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quantity of flaked lime. This greyilTi pafle, applied to the 

 iiair, malies it fall off in a little time; and it is generally ufed 

 both by men and women in Egypt. After being well wafhed 

 and purified, you are wrapped up in hot linen, and conducted 

 through the windings that lead to the outer apartment : and 

 by this gradual tranlition from heat to cold, or by flopping 

 for fome time in the hall next the itove, no inconve; ience 

 arifes from the ufe of ti'.e baih. On arriving at the elhade, 

 you fi:id a bed prepared for you, and as foon as you are laid 

 down, a child preffes every part of the body with its delicate 

 fingers, in order to drj' you thoroughly. Here you change 

 linen a fecond time, and the child gently grates the callofity 

 of your feet with pumice flone. He then brings you a pipe 

 and Mocha colfee. 



By thefe baths, fays Savary, the ufe of which the ancients 

 flrongly recommended, and which are ftili the delight of the 

 Egyptians, they prevent or diipel rheumatifms, catarrhs, and 

 fuch cutaneous diforders as are produced by want of perfpi- 

 ration. Thus the blood is mace to circulate with freedom, 

 the whole body acquires a fupplcnefs and lightnefs, and the 

 fpirits gain a vivacity and flow, which are not experienced in 

 an equal degree by thole who do not pay fo much attention 

 to external cleanlinefs. The women are particularly fond of 

 thefe baths, and frequent them at Icall once a week. After 

 undergoing the ufual preparations, they ww'.a their bodies, 

 and more efpecially their heads, with rofe-water. Here the 

 female head-dreffers form their long black hair into trcfTes, to 

 which they apply collly efferccs, inflead of powder and po- 

 matum. Here they blacken the edges of their eye-lids, and 

 lengthen their eye-brows with " cohel," or a preparation of 

 tin burnt with gall-nuts. Here alfo they ftain their finger 

 and toe nails with " henne," (See Alcanna), which gives 

 them a golden colour. The linen and clothing which they 

 ufe are pafTed through the f.vcet fleam of the wood of aloes. 

 The days, appropriated to the ufe of the bath, are feftivals 

 for the Eixyptian women ; and on this oecaiion they pay 

 great attention to the ornaments of their drefs, as well as to 

 the cleanlinefs of their pctfons. 



Baths fimilar to that above defcrlbed, though differing in 

 fize, are conftrufted in ail the principal towns of Egypt. 

 The neceffity of cleanlinefs in the eallern. climates, where 

 perfpiration is fo copious, has rendered baths indifpenfible : 

 the comfort they produce preferves the ufe of them ; and 

 Mahomet, who knew their utility, has re-enforced the prac- 

 tice of ablution and bathing by txprefs precept. 



Mr. Tooke (View of the Ruffian Empire, vol. ii. p. 7, S:c.) 

 informs us, that the common Ruffians, in general, ufe but 

 few medicines ; fupplying their place in all cafes by the 

 fvveating bath, a practice univerfal among them, and v-hich 

 has a decided influence on the whole phyfical ftate of the 

 people. The ufe cf the bath, that venerable rehcl of the 

 manners of the ancient world, as this ingenious writer de- 

 nominates it, is now almoft entirely confined to the Oriental 

 nations, where it miniflers both to health and to luxury, and 

 is perpetuated by religion. In Europe it has been gradually 

 declining for feveral centuries, though, it was here a!fo in 

 feme fort interwoven with religion, the holy water of the 

 Roman catholic church being a flight remnant of it. 



