TURKISH BATHS       16

apparently quite indifferent to the dense atmosphere which made me struggle for breath - and, to crown all, the sudden bursting forth of a chorus of voices into one of the wildest and shrillest of Turkish melodies, that was caught up and flung back by the echoes of the vast hall, making a din worthy of a saturnalia of demons, all combined to form a picture like the illusory semblance of a phantasmagoria, almost leaving me in doubt whether that on which I looked were indeed reality, or the mere creation of a distempered brain." (The City of the Sultan.)

In this hall, amid the noise and hurry here described those who frequent it collect round the fountains, which are plentifully supplied with both hot and cold water, each lady attended by one ore more slaves; her hair is then combed and saturated with water, poured over it from a basin of metal; and her limbs are gently rubbed by a hand covered with a small glove, or rather bag, woven of camel's hair; after which, she changes her dripping garments for others that await her near the door of the hall, and passes into the cooling-room. Here, reclining on mats and carpets, the bathers sometimes lie for hours, with their heir concealed beneath heavy napkins, and their whole persons wrapped closely in long white scarfs, like winding-sheets. Were it not that they are flushed by the action of the vapour, and for the ceaseless conversation which they maintain, they would like a party of corses prepared for burial.

When at length they venture into the outer hall, they at once spring upon their sofas, where the attentive slaves fold them in warm cloths, and pour essence upon their hair, which they twist loosely without attempting to dislodge the wet, and then cover with handsome head-kerchiefs of embroidered muslin; perfumed water is scattered over the face and hands, and the exhausted bather sinks into a luxurious slumber beneath a coverlet of satin or of eider-down.

The centre of the floor, meanwhile, is like a fair; sweetmeat, sherbet, and fruit-merchants, (old crones, who frequently have as many billet-doux as bowls of yahourt(1) in their baskets,) parade up and down, hawking their wares. Negresses pass to and fro with the dinners, or chibouques,(2) of their several mistresses; secrets are whispered - confidences are made; and, altogether, the scene is so strange, so new, and withal so attractive, that no European can fail to be both interested and amused by a visit to a Turkish Hammâm.

(1) Coagulated buttermilk.
(2) Pipes