198 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XI. 
the first impression is almost insupportable ; the hot 
steam or vapour meets you at the door, filling the eyes 
and ears, and causing perspiration to run from every 
pore of the body ; it almost darkens the place, and the 
. Chinamen seen in this imperfect light, with their brown 
skins and long tails, sporting amongst the water, render 
the scene a most ludicrous one to an Englishman. 
Those visitors who use the common room pay only six 
copper cash ; the others pay eighteen, but they have in 
addition a cup of tea and a pipe of tobacco from the pro- 
prietors. I may mention that one hundred copper cash 
amount to about 4<^d. of our money ; so that the first 
class enjoy a hot- water bath for about one farthing ! and 
the other a bath, a private room, a cup of tea, and a 
pipe of tobacco, for something less than one penny ! 
