BATHS OF TIFLIS. 
119 
the gloomy walls of the citadel, the range intended for the wo¬ 
men. The water which supplies these distinct bath-houses is 
strongly impregnated with sulphur, having the usual offensive 
smell of such springs. Its degree of heat may be reckoned at 
from 15 to 36 degrees of Reaumur in the several basons. At 
the source of the hot stream it is about 42. The basons are ex¬ 
cavated in the solid rock, over whose surface the water had 
originally flowed; and these are divided, under one immense 
vaulted roof, into different apartments, whence even the smallest 
egress of day-light is excluded; and which are merely rescued 
from total darkness by the faint glimmerings of a few twinkling 
lamps struggling with the vapours from the stream. The stench 
of the place, and the disorder and filth which this meagre illu¬ 
mination rendered visible, showed sufficient argument for the 
whole having been left in shade. I did not see a spot in any 
one of the apartments, where it was possible for a bather to lay 
his clothes down without the certainty of taking them up again 
drenched in wet and dirt. When, however, I considered that 
these baths are free to the entrance of all who will, and that 
they crowd, indiscriminately, into every chamber alike, I ceased 
some of my wonder at so great a dearth of order or cleanliness; 
though I did not the less mark the inconveniences of their ab¬ 
sence, as we journeyed farther through the successive boiling 
caverns, and felt, at every remove, a more intense heat, a denser 
atmosphere of steam, and an increased accumulation of all that 
can disgust the senses of a man used to the retirement and com¬ 
fort of European baths. All sorts of people were here huddled 
together, scrubbing, scraping, rubbing, shaving, &c.; the of¬ 
fices of each act being done, either by the companions of the 
bather, or the persons of the bath, who are always in attendance 
