The National tribune., 1888-05-03
BATHS IN ALGIERS.
Tie Luxury of Precipitation Under Favorable Cir
cHmstanceS.
IEarper's JEaaaeine.l

lHarper's Hdgazine,l
No traveller in the East can consider his So
jourH complete without the experience at least,
/ ii not luxury, of a Turkish or Moorish bath.
If you 90. you go TO perspirc, and to see
every body and everything around you perspire.
After undressing and depusiting your watch
and yaiuables with the proprietor, go 10 the not
! room and stretch yourself upon n raised plat
/ form in the center of the tepidarium, built OF
! large slabs Of marble over an oven in which a
/ raging fire IS eager to roast you. Think of the
1 domens of old upon whose back the Druids
! offered their sacrifices, and imagine yourself
( any animal you please. When you are roasted
OF one side, turn over and try another corner
! of your altar TO find a cool spot. Then lie on
/ the stone floor, and let your grinning attendant
crack your bones, pull your joints, and twist
! your neck, and znead you with his hands, and
walk over you with his knees; then let him
roll of your old skin, and with evident pride
! lay before you long strings of your worthless
hide, dozen of them in row then you be-
/ gin TO realize that you have had one bath in
! your lifetime that has been of some genuine
use to your human existence. Pumice-stone
/ for the soles of your feet, and strong soap and
wiSps Of hemp or similar fiber, help TO take of
your second skin, but you keep on your third
| to 20 home with BY fixing it with bucket or
two of cold water. Then, TO keep what re-
mains of you together, and to prevent your
third skin from trying to get away. your at
tendant wraps you tightly in towels as big as
sheets and your head in a turban, and peTches
you on high wooden sandals to keep your feet
out Of the water, for the pavement is also per-
spring freely; small rivers flow in every direc-
ton. In this becoming garb like man buried
by mistake in the catacombs you come forth
and lie down with the other mistaken corpses
and help them drink tea, and perspire once
more, and throw another mantie-of smoke
about you with long pipe. Then you are fit
for nothing lie still and let the world wag as
ii will The hours set apart for the men at the
baths are from o'clock in the evening until
noon, thus furnishing them with good sleeping
quarters for the night.
The baths are the great places Of rendezvous
for the Arab women. who spend an afternoon
there frequently their hours being from noon
till u, and they certainly deserve this much Of
social intercourse. They are seen with their
children in the streets going to the bath, ac
eompanIed by a gorgeous negress carrying a
| bronze vessel filed with necessary articles and
other baskets and bundles containing a COM
plete change OF linen, also several strings Of
orange blossoms. Orange-fower water is not
4 to be forgotten, for il enters extensively into
/ their luxuries az a drink with their meals and
as perfume. For the latter purpose bottle
OF brass, silver or gold, with long neck and
/ peppeT-box termination, is used, with which
/ they sprinkle guests at home and friendsa at the
take in washing" especially of heavy woolen
/ burnooses haiks, blankets. etc, which the at
/ teudants aud the m0utch0 "a young boy-servant
whose name is evidently Of Spanish origin
wash with their feet and plenty of soap and
water on the marble pavement in the hot room
| These articles are hung, with the bath towels
and other linen, to dry on the terraces. To
make a study under the drippngs of such an
entire laundry may be looked upon as a feat,
aside from the fact that the moutcho seemed
I afraid to leave me within reach Of such valua-
I bic wet linen. With sulphur fumigatons the
| yellow burBooses arranged like tents over the
smoke, are bleached. This operation is equal
to q thousand matches burning unBelcome in
ceuse under the artists nose. The bath at
teudants apparently wonderfully consti-
tutcd 10 avoid rheumatism and pneumonia:
they 90 in and out Of the heated room for hours
together with only a towel around their loins,
but they do not catch cold all the same.