CHEAP BATHING. 
241 
oft’ SO far as good looks were concerned, held open the 
bamboo door and motioned us to enter. Thinking, pro- 
bably, that wo had come to see their mode of bathing, she 
made signs that there were no bathers just then, but that 
there would be shortly, and that we had better seat our- 
selves around the sides and make ourselves comfortable. 
We made her understand, with considerable difficulty, 
that our object w'as to see the arrangement of the hot- 
water apparatus, &c., whereupon she pointed to a dark- 
looking hole at the back-end of the room that resembled 
a huge, old-fashioned wood-fireplace with the back 
knocked out, and motioned us to pass under it and see 
for ourselves. So we took advantage of the permission, 
and, at the expense of wet feet and the inhalation of a 
considerable quantity of a steamy, disagreeable atmo- 
sphere, accomplished the object of our visit. 
AVe found the inner apartment into which the chimney- 
like passage opened to be a room of about from eight to 
ten feet in size, and containing an immense caldron in 
the centre built around wdth mud and stones. It was 
filled to overflowing with water, from which the steam 
arose in clouds and circulated between a dozen or more 
rafters that were just high enough from the stone floor to 
let one w’alk upright under them. From what we could 
learn, they did not fill this caldron more than three times 
a day at the utmost, it being so largo that the water 
retained its heat several hours. Then, as it cooled 
gradually and lost a portion of its purity with each suc- 
cessive bath, the price of admission decreased to a single 
cash. 
In the corner of this apartment was also a smaller 
