occupied with this picture, that I paid slight attention to the return of my two bathing attendants. They came back to me, the one holding a wooden bowl, in which a quantity of soap had been dissolved, and the other a bundle of fine flax. Suddenly it seemed as if a million of needles entered my head through my eyes, nose, and mouth; it was the scoundrel of a servant, who had deluged my face with his soap preparation, whilst his comrade held me by the shoulders, and rubbed away furiously at my entire body, especially my head and breast. The pain was so insupportable, that it restored all my energies; it seemed quite ridiculous to endure such tortures without any attempt at defence. I knocked away one tormentor with a kick, tumbled the other with a thump, and seeing no other remedy for my misfortunes than total immersion, I hastened to that one of the four basins which seemed least inhabited, and manfully made a plunge. The water was boiling: I roared out that I was scalded, and grappling my neighbours, who did not comprehend my agitation, I scrambled up the side of the tub, almost as rapidly as I had descended. Nevertheless, short as my ablution had been, it had produced its effect: I was as red as a boiled lobster.

I remained stupified for a moment, and fancied myself under the influence of night-mare. I had before my eyes men cooking themselves in a kind

of stew, who seemed to take the greatest delight in such a punishment. This upset all my ideas of pleasure and pain, since what was pain to me was pleasure to them; so I took the resolution of making no further reference to myself, of not believing my own sensations, and of quietly enduring everything they pleased to do to me. My two torturers consequently found me perfectly resigned when they returned to me, and I followed them without resistance to one of the four basins. When we reached the steps, they made me a sign to descend; I obeyed passively, and found myself in water at a temperature of from 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This appeared to me a very moderate heat.

From this basin I passed to another of more elevated temperature, but still supportable. I remained there, as in the first, about three minutes. At the end of this time, the men conducted me to a third, which might be about ten or twelve degrees higher than the second: finally, from this third, they led me to the fourth, which was the highlyheated one into which I had before plunged. Consequently, when I came to the descent, I felt the water with my foot; it appeared to me still very hot, but not much more so than those through which I had been progressively led. I resigned one leg, then another, finally the entire body, and no one can tell how astonished I was not to feel a

second boiling. This time I had come by degrees, and the gradual rise of temperature in the other basins had prepared me for this. In a few secon is I thought no more about it, and yet I think I can say with safety, that the temperature of the water was from 140 to 150 degrees; still when I came out, my skin had further deepened in colour; from scarlet I had turned to crimson.

The two rogues again took possession of me, and tied a fresh cincture round my loins; then they rolled a shawl round my head, and brought me successively into the rooms through which we had already passed, taking care at every change of temperature to give me a fresh cincture, and a fresh turban. At last I came into the first room, where I had left my clothes. I found a good blanket and pillow; they again took off my cincture and turban, enveloped me from head to foot in a heavy blanket, laid me down as if I had been a child, and then left me alone.

I experienced at the moment an indescribable feeling of comfort; I felt myself perfectly happy, but so weak, that when the door of my room was re-opened, after the lapse of about half an hour, I was found in the exact position in which I had been left.

The new personage who entered on the scene was a young Arab, vigorous and well made. He came

up to my couch with the air of a man who had particular business with me; I beheld him advance with a kind of terror, natural enough to a man who had been subjected to similar experiments; but I was so weak that I had not even an idea of getting up. He commenced by taking my left hand, every joint of which he made crack; then he passed to my right arm, to which he rendered the same service. After the turn of the hands came that of the legs and feet; then by a last effort happily combined, he put me into the position of a pigeon trussed for broiling, and just as if he were giving the finishing blow to a criminal, he made my dorsal spine crack. This time I could not refrain from shrieking out in real terror; I thought that the vertebral column was broken. The Arab, satisfied with the result he had obtained, abandoned his first exercise to pass to another; he commenced to knead my arms, thighs, and legs with admirable dexterity. This lasted about a quarter of an hour, at the end of which he quitted me. I was still weaker than before, and besides, my joints pained me exceedingly. I wished to draw the carpet over me, but I had not sufficient strength.

A domestic brought me coffee, a pipe, and perfumes; then seeing me naked, he threw a woollen coverlet over me, and left me to enjoy the intoxication of the tobacco and the perfumes. I thus passed

half an hour between sleeping and waking, lost in the vague meditations of a delicious intoxication, feeling a sensation of comfort hitherto unknown, and perfectly careless about the world and all its affairs. I was roused from my ecstacy by a barber, who commenced by combing my beard and moustache, and ended by offering to depilate me completely. I had no taste for this kind of ceremony, and I repulsed him so rudely that he tumbled down.

The noise of his fall summoned back the shampooer; I made him a sign that I wished to go out; he brought my clothes, and helped me to dress; for I was still so weak and dislocated, that I could scarcely keep myself erect. He then led me to the room which opens on the vestibule, where I found my cloak. I then paid for this bath, which had lasted three hours; for the domestics, shampooer, barber, pipe, coffee, perfumes, and the sundry blows I had given, the charge was a piastre and a-half, about ten-pence English. Such cheapness is truly wonderful.

I found the donkeys at the gate, and this time I did not wait to be asked. I mounted the animal, and went on tranquilly at a slow pace. Although it was ten or eleven in the morning, it seemed to me that the air was very cool. This resulted from comparison: thenceforward I comprehended the fanaticism of the Turks for the refresh