Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-08-13
NUMBER Z
From San Francisco.
The TURKISH BATHS.

| SAN FRANCISCO, July 20, 70.
| To the Editor of the Fres Press and Times:
Dear Sir r;-Presuming that some Of YOU
readers would like to know something abOu
the Hammam or Turkish hot-air bath, which
has lately been erected in this city, | will
endeavor to give description Of it. The
building is situated on Dupont street, near
Market, is of the Oriental style of archi-
lecture and presents quite an imposing ap-
pearance with its airy minarets and pinacles
1t is owned by Hon. Jno. p. Jones, United
States Senator from Nevada and am inform
ed that it cost over one hundred and eighty
thousand dollars. To give you a full de-
scription of the beauty and grandeur within
and without is more than am able TO do.
You can form some idea of its magnifcence,
by reading the entertaining stories in the
Arabian Nights, or the description of some
fairy's palace in an Oriental tale.
The different apartments are fitted up in
most luxurious style and must be seen to be
appreciated. The ceilings and walls are
magnifcently feseoed. Overhead, tie
light enters though two large circular
skylights of colored glass. To the right, as
you enter the building, is an apartment SUP
piled with refreshments and appropriate
stimulants. On the left is the Office where
you register your name and pay the fee,
which is one dollar and a half. The clerk
hands you an ivory check with a crescent
on one side and Il number on the other. He
also requests you to leave your valuables
which he deposits in a drawer corresponding
with your number. You then pass into the
cOol-room. \ colored boy-dressed in white
Turkish pantaloons which reach lust below
the thigh, and close-ftting Jacket Of blue,
with yellow, which gives him
a decided Oriental loOk-waits upon you and
requests yod tc take oil your boots, which
he places in Il pigeon-hole numbered to cor
respond with your check. You are then re-
quested TO undress.
The heat ranges in this room from l2O
to 1907 Fahrenheit. After disrOting you
are conducted into the bathroom proper.
where you are seated in half-chair and
The heat seemed almost un-
bearable when first entered, but soon | be-
came accustomed to it and commenced per
spring freely. The heat ranges from 100
to lS0o in this room. The temperature in
some Of the medieated baths Is as high as
2i0 1t was the hottest place | was ever
in. may get into a hotter one, but |
reckon twill be when I'm beyond the juris-
iiction of Turkish bath. After sitting
there twenty or thirty minutes, you lie
iown on marble slab. when the sbamp)oer
to manipulate you from head to
oot, slapping, rubbing, kneading until he
mas worked eff all the exhalations Of the
Dody that may adhere to the skin. The at
.endants in this room are all an P1riS Rd-
urdLjuS piece Of oil silk around the
Oins Most of them are Turks, but have Il
strong Milesian accent After being sutii-
;iently manipulated, you are conducted IN
10 marble-lined waSh-rOOm, where you are
covered with 4 lather from head TO foot. and
washed with palm-leaf whisp broom, then
gou are dashed with tepid water, then with
water little cooler. then with a shower OF
;old water. After that you jump into mar
Die swimming bath; and when you come out
7ou are covered with a white cloth and with
mother around your head, and requested TO
ie down or sit for while; and after being
hampooed again. yoa dress and are at
liberty 70 leave. IL ever a man feels clean
md pure it i after he has taken Turkish
lOt-air bath. The time occupied in taking
bath Is from an hour and a-half to two
lOurs. There is d frs.-ciass restaurant CON
lected with the establishment, and as the
iath gives one an appetite you can refresh
he inner man while cooling off, il 80 dis
'osed. There were over three hundred
,athers the day that was there, and they
ave been well pa,ronized 80 far. 1t prom
>eS to be permanent institution
j. e. MOoEE.