266 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
shriveled, with sharp-pointed yellow teeth, and only one eye, 
the other having been dug out with some rough instrument; 
but that single eye was enough : it actually seemed to glare 
with triumph at the idea of a Christian subject. Another 
naked wretch seized hold of my friend the English captain, 
and we were both dragged rapidly into an adjoining apart¬ 
ment. 
I sincerely hope that the impression made upon my mind 
on entering this den of satanic visions will never be effaced 
by any future experience. It was quite sufficient to give me 
a general idea of the state of things to which a man may 
he reduced by an evil course of life. In truth, it was worthy 
to he ranked with Martin’s illustrations of Milton. At one 
end was a seething caldron of hot water, in the shape of a 
dark marble vase, from which arose hot clouds of steam ; the 
marble floor was wet and soapy, and of a smarting heat; the 
walls were reeking with a warm sweat; high overhead was 
a concave ceiling, pierced with round holes, in which were 
colored glasses, and through this the light poured down in 
streaks of every hue ; a mist of hot vapor hung in the atmo¬ 
sphere, lit up by flashes of colored light, and gave the moving 
figures an appearance of wretches roasting in flames of fire and 
brimstone ; and all around, in every direction, were bare bodies, 
and limbs, and shaven heads glistening through the obscurity, 
and great naked monsters torturing them with dippers full 
of scalding water or blinding lather from huge basins of suds ; 
some scraping with razors a bald crown, some scalding down 
a leg or an arm, or rubbing off the skin from the backbone 
of a prostrate victim ; others stretching out limbs and trying 
to disjoint them, or scrubbing them down with hard brushes 
-—all working with a fiendish zest, increased to a malicious 
grin of triumph when a groan or involuntary yell of agony 
could be elicited. “ Surely,” said I to the captain, “ they 
■ire not going to put us through here in this diabolical crowd ?” 
“ Oh, this is nothing,” said he; “ there’s another place yet, 
if I’m not mistaken. We can go into that if you like, only 
it’s a good deal hotter.” “ Hotter ! Why, good heavens ! 
there’s not air enough here for a musquito.” “ Nonsense ; 
