122 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



with corrugated hands at reeking tubs, but such as 

 painters and poets might celebrate. Washing is with 

 them a pastime and an elegance their laundry a 

 studio of art. They go right into the water, and 

 splash about their things like naiads sporting; and 

 anon returning to the bank, put forth their little 

 strength in beating out the clothes. It would be 

 rash to say that the process is so effectual as our 

 more homely method, but it is at least pretty to 

 look at. At evening the banks of the stream assume 

 another appearance. Gay crowds promenade, and 

 cavalcades linger ; people of many nations congregate 

 to unbend the brow laden with the cares of the 

 day. Fathers muse, maidens gambol, and matrons 

 chide. 



A little farther on, and we come to Caravan-bridge, 

 of all Smyrna's objects, perhaps the one best known 

 by reputation. It has its name from the number of 

 caravans that, entering Smyrna from the interior, 

 have to pass over it. And see, there is at this 

 moment a string of camels in the way, so that we 

 may as well halt in this convenient shade till they 

 be gone by. That little Ethiopian will look after 

 our horses, and All will bring us coffee and chibouques 

 in a twinkling. See how pleasantly these trees over- 

 shadow our resting-place, and how the gliding of the 

 water, here a broader and more rapid stream, seems 

 to cool our very thoughts. This is the great picnic 

 place for the citizens a sort of Turkish Vauxhall. 



