The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-07-29
The Turkish. Bath.

Mrs. Burton, In her Inner Life Of
Syria, Palestine and the Holy Land,'
gives IT, following description Of the
Turkish La. -" Firstly, we enter alarge
hall, lit by domed skylight, with huge
marble tank in the center and four little
fountains squirting in the corners. All
around are raised divans, covered with
| cushions. Here we wrap ourselves in
silk and wooden sheets and towels round
the head. We shall now pass throughsix
marble rooms, all with domcd~ skylights,
marble floors, and u gutter cut in them to
let the water of, and surrounded by large
stone basins and troughs, each with its
tap Of hot and cold water, The first is the
cold room, the next warm, the third
warmer, and SO on until you come to the
sudo'run,, Of about 100 degrees Fahren-
heit. Here the operation commences.
Firstly, they lather your head and hair
thoroughly. Then you are washed over,
first with flannel and soap, it you like !;
secondly, with brush and soap; thirdly,
with .! and soap. L.f is the fiber of the
palmtrond soaked in water, suu.aried and
of white horschair, and it rubs as hard as
a clothes brush. You are douched from
head to foot, between each of these opera
tons, with tubs of hot water thrown, at
you and over you. You are then sham
pOoed with fresh layers of soap, and
douchcd again. BY this time you arc
beginning to feel rather exhausted.
They then cover your face and neck
and arms with sort of powder which
looks like meal, and move you through
the other rooms, each warmer than the
last, till you are turned into the hottest. If
it is steam $50 degrees will content you; if
in dry heat you can with practice bear 800
degrees. Your stay in the calidarium lasts
about twenty minutes. They give you
iced sherbet, and tie towels dipped in cold
water round your head, which prevents
your fainting, and makes you perspire
more freely. The white powder passes
away Of itself They scrub your feet with
hard, rough stone; indeed, it appears to
me that ones first skin is wholly peeled
OIL. Now you move back again through
all the rooms, but gradually, staying ten
minutes in each. You are again douched
with water and shampooed with towels as
you pass from heat to cold. The most
rigorous of all is when you arrive at the
latter, when pals of cold water are thrown
at your back and poured down the
spine. In the last room the final sham
pooling is done with towels. We now re.
turn to the hall where we first I'M
dressed, envcloped in silk and wooden
cloths, and we rccline on divans. 1t is all
strewed with flowers, incense is burned
about us, cups of very hot and rather bit.
ter coffee are handed to us, and nargiles
are placed in our mouths. A woman adj
vanccs and kneads you like bread; you
fall asleep during the process, which has
almost the effect of mesmerism. When
you awake you will find music and dane
ing, the girls chasing one another, eating
sweatmeats, cracking nuts and enjoying ali
sorts of fun: Mosleln women go through
much more than the above performances,
especially in the matter of being hennad
and having their eyebrows plucked. The
best time for the bath is with wedding
party preparing bride. One feels very
light after these baths and the skin is won.
dertully white. Easterns are not content
with less than peeling the outer skin off,"