Bathing is one of the greatest luxuries enjoyed by the people of Egypt. The inhabitants of the villages of this country, and those persons who cannot afford the trifling expense incurred in the public bath, often bathe in the Nile. Girls and young women are not unfrequently seen thus indulging themselves in the warm weather, and generally without any covering; but mostly in unfrequented places. The rich, I have before mentioned, have baths in their own houses; but men who have this convenience often go to the public bath; and so also do the ladies, who, on many occasions, are invited to accompany thither their female friends.

There are, in Cairo, between sixty and seventy “Hammáms,” or baths, to which the public have access for a small expense. Some of these are for men only; others, only for women and young children; and some for both sexes; for men during the forenoon, and in the afternoon for females. When the bath is appropriated to women, a napkin, or any piece of linen or drapery is hung over the entrance, to warn the men from entering: all the male servants having gone out a short time before; and females having taken their places. The front of the bath is generally ornamented in a manner similar to that in which most of the mosques are decorated, but usually more fanciful, in red and white, and sometimes other colours, particularly over and about the entrance. The building consists of several apartments, all of which are paved with marble, chiefly white, with an intermixture, in some parts, of black marble, and small pieces of fine red tile, in the same manner as the durká′ah of a room in a private house, of which a sketch has been inserted in the Introduction to this work. The inner apartments are covered with domes, which have a number of small, round, glazed apertures, for the admission of light. The materials chiefly employed in the construction of the walls and domes are bricks and plaster, which, after having been exposed to the steam that is produced in the bath when it is in use, are liable to crack and fall if the heat be intermitted even for a few days. A sákiyeh (or water-wheel), turned by a cow or bull, is constructed upon a level with the higher parts of the building, to raise water from a well or tank for the supply of the boiler, etc.

The bath is believed to be a favourite resort of ginn (or genii), and therefore when a person is about to enter it, he should offer up an ejaculatory prayer for protection against evil spirits, and should put his left foot first over the threshold. For the same reason, he should not pray nor recite the Kur-án in it. On entering, if he have a watch, and a purse containing more than a trifling sum of money, he gives these in charge to the “m’allim” (or keeper of the bath), who locks them in a chest: his pipe, and sword (if he have one), he commits to a servant of the bath, who takes off his shoes, and supplies him with a pair of wooden clogs; the pavement being wet. The first apartment is called the “meslakh.” It generally has two, three, or four “leewáns,” similar to mastab′ahs, or considerably wider, cased with marble, and a fountain (called “faskeeyeh”) of cold water, which rises from an octagonal basement constructed of stone cased with marble, etc. (similar to that in the inner apartment represented in a section accompanying this description), in the centre. One of the leewáns, being designed for the accommodation of persons of the higher and middle orders, is furnished with mattresses and cushions: upon the other, or others, which are for the lower orders, there is usually no furniture excepting mats. In many baths there is also, in the meslakh, a small kind of stall, for coffee.coffee.

In warm weather, the bathers mostly prefer to undress in the meslakh: in winter, they undress in an inner, closed apartment, called the “beytowwal;” between which and the first apartment is a short passage, with two or three latrinæ on one side. “Beytowwal” signifies “first chamber;” and this name is given to the chamber here mentioned because it is the first of the warm apartments; but it is less warm than the principal apartment, of which it is the ante-chamber. In general, it has two mastab′ahs, one higher than the other, cased with marble like the pavement. The higher accommodates but one person; and is for the higher classes: the other is sufficiently large for two. When the former is occupied, and another high seat is wanted, two or three mattresses are placed one upon another on the lower mastab′ah, or on the leewán (or raised part of the floor). A seggádeh (or small prayer-carpet) is spread on the mastab′ah for a person of the higher orders. The bather receives a napkin in which to put his clothes; and another to put round his waist: this reaches to the knees, or a little lower; and is termed “mahzam”: a third, if he require it, is brought to him to wind round his head, in the manner of a turban, leaving the top of the head bare; a fourth to put over his chest, and a fifth to cover his back. It is generally a boy, or beardless young man, who attends the bather while he undresses, and while he puts on his mahzam, etc., etc.: he is called a “láwingee” (as the word is vulgarly pronounced), which is a corruption of “leewángee,” or attendant of the “leewán.”^[444]

When the bather has undressed, and attired himself in the manner above described, the láwingee opens to him the door of the inner and principal apartment, which is called “harárah.” This, in general, has four low leewáns, like those of most rooms in private houses, which give it the form of a cross; and, in the centre, a “faskeeyeh” (or fountain) of hot water, rising from a small shallow basin in the middle of a high octagonal seat, cased with white and black marble, and pieces of red tile. The harárah, together with several chambers connected with it, may generally be described as occupying almost an exact square. The beytowwal is at one of the angles. Two small chambers, which adjoin each other, and occupy a second angle of the square, contain, the one, a “maghtas,” or tank, of warm water, to which there is an ascent of a few steps; the other, a “hanafeeyeh,” consisting of two taps, projecting from the wall; one of hot, and one of cold water, with a small trough beneath; before which is a seat: the name of hanafeeyeh is commonly given, not merely to the taps above mentioned, but to the chamber which contains them. A third angle of the square is occupied by two other small chambers similar to those just described; one containing a second maghtas, of water not quite so warm as the former: the other, a second hanafeeyeh. Each maghtas is filled by a stream of water pouring down from the dome of the chamber. The fourth angle of the square is generally occupied by a chamber which has no communication with the harárah; and which contains the fire over which is the boiler. The central part of the harárah, its leewáns, and the small chambers connected with it, are covered with domes, which have a number of small, glazed apertures.

