PROCESS OF THE BATH. 
231 
hall, the walls and floor being entirely covered with that cool 
and shining surface ; and from this chamber diverge several 
recesses, still all marble ; while at one end is the cistern, or 
bath, with about four feet depth of water. The boiler is be¬ 
neath, whence a pipe conveys the heated water into the receiver 
above, to the temperature required. Tubes also conduct the 
steam, or warmed air, into the saloon and its recesses; that a 
colder atmosphere may not check the perspiration of the person 
issuing from the bath. The domed apartment I have already 
mentioned, is appropriated to the females, to complete the 
ceremonies of the bath ; and its decorations may be considered 
in harmony with the beauty perfected beneath its roof. Mirrors 
cover the walls in almost every part, and where we do not 
see them, the intermediate spaces are luxuriantly painted with 
flowers, intermixed with gold. The finest nummuds carpet the 
benches, for the fair bathers to repose on; and gathered roses 
strew the floor in every direction, contrasting their patural 
beauties with their gilded imitations on the walls. Such profusions 
of this lovely flower, within and without the dwellings of Persia, 
cannot but remind the foreign visitor at every step, that he is 
in the land of Hafiz, — of the nightingale and the rose. 
Understanding that the process of the bath is much the same, 
when applied by either sex, and as it is rather curious, I shall 
describe it in a general way. The bather having undressed in 
the outer room, and retaining nothing about him but a piece of 
loose cloth round his waist, is conducted by the proper attendant 
into the hall of the bath ; a large white sheet is then spread on the 
floor, on which the bather extends himself. The attendant brings 
from the cistern, which is warmed from the boiler below, a suc¬ 
cession of pails full of water, which he continues to pour over 
