Gell, William: The itinerary of Greece: With a commentary on Pausanias and Strabo and an account of the monuments of antiquity at present existing in that country (London, 1810)

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90 NAUPLIA.

There are two baths in the town, the use of which will be found very
refreshing after a journey. It is better for a stranger to visit these
places when they are not crowded by the inhabitants. The first
apartment has a fire in the centre, and round the walls are several
sofas, or rather beds, which have clean sheets and blankets. Here,
when the bather is stripped, a cotton cloth is wrapped round him, and
he is conducted in wooden pattens through several vaulted rooms,
each hotter than the last, to a chamber, where he is placed upon a
wooden platform about the size of a door, and raised four inches
from the pavement. Here a profuse perspiration is rubbed off* by one
of the attendants, who likewise performs the ceremony of cham*
pooing for those who wish it. After this, a bason full of lather is
brought, and the bather is rubbed with a soft brush made of an
oriental plant. He is then left alone with a bowl, with which he
pours upon himself warm or cold water, both which flow near him
into a marble basin. On clapping the hands, the attendant brings a
fresh dress of cotton cloth, which is wrapped round the waist, and
another in the form of a turban is placed on the head. He is then
reconducted to the first apartment, where he is placed between the
sheets, and drinks a cup of coffee while he is drying. It is
said to be perfectly safe to leave any sum of money in the
pockets while bathing, and that no instance of theft ever occurred
at a bath.

> Those only who have tried 'can judge of the wonderfully cleansing
and refreshing effect of this custom.