One person, it appeared, had carried a bunch of dates there at my request. This had been one of the Khalifa’s own men, so the guard had not thought it necessary to prevent his going up.
Ali had, however, caught this same fellow some time ago stealing gunpowder, so he readily suspected him and hurried off to the man’s dwelling, which was near at hand. Here he advised him to confess and at once restore the stolen property, and thus escape punishment.
This the fellow would not do, so Ali, assisted by others, searched the house, finding the knife and a packet of cigarettes. In the few hours that had elapsed since his theft, the ruffian had treated himself to five-and-twenty first-rate cigarettes and the pomegranates. The culprit was very soon thrown into prison, and there he remained when I left El Hamma on the following day. Whether or not he was set free after my departure, and whether the Khalifa ever learnt the story of the theft, I am ignorant.
It was late in the evening, near ten o’clock, and I was about to retire to rest, when Ali noticed that I had caught a slight cold. He insisted that I should at once go down to the wonderful healing waters of the warm spring, declaring that in a quarter of an hour I should be perfectly well.
It was pitch dark when Hamed, Ali, and I, carrying lanterns, strolled through the village to the spring near the ruined old “Borj.” We descended a stone stair which ended in a dark, paved lower room, from the opening into which steam issued into the cold outer air. By the light of the lantern I saw that the water rose within the room, through which it flowed, and was discharged through a small opening into a basin outside.
In the centre of the room stood a clumsy pillar supporting the roof, and surrounding the fountains were tanks built of stone. Within one of these lay the black figure of a negro. We requested him to move. This he was quite willing to do, but it took him a long time; and we had to assist him, for he could scarcely walk, his legs being crippled with rheumatism. When we had taken him up to a chamber near the stone steps, and after letting the water run out for a little while, we undressed.
The room was full of choking hot steam, as in a Roman or Moorish bath; I began to perspire before I got into the water. Counting one, two, three, I scrambled in. Over my whole body I felt an icy sensation, just as though I had plunged into cold water, but immediately after followed a feeling as of being scalded, and I sprang back on to the stone verge. Twice I repeated my endeavours to bear the burning heat of the water, but each time had to jump out quickly; so I remained seated on the stones, throwing the water over my body, and even that I could hardly bear. The whole time I felt as though everything inside me were being boiled, and I perspired frightfully.
With Hamed it was the same, but he was able to remain longer in the water. But Ali astonished us by quietly enjoying himself sitting in the water, the temperature of which was at least 113° Fahrenheit.
After half an hour of this we dressed hastily, and went to the upper room that was thick with rising steam, but not nearly so hot as the lower one. Here, on the stone flooring, we sat closely wrapped in our burnouses, the hoods well drawn over our faces, to refresh ourselves by perspiration. Twice when I drew my hood aside, a clammy, cold, raw air seemed to strike my face. The lantern had been placed on the stone floor, and by its light, before I hurriedly covered my face again, I caught sight of four other figures lying huddled in their white burnouses.
Thus we sat for another half-hour chatting amongst ourselves, and to the negro. The other three men appeared to be sleeping. The negro told us that on a little donkey, his sole possession, he had ridden a great distance from beyond the island of Jerba, to be cured by this far-famed spring. When he arrived about a fortnight ago he could not stand at all, but Allah had already assisted him, and now he was so much better that he could hobble about a little. Every day was wholly spent by him in the bath, or in this upper room. His food was dates and bread given him by charitable folk, as he, poor fellow, possessed nothing.