The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction, No. 565, by Various

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Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 565
Vol. 20, No. 565., Saturday, September 8, 1832

Author: Various

Release Date: April 25, 2004 [EBook #12147]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

Vol. 20, No. 565.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1832. [PRICE 2d.

* * * * *

[Illustration: PERSIAN BATH.]

* * * * *

The luxurious indulgence of baths in the East is generally known
to the reader of travels, so as to render acceptable the following
details. They are extracted from Mr. Buckingham's Travels,[1] and bear
all the graphic minuteness of his entertaining pen.

[1] Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia. H. Colburn, 4to.,
1829.

The Bath is one of the principal ones of Kermanshah, an important
frontier town of Persia. "It was entered by a porch, extremely clean,
and neatly ornamented by painting and other devices on its ceiling and
walls. This remarkable contrast to the low, dark, and foul passages
which generally lead to Turkish baths, was a presage, upon the very
threshold, of greater comfort and accommodation within.

"When we reached the undressing-room, this prepossession was still
further strengthened. Here we found a square hall, well lighted
from above, having on three of its sides elevated recesses for the
visiters, and on the fourth, the passage from the outer porch to the
hall, and from this to the inner bath. At the angles of these raised
recesses, and dividing their lower roof, which they supported, from
the higher one of the central square, were, four good marble pillars,
with spirally fluted shafts, and moulded capitals, perfectly uniform
in size and design, and producing the best effect. In the centre of
the square space, which these marked out, and on a lower floor, was a
large marble cistern of cold water; an