Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1875-09-04

Mrs. Burton. i'm her sinner Life of
Syria. Palestine, and the Holy Land"
gives the following description of the
Turkish bath: Firstly, we enter large
hall. light by domed skylight, with a
huoe marble tank in the centre, 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
through six marble rooms, all with
domed skylights, marble floors, and a
gutter cut in them to let the water off,
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 sudariun,, of
about 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Here the
operation commences. Firstly, they
lather your head and hair thoroughly.
Then you are washed over, first with
flannel and soap, if you like; secondly,
with brush and soap; thirdly, with lif
and soap. Eff is the fibre of the palm
fToud soaked in water, sun-dried, and
pulled out. 1t looks like large sponge
of white horsehair, and it fubs as hard as
a clothes brush. You are dOuched from
head to foot, between each of these ope-
rations, with tubs Of hot water thrown
at you and over you. You are then
shampooed with fresh layers of soap, and
douched again. By this time you are be-
ginning 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, 150 degrees will content you; if in
dry heat, you can, with practice, bear 300
degrees. Your stay in the calidarium
lasts about twenty minutes. They give
you ice sherbet, and tie towels dipped in
cold water around your head, which pre-
vents your fainting, and makes you per-
spire 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. Now you move back
again through all the rooms, but gradu-
ally, staying ten minutes in each. You
are again douched with water and sham
pOoed 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 shampooing is done with towels.
We now return to the hall where we
first undressed, enYelOped in silk and
wooden clothes, and we recline ON divans.
1t is all strewed with flowers, incense is
burned about us, cups of rather hot and
bitter coffee are handed to us, and
nargiles are placed in our mouths. A
woman advances and kneads you like
bread; you fall asleep during the process,
which has almost the effect Of mesmer-
ism. When you awake you will find
music and dancing, the girls chasing and
enjoying all sorts of fun. MOslem wOm-
en- go through much more than the
above performances, especially in the
matter of being henna'd and having their
eyebrows plucked. The best time for
the bath is with a wedding party prepar-
ing bride. One feels very light after
these baths, and the skin is wonderfully
white. Easterns are not content with
less than peeliig the outer skin off.