
warmer than the last, and more vapory, and
the vapor was more strongly perfumed with
sandal-wood. After lying few moments, the
marble grows soft, and a sense Of most de-
licious repose comes over you. You feel a soft
languor and a dreamy content, and your eyes
close and you lay with smile of exquisite la
illness on your lips, and your Imagination flies
off in every possible direction, when the sweet
repose is again rudely broken and you have
again to "moYe on"
Now, indeed, opens the door of paradise
You arc led, still without other covering than
nature gives you, into large circular room,
with marble pillar, supporting the blue dome
that is sPangled with stars. All round the
room are marble diVans, and in the center is
AN HNENs. FOUNTAIN,
in the basin of which are sixty or seventy girls
and women playing in the warm, perfuned
water, or lying in all attitudes on the marble
edges Of the basin. The water rises in one
grand column over fifty feet, and falls back into
an upper basin, while the lower one is undis-
turbed except by the beautiful white forms that
1t most delights to receive.
On all the diyans lay women of all ages and
compilations, even to some negresses, who only
served TO make the white bodies ami polished
limbs appear more loYelier than ever Smaller
fountains were placed at regular intervals
ground the large room, and from these the at
tendants poured continuously over the bodies
of those who lay on the divans, warm water
which was carried OF by the pipes One at
tendant stood al the head, holding my gold
embroidered bathing apparatus, one lathered
me with perfumed soap till 1 began to imagine
myself gigantic rose, and all these beautiful
beings laughing and singing and gliding around
me but other specimens Of flowers.
, Another attendant rubbed me with gloves
made of sponge, and another poured warm
water over me necessarily, not dashed it, not
let it trickle, but just emptied the beautifully
chased silver ever over me with the gentlest of
motions, till it seemed like q cares. Then
soap of bitter almonds was rubbed on my face,
and other of another kind was rubbed in nv
hair. all done in that tender, csressing way
that made it positive ecstacy; then more per-
fumed water till felt drowning in a sea Of all
delights, in which could distinguish perfumes,
flowers, sweet SINGING voices, and ferns of
heavenly beauty. Time and the outer world
werelost In
THE DELIGHTFUL TRANCE,
and desired nothing, nothing else in the world
to make my life content forever. To lie there
on the marble and dreamily watch the glorious
white Of the living statues, with the long black
hair, and the rich dark eyes; to see the soft,
undulsting motions Of them swimming in the
warm, delicious water; to look at the lovely
forms stretched at full length on, the divans
and on the edges Of the fountain, and others
laughing, sporting, singing, mingiing with at
fectionate glances, and wrestling in the water,
or on the marble floor, dripping from every
limb the perfpmed water that glistened on
their bodies, and the trickling Of the fountain,
and the rosy, subdued light that stole in