Ruffia and Hungary are at prefent the only countries ia 

 this quarter of the world, where it is flill the cuilom to 

 bathe after the manner of the ancients. In Ruffia particu- 

 larly the bath forms fo effential a part of the fyftem. of living, 

 that it is ufed by people of every age, and in all circumftances, 

 by infants, by lying-in women, in almofl all fickneffes, be- 

 fore and after a journey, after hard work, &c. The bath is 

 a neceiTary of life fo indifpenfible to the common people, that 

 they frequent it as often as poffible, well or ill, and without 



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any particular occa/5on, once a week at leaft. Pcrfons of 

 middle ilation in good circumflances, and the great, ufually 

 conftruci vapour baths, after the R.uflian fafhion, in their own 

 houfes, though in thefe claiTcs the praflice is declining under 

 the increafing influence of foreign manners. Baths have 

 been common in Rufiia from time immemorial. They are de- 

 fcribed by Neftor fo long ago as the i ith century, precifely 

 in their prefent form. Among the ancients the baths 

 were pnbhc buildings, under the immediate cognizance of the 

 government. The invention of them was owing to cleanli- 

 nefs and convenience ; but in procefs of time all the grace* 

 of architcdlure were laviflK-d upon them ; and at length lux- 

 ury and voluptuoufnefs fo perverted them from their primitive 

 purpofes, that they became oiTtnflve and fhotking to the 

 moralilts cf antiquity. Alexander was aflonifhed at the mag- 

 nificence of the baths in Perlia. At Rome, under the em- 

 perors, there were once 870 of thefe edifices, fuch, v/ith 

 refped. to magnificence and tafte, as might pafs for nia.ler- 

 picces of art ; and in after ages they were demolifhed by the 

 Goths, or converted by bifliops into churches. In our days, 

 however, Hungary is the only country that can Rill exhibit 

 baths, equal in magnificence to thofe of the ancient Romans. 

 In Ruffia, on the contrar)', they are always of that fimplo 

 conflruftion, which indicates their primitive and mo!l tflential 

 deilination. Here the public baths, called public becaufe 

 they are under the care of the police, and let out to com- 

 mon people on the crown's account, ufnally confilf of mean 

 wooden houfes, Ctuate, whenever it is poffible, by the fide 

 of a running llream^ In the bath-room is a large vaulted 

 oven, which, when heated, makes the paving ilones lying - 

 upon it red-hot ; and adjoining to the oven is a kettle fixed 

 in mafonr)', for the purpole of holding boiling water. Round 

 about the walls are three or four rows of benches one 

 above another, like the feats of a fcaffold. The room has 

 little light, but here and there are apertures for letting the 

 vapour efcape ; the cold water that is wanted being let in 

 by fmail cliannels. Some baths have an anti-chamber for 

 drelTing and undrefTmg ; but in moll of them this is done in 

 the open court-yard, which on that account has a boarded 

 fence, and is provided with benches of planks. In thofe 

 parts of the country where wood is fcarce, they fometiraes 

 confiil of wretched caverns, commonly dug in the earth clofe 

 to the bank of fome river. In the houfes of wealthy indivi- 

 duals, and in the palaces of the great, they are conllruiled 

 in the fame manner, but with fuperior elegance and conveni- 

 ence. The heat in the bath-room is ufually from 32' to 40* 

 of Reaumur ; and this is much increafed by throwing water, 

 every five minutes on tlie glowing hot ilones in the chamber 

 of the oven. Thus the heat often rifes, efpecially on t{ie 

 uppermofl bench, to 44° of the thermometer. The perfons 

 that bathe lie quite naked, on one of the benches, where 

 they perfpire more or kfs in proportion to the heat of the 

 humid atmofphere in which they are enveloped. Forl^romot- 

 ing perfpiration, and more completely opening the pores, they 

 are firfl rubbed, and then gently flagellated with leafy bunches 

 of birch. After remaining for fome time in this Hate, they 

 come down from the fvveaiiiig bench, and wa(h ihcir bodies 

 with warm or cold water, and at laft plunge over head in a 

 large tub of water. 



Many perlons throw themfelves immediately from the 

 bath-room into the adjoining river, or roll themfelves in the 

 fnow in a froll of ten or mere degrees. 



The Ruffian baths are, therefore, " fweating baths ;" 

 not the Roman tepidaria or caldsria of a moderate warmth, 

 but very violent fweating-baths, which to a perfon unhabi- 

 tuated to the praAice, bring on a real, tlsough a gentle and 

 almoit voluptuous fwoon. They are " vapour-baibs," not 



water. 



