Porter'' s Travels in Georgia, Persia, Sfc. 



6»T 



clasjied by-a' diamond buckle. The 

 heads of married ladies are adorned 

 with, literally, a silken night-cap, 

 whith is tvrapped about with a gailey- 

 coloured handkerchief, in the form of 

 a fillet; The uniuarricd, (like the 

 damsels rrt Russia of the lower class,) 

 wear their hair in a long plait down 

 their backs; but with this ditference 

 from the Russian girl, — instead of a 

 bunch of ribbons at the termination of 

 the plait, the handkerchief with which 

 the head is bound, twists round the 

 braid, nearly to its end, something in 

 the manner of the Corsican caps. 



-; MOUNTAINS OP CAUCASUS. 



Nb pen can express the emotion which 

 the sudden burst of this sublime range 

 exdited in my mind. I had seen almost 

 all the wildest and most gigantic chains 

 in Portugal and Spain, but none gave 

 JUe an idea of the vastness and gran- 

 deur of that 1 now contemplated. 

 This seemed Nature's bulwark between 

 the nations of Europe and of Asia. 

 Elborus, amongst whose rocks tradition 

 Imports Prometheus to have been chain- 

 ed, stood, clad in primeval snows, a 

 world of mountains in itself, towering 

 above all. its white and radiant sum- 

 mits Tningling with the heavens ; vvhile 

 the pale and countless heads of the 

 subordinate range, high in themselves, 

 but far beneath its altitude, stretched 

 along the horizon, till lost to sight in 

 the soft fleeces of the clouds. Several 

 rough and huge masses of black rock 

 rose from the intermediate plain ; their 

 size was mountainous ; but being view- 

 ed near the mighty Caucasus, and com- 

 pared with them, they appeared little 

 more than hills ; yet the contrast was 

 fine, their dark brows giving greater 

 effect to the dazzling summits which 

 towered above them. Poets hardly 

 feign, when they talk of the genius of a 

 place. I know not who could behold 

 Caucasus, and not feel the spirit of its 

 sublime solitudes awing his soul. 



FEMALE BATHS AT TIFLIS. 



I was urged by the gentleman who 

 accompanied me, to try if we could not 

 get a glimpse into the baths dedicated 

 to the fair sex. The attempt seemed 

 wild ; but, to please him, I turned to- 

 wards the building, and, to our asto- 

 nishment, found no difficulty in enter- 

 ing. An old woman was standing at 

 the door, and she, without the least 

 scruple, not only shewed us the way, 

 but played our sybil the whole while. 



In one of the bathing-rooms nearest 

 to ttie door we found a great number of 



MoNTiiiiV Mag. No. 356. 



naked children, of different infantine 

 ages, immersed in a circular bath in 

 the middle of the chamber, where their 

 mothers were occupied in washing an4 ■ 

 rubbing them. The forms of children 

 are always lovely; and, altogetheryf 

 there being a regularity, and its conse*»} 

 qnent cleanliness, attending the adjust* ■ 

 meut of their little persons, we looked 

 on, without receiving any of those dis- 

 agreeable impressions which had dis- 

 gusted us in the baths of their fathers. 

 Passing through this apartment, without 

 any remark of surpiise or displeasui-e 

 from the mothers of the children, we 

 entered a much larger chamber, well 

 lighted, and higher vaulted in the roof; 

 No water was seen here ; but a stone 

 divan, spread with carpets and mat- 

 tresses, was placed round the room, 

 and on it lay, or sat, women in every 

 attitude and occupation consequent on 

 an Asiatic bath. Some were half 

 dressed, and others hardly had a co- 

 vering. They weie attended by ser- 

 vants, employed in rubbing the fair 

 forms of these ladies with dry cloths, or 

 dyeing their hair and eye-brows, or fi- . 

 nally painting, or rather enamelling, 

 their faces. "On quitting this apart- 

 ment (which we did as easily as we en- 

 tered it, without creating the least 

 alarm or astonishment at our audacity,) 

 we passed into the place from whence 

 they had just emerged from the water. 

 Here we found a vast cavern-like cham- 

 ber, gloomily lighted, and smelling 

 most potently of sulphuric evapora- 

 tions, which ascended fiom nearly 

 twenty deep excavations. Through 

 these filmy vapoius, wreathing like 

 smoke over the surface of a boiling 

 cauldron, we could distinguish the fi- 

 gures of women, in every posture, per- 

 Tiaps, which the fancy of man could 

 devise for the sculpture of bathing 

 goddesses. But, I confess, we were 

 as much shocked as surprised, at the 

 unblushing coolness with which the 

 Georgian Venusses continued their ab- 

 lutions, after they had observed our 

 entrance ; they seemed to have as little 

 modest covering on their minds, as on 

 their bodies ; and the whole scene be- 

 came so unpleasant, that, declining our 

 conductress's offer to shew as farther, 

 we made good our retreat, fully satis- 

 fied with the extent of our gratified 

 curiosity. 



Persons who bathe for health do tigi 



remain longer than a few minutes, or 



whatever time may be prescribed, in 



the water ; but when the bath is taken 



4 L lor 



