AN ARCHED TOMB AT SAKKARA.
[Chapter X.]
AN ORIENTAL BATH.—EGYPTIAN WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS.
The excursions to Gizeh and Sakkara had not been altogether free from dust, and, consequently, the suggestion of an Oriental bath was not out of place. The boys had heard of the baths of Damascus and Constantinople, and the wonderful tales of travellers concerning them; the Doctor said the baths of Cairo were exactly like those of the cities mentioned, and they could satisfy their curiosity by trying one.
The guide advised them to go early in the forenoon, and accordingly they left the hotel a little after ten o'clock. The Doctor had no fondness for the genuine Oriental bath, and the youths made the excursion in the company of their guide. A short walk brought them to the establishment, which was in a gloomy-looking building, surmounted with a large central dome and several smaller domes. Frank could not understand the peculiarity of the bath architecture till he went inside, and found that the principal room was lighted by the central dome, while the others gave light to the smaller apartments. The windows were so small that the light was quite dim, and in some places only served, as Fred expressed it, to make the darkness visible.
The office of the bath-keeper was close to the entrance, and here the guide paid for the admission of the youths; they had left all their valuables at the hotel, and consequently had no use for the chest where the watches and purses of the bathers were deposited. Near the keeper was a cupboard, from which he took a supply of towels for the youths, and they were then directed to the dressing, or, rather, the undressing room, where they were assigned to couches, and exchanged their clothing for towels. According to the custom of the establishment, one towel was wrapped around the head and the other about the waist, and thus arrayed our young friends were hardly to be recognized.
From the dressing-room they passed to a smaller apartment, which was well but not uncomfortably warmed, and here they remained some minutes in order to become accustomed to the temperature. The bathing establishment is heated by means of fires under the floor, and in the more modern buildings by iron pipes around the sides of the rooms. An attendant took charge of each of the boys, and, when they were ready to move on, conducted them to the large central room of the place.
Frank gave an amusing account of his experience in the hands of the tellak, or bath attendant, who took charge of him:
"He was a strong man," said Frank, "about forty years old, and his head was shaved as smooth as a door-knob. He wore a towel around his waist, and carried another flung over his shoulder. He brought me a pair of wooden clogs, which I could not easily keep on my feet, though I tried hard to imitate the example of the people around me, and appear as though accustomed to them all my life. They tell us that there is a fashion about wearing these clogs, just as much as in putting on an overcoat or a necktie, and that you are liable to be treated rudely if you violate the custom. Perhaps they have so many foreigners in this bath that they don't mind a little awkwardness; anyway we couldn't keep the clogs in place, and nobody was uncivil.