skates. I shuffled along very awkwardly, much to the amusement of three
sedate old gentlemen, who were puffing and melting from the effects of a
long sojourn in the heated atmosphere of the inner chamber. The first
hot room was rather pleasant; and after remaining there a few moments,
to break ourselves in for the furious attack on the pores to be expected
in the next, we entered the second chamber, and again pushed on into the
third, where the sensation, though at first unpleasant, gradually became
delightful. Coffee and pipes were now brought in; and sitting down on a
low marble bench, we consigned ourselves to the influence of the melting
atmosphere, thinking of the unhappy condition of the mutton-chop, when
it exclaimed in a piteous voice to the gridiron, "I am all of a
perspiration." There were several other bathers undergoing this process
of fermentation; and when the coffee was finished, and the pipe laid
aside, two fellows placed me gently on my back, and commenced rubbing,
squeezing, and twisting my arms, ribs, and legs till I thought every
joint would be dislocated. I soon felt satisfied with this sort of
discipline, though, upon the whole, the sensations were rather
disagreeable than painful. The room where we underwent the operation is
an octagon, with an arched roof, into which light is admitted through a
number of bulls' eyes, or knots of glass; and a marble basin is fixed
against the wall on each of its eight sides, into which two pipes, with
stop-cocks, admit both hot and cold water. With this you deluge yourself
by means of a large metal ladle chained to the wall; or it is done by
the bath-man, should you prefer the assistance of another. Within this
chamber was a smaller one, containing similar basins, and to one of
these I moved, followed by one of the men, who, after lathering me from
head to foot with a sort of slimy caustic soap, scrubbed me down with a
brush made of aloe shreds. Having overwhelmed me once more with cold and
hot water, and given a finishing pull or two at my limbs, he left me to
duck myself, if I thought fit; but I had had quite enough, and hurried
back into the second chamber. Here I was enveloped in hot towels, one
being wound round my head, another round each leg, &c., and in this way
I returned to the first court, where I mounted the stage, and sat down
to dry, smoking a good half hour before I resumed my clothes. Instead of
being exhausted, as might have been expected, I felt hig