, 1888-09-14
BATHING IN MEXICO.
BEA BATHS REGARDED AS A REM
EDY FOR HYDROPHoeIA.

Ideas-Customs at the Capital-Ap-
parent Lack of Dignity.
1t may be stated as a general rule that
on the coast of Mexico bathing Is more
frequent than in lakes and rivers, owing
to the curative properties of sea water,
and in some instances on account of eli
matte conditions. In Vera Cruz, for In
stance, during the heated term, sea baths
are of almost universal use, notwithstand-
ing that sharks are so numerous in the
waters whereabouts that bathing places
have to be palisaded in, guarded by boats
filed with men to beat the water, and
of the sanguinary monsters. At the castle
of San Juan de Ulua, just outside this
port, there is a large, excellently arranged
bath house for the use of the officers at
the castle and their families, and the
present writer remembers no similar ex-
perience more pleasant than O plunge
therein, enjoyed after a mornings tramp
around the island fortress, climbs to the
top of the lighthouse and signal towers,
and other such gentle exercise scarcely in
keeping with the scorching heat of sum-
mer days there.
On the coast of Barlovento, particularly
about Misantla, where rabid dogs are
frightfully numerous, sea baths are re-
garded as a sovereign remedy for hydro
phobia. When a mad dog runs amuck
there the parties bitten are bundled of to
the shore as speedily as possible, and put
through a course of q fortnight's system
attic bathing. The oldest inhabitants de-
clare that h~ydrophobia has never been
known to develop in a patient who has
undergone this treatment. Domestic ami
mails with the trouble are subjected to the
same process, and it is said the results
are equally efficacious, save in the case of
mules, with which 1t is utterly futile.
FEVER AND AGUE.
On the other hand, although this section
is blessed with an Astounding number of
beautiful streams and rivers, bathing
therein Is extremely unpopular, the in
habitants declaring that river bathing Is
sure to produce calenturas fever and
ague), especially if one walk at all in the
sun-a performance hardly to be avoided
unless one condemns oneself to a prison
like seclusion. During q considerable
stay in Misantla the writer, accustomed
to a cold bath every morning, used to rise
at dawn, ride the mile or so to a p~articu-
larly fine bathing place at the river, take
a glorious plunge, tramp about all day in
the tropical sun In quest Of butterflies,
coleopters and "sich like" specimens of
natural history, and toward evening again
wend to the river, entering the water hot
and debilitated, yet never a shake of
calenturas appeared. One rides past the
little ranches or villages In that section
and sees the people painting Ill lizards
from the heat, inert, languid and useless.
Before their doors runs abundance of
clear, cool water, and yet they swelter in
their hot and dirty misery. In the state
of Morelos, particularly in the Cuernavaca
and C~acahuamilpa district. baths, whether
cool or otherwise, are said to produce
calenturas If taken in the evening, while
in the morning they may be INDUCED in
with impunity.
In the same way all over the republic
there are queer ideas as to the pernicious
effects of bathing at certain times or I'M
der certain conditions. Few things call
the attention of Mexicans more strongly
than the eagerness with which Anglo
Saxons seek the bath on coming off q
journey; the people here prefer to retain
the dust of the road and other discom-
forts attendant on travel for some days
at least after debarking, firmly convinced
that the other course would result In q
bad cold, at least. To battle, having a
cold, would be to sign the death warrant;
and one often sees people under these
conditions who have not so much as
touched the tips of their fingers to water
for a fortnight. This is q peculiarly awk-
ward stumbling block for those who de-
~ liz PLdCblOO VI ClCdl1lllCOo ny lllClI
servants. In chihuahua, for instance,
1t is almost impossible to induce the SER
want class to keep themselves tidy to the
degree of their presence near one being
endurable. In other cities also the writer
remembers to have suffered a species of
m~artyrdom from the proximity of the
people serving at table, yet their masters
seemed to perceive nothing unpleasant,
Notwithstanding they were people of the
/ hf~hnaf r,-l I'D LAr,1a1-A-@ ..---.1sAo
personal habits.
BATHS AT H CAPITAL.
In the City of Mexico the inhabitants of
h better order, as a general rule, battle
freely, and they laugh to scorn the pro-
vincial prejudices on this point, seeing in
frequent baths one of the best p~reventives
of rheumatism, typhoid, pneumonia and
other ills that flesh is here heir to, owing
to the dampness and bad drainage. II
ave a bad cold coming on; l IN go and
take a shower bath, is a remark very
often heard here. One is always recon-
mended to walk for exercise after bathing
in this city, as one is apt to be chilled if
n enters Immediately the houses, as a
rule rather damp and gloomy. II en-
going to take a bath; will 1t please you
to accompany met" is a very common
speech with the Mexicans, who nave the
habit of inviting one to partake of what
ever they indulge in at the moment, be it
coffee, a drink, dinner, a ride, a drive, or
whatnot, including a bath, as aforesaid.
Mexican men of good standing, lawyers,
merchants, etc, may be met going to the
baths guiltless of linen, the coat put on
directly over the undershirt, sometimes
with a handkerchief or scarf about the
neck, at others showing the bare throat,
and if they chance to meet ladies of their
acquaintance they see no reason why that
garb is not as appropriate for conversation
as any other. Tho ladies, on the other
hand, promenade home through the most
crowded streets with their hair streaming,
as often as not with a towel hanging
down the back beneath it, and no one is
ashamed to carry his bathing toggeries,
wet and frankly confessed, in a shawl
strap, or n great Turkish bath towel or
robe on the arm or shoulder, and this Is