chiefly confined to the fervants' hall with all-fours and put. Perhaps, as games are fubject to revolutions, whisk may be as much forgot in the next century as Primero is at prefent: in such case, what I have thus laid before the fociety may intereft future antiquaries. If it fhould, my trouble in compiling this differtation will be fully answered. ET MISCEL I 3 MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. The hot baths used over all Egypt, and the manner of bathing defcribed; with obfervations on the benefits arifing from them; on the practice of the women who bathe once or twice a week; and comparisons between these baths and those of the ancient Greeks. From Monf. Savary's Letters on Egypt. "T Grand Cairo. HE hot baths, known in the remotest ages, and celebrated by Homer, who paints the manners of his times, have here preferved all their allurements and falubrity; neceffity has rendered them common in a country where perfpiration is abundant; and pleafure has preferved the practice. Mahomet, who knew their utility, has made the use of them a religious precept. They have been fuperficially defcribed by moft travellers; but as the habit I am in of frequenting them has given me leifure to examine them attentively, I fhall endeavour to be more particular and fatisfactory*. The first apartment at enter ing the bath is a great chamber, in the form of a rotunda, with an open roof, to let the pure air circulate freely. A fpacious alcove carpeted is carried round, and divided into compartments, in which the bathers leave their clothes. In the centre is a fountain, which plays into a reservoir, and has a pleasing effect. When undreffed a napkin is tied round the middle; fandals are put on, and a narrow paffage is entered, where the heat firft begins to be felt; the door fhuts, and twenty paces further a second opens, which is the entrance to a paffage at right angles with the firft. Here the heat augments, and those who fear to expofe themselves too fuddenly to its effects ftop fome time in a marble hall before they enter. The bath itself is a fpacious vaulted chamber, paved and lined with marble; befide it are four fmall rooms: a vapour continually rifes from a fountain and ciftern of hot water, with which the burnt perfumes mingle t. The bathers are not, as in France, * I have feen the baths of the principal cities of Egypt; they are all made on the fame plan, feldom differing, except in fize; thus an exact defcription of one will include the others. + Perfumes are only burnt when it is the defire of the perfons bathing. By mingling with the vapour they produce a most agreeable effect. imprisoned 1 imprisoned in a kind of tub, where the body cannot reft at its eafe; but, reclining on a spread fheet, and the head fupported on a fmall pillow, they freely take what pofture they please, while clouds of odoriferous vapours envelope and penetrate every pore. Having repofed thus fome time, a gentle moisture diffuses itself over the body; a fervant comes, gently preffes and turns the bather, and when the limbs are flexible, makes the joints crack without trouble; then males*, and feems to knead the body without giving the flighteft fenfation of pain. This done he puts on a stuff glove and continues rubbing long, and freeing the fkin of the patient, which is quite wet, from every kind of fcaly obftruction, and all imperceptible particles that clog the pores, till it becomes as fmooth as fatin; he then conducts the bather into a cabinet, pours a lather of perfumed foap on the head, and retires. The ancients honoured their guests fill more, and treated them after a more voluptuous manner. While Telemachus was at the court of Neftor t," the beauteous Poly cafte, youngest of the daughters of the king of Pylos, led the son of Ulyffes to the bath, wafhed him with her own hands, and, having rubbed his body with precious ointments, clothed him in rich garments and a fhining mantle." Nor were Pififtratus and Telemachus worfe treated in the palace of Menelaus ‡, the beauties of which having admired, " they were conducted to marble bafons, in which the bath was prepared, where beauteous flaves washed them, rubbed them with odorous oils, and clothed them in fine garments, and magnificent furred robes §." The room into which the bather retires has two water cocks, one for cold, the other for hot water; and he washes himself. The attendant presently returns with a depilatory pomatum ||, which inftantly eradicates hair wherever applied. It is in general ufe both with men and women in Egypt. Being well washed and purified, the bather is wrapped up in hot linen, and follows his guide through various windings which lead to the outward apartment, while this infenfible transition from heat to cold prevents all inconvenience ¶. Be * Maffer comes from the Arabic verb maffes, which fignifies to touch lightly. + Odyffey, Book III. Odyffey, Book IV. § I tranflate the words xhaivas uñas (fhaggy mantles) furred robes, though I am fenfible no tranflator has fo rendered them, because it seems to me the