The bather, having entered the harárah, soon perspires profusely, from the humid heat which is produced by the hot water of the tanks and fountain, and by the boiler. The operator of the bath, who is called “mukeyyisátee,” immediately comes to him. If the bather be covered with more than one napkin, the mukeyyisátee takes them off, and gives him a wet mahzam; or the former mahzam is retained, and wetted. The bather sits on the marble seat of the faskeeyeh, or lies upon a napkin on one of the leewáns, or by the edge of one of the tanks, to submit to the first operation, which is that of cracking his joints. The operator cracks almost every joint of his frame: he rings the body, first one way and then the other, to make several of the vertebræ crack: even the neck is made to crack twice, by wrenching the head round, each way, which produces a sensation rather alarming to an inexperienced person; and each ear is generally twisted round until it cracks: the limbs are wrested with apparent violence; but with such skill, that an untoward accident in this operation is never heard of. The main object of this process is to render the joints supple. The mukeyyisátee also kneads the bather’s flesh. After this, or previously, he rubs the soles of his feet with a kind of rasp, of baked clay. There are two kinds of rasps used for this purpose: one is very porous and rough; and its rasping surface is scored with several lines: the other is of a fine close clay; and the surface with which the rubbing is performed is rendered rough artificially: both are of a dark, blackish colour. Those which are used by ladies are generally encased (the lower, or rasping, surface of course excepted) in thin, embossed silver. The rougher rasp is of indispensable utility to persons who do not wear stockings; which is the case with most of the inhabitants of Egypt: the other is for the more delicate; and is often used for rubbing the limbs, to render the skin smooth. The next operation is that of rubbing the bather’s flesh with a small, coarse, woollen bag.^[445] This done, the bather, if he please, dips himself in one of the tanks. He is next taken to a hanafeeyeh. A napkin having been hung before the entrance to this, the mukeyyisátee lathers the bather with “leef” (or fibres of the palm-tree) and soap and sweet water, which last is brought in a copper vessel, and warmed in one of the tanks; for the water of the hanafeeyeh is from a well, somewhat brackish, and consequently not fit for washing with soap. The leef is employed in the same manner as sponge is by us: it is not of the kind produced by the palm-trees of Egypt, which is of a brown colour: that used in the hammám is white; and is brought from the Hejáz. The mukeyyisátee washes off the soap with water from the hanafeeyeh; and, if required, shaves the bather’s arm-pits: he then goes, leaving him to finish washing, etc. The latter then calls for a set of napkins, four in number, and, having covered himself in the same manner as before described, returns to the beytowwal; but first it is the custom of persons of the more independent classes to give half a piaster, or a piaster, to the mukeyyisátee, though it is not demanded.

In the beyt-owwal, a mattress is spread, for the bather, on the mastab′ah, covered with napkins, and having one or two cushions at one end. On this he reclines, sipping a cup or two of coffee, and smoking, while a láwingee rubs the soles of his feet, and kneads his body and limbs; or two láwingees perform these operations, and he gives to each of them five or ten faddahs, or more. He generally remains half an hour, or an hour, smoking his shibuk or sheesheh: then dresses and goes out. The “háris,” who is the foreman, and who has the charge of drying the napkins in the meslakh, and of guarding, brings him a looking-glass, and (unless the bather have neither beard nor mustaches) a comb. The bather asks him for his watch, etc., puts from one to four piasters on the looking-glass, and goes. One piaster is a common sum to pay for all the operations above described.

Many persons go to the bath twice a week: others, once a week, or less frequently; but some are merely washed with soap and water, and then plunge into one of the tanks, for which, of course, they pay less.

The women who can afford to do so visit the hammám frequently; but not so often as the men. When the bath is not hired for the females of one family, or for one party of ladies, exclusively, women of all conditions are admitted. In general, all the females of a house, and the young boys, go together. They take with them their own seggádehs, and the napkins, basins, etc., which they require, and even the necessary quantity of sweet water for washing with soap, and for drinking; and some carry with them fruits, sweetmeats, and other refreshments. A lady of wealth is also often accompanied by her own “belláneh,” or “másh′tah,” who is the washer and tire-woman. Many women of the lower orders wear no covering whatever in the bath; not even a napkin round the waist: others always wear the napkin, and the high clogs. There are few pleasures in which the women of Egypt delight so much as in the visit to the bath, where they frequently have entertainments; and often, on these occasions, they are not a little noisy in their mirth. They avail themselves of the opportunity to display their jewels and their finest clothes, and to enter into familiar conversation with those whom they meet there, whether friends or strangers. Sometimes a mother chooses a bride for her son from among the girls or women whom she chances to see in the bath. On many occasions, as, for instance, in the case of the preparations for a marriage, the bath is hired for a select party, consisting of the women of two or more families; and none else are admitted: but it is more common for a lady and a few friends and attendants to hire a “khilweh”: this is the name they give to the apartment of the hanafeeyeh. There is more confusion among a mixed company of various ranks; but where all are friends, the younger girls indulge in more mirth and frolic. They spend an hour or more under the hands of the belláneh, who rubs and washes them, plaits their hair, applies the depilatory,^[446] etc. They then retire to the beytowwal or meslakh, and there, having put on part of their dress, or a large loose shirt, partake of various refreshments, which, if they have brought none with them, they may procure by sending an attendant of the bath to the market. Those who smoke take their own pipes with them. On particular occasions of festivity, they are entertained with the songs of two or more ’A′l’mehs, hired to accompany them to the bath.