poet intended to defcribe a custom which ftill remains in the Eaft, of covering the bather with furred garments when he leaves the hot bath, to prevent a ftoppage of perfpiration, at a time when the pores are exceedingly open. || Made from a mineral called rusma, of a dark brown colour. The Egyptians give it a flight burning, then add an equal quantity of flack lime, and knead them up with water. This grey pafte will make the hair fall off in three minutes, without giving the slightest pain. ¶ Delicate people stop some time in the chamber next the bath, that they may feel no inconvenience by going too fuddenly into the air. The pores being exceedingly open, they keep themselves warm all day, and in winter fay within doors. ing come to the alcove, a bed is ready prepared, on which the perfon no fooner lies down than a boy comes, and begins to prefs with his delicate hands all parts of the body, in order to dry them perfectly: the linen is once more changed, and the boy gently rubs the callous fkin of the feet with pumice-ftone, then brings a pipe and Moka coffee*. Coming from a bath filled with hot vapour, in which exceffive perfpiration bedewed every limb, into a fpacious apartment and the open open air, the lungs expand and refpire pleasure well kneaded, and as it were regenerated, the blood circulates freely, the body feels a voluptuous eafe, a flexibility till then unknown, a lightness as if relieved from fome enormous weight, and the man almoft fancies himfelf newly born, and beginning firft to live. A glowing consciousness of exiftence diffufes itfelf to the very extremities; and, while thus yielding to the most delightful fenfations, ideas of the moft pleafing kind pervade and fill the foul; the imagination wanders through worlds which itself embellishes, every where drawing pictures of happinefs and delight. If life be only a fucceffion of ideas, the vigour, the rapidity, with which the memory then re-traces all the knowledge of the man, would lead us to believe that the two hours of delicious calm which fucceed bathing are an age. Such, Sir, are these baths, the use of which was fo ftrongly recommended by the ancients, and the pleafures of which the Egyptians ftill enjoy. Here they prevent or exterminate rheumatisms, catarrhs, and those diseases of the skin which the want of perspiration occafions. Here they find a radical cure for that fatal disease which attacks the powers of generation, and the remedies for which are fo dangerous in Europet. Here they rid themselves of thofe uncomfortable fenfations fo common among other nations, who have not the fame regard to cleanliness. The women are paffionately fond of these baths, whither they go at leaft once a week, taking with them flaves accustomed to the office. More fenfual than men, after the ufual procefs they wash the body, and particularly the head, with rofewater. There their attendants braid their long black hair, with which, inftead of powder and pomatum, they mingle precious effences.There they blacken the rim of the eye-lid, arch the brows with cobel‡, and ftain the nails of their hands and feet of a golden yellow with henna ||. Their linen and their *The whole expence of bathing thus to me was half a crown; but the common people go fimply to perfpire in the bath, wash themselves, and give three half-pence or two-pence at departing. Tournefort, who had taken the vapour bath at Conftantinople, where they are much lefs careful than at Grand Cairo, thinks they injure the lungs; but longer experience would have convinced him of his error. There are no people who practife this bathing more than the Egyptians, nor any to whom such difeafes are less known. They are almoft wholly unacquainted with pulmonic complaints. Tin, burnt with gall-nuts, which the Turkish women use to blacken and arch the eye-brows. A fhrub common in Egypt, which bears fome refemblance to the privet. The leaves chopped and applied to the skin, give it a bright yellow colour. robes robes having been past through the The days of bathing are feftive E Grand Cairo. GYPT, as well as Italy, has her improvisatore, called Almai, or learned; which title they obtain by being more carefully educated than other women. They form a class very famous in the country, to be admitted into which it is neceffary to poffefs a fine voice, eloquence, the rules of grammar †, and be able to compofe and fing extempore verfes, adapted to the occafion. The Almai know all new fongs by rote, their memory is ftored with the best Moals and tales, * The wool of Caffimire is the finest in the world; furpaffing filk itself. The fathes made from it cost about five-and-twenty pounds each; they are usually embroidered at both ends, and though three French ells long, and one wide, may be drawn through a ring. The quantity in Arabic and Latin verfes is the fame, to which the former adds the various measure and rhyme of the French. Thefe advantages cannot unite, eat when a language is well fixed. ↑ Repac Lamps, which bewall he death of a hero, or the dialers of love. Abulfeda |