DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62355#0047
TURKISH BATHS.
13
a small creek, and overlooking a wooden pier. A wet-dock, handsomely enclosed
within solid and well-made walls, and entered through a noble pair of iron gates,
below Kassim Pasha, is succeeded by a height covered with cypresses, which leans
downward to the water, where it terminates in a steep flight of steps, partly
artificial and partly hewn in the rock, and designated the Meit-iskelli, or Ladder
of the Dead. This gloomy forest is the " Little Cemetery," or lesser burial-
ground of Pera, the faubourg inhabited by the Franks ; and the jetty at the foot
of the stair which has just been described, is principally used for the embarkation
of the bodies of deceased Turks, whom their friends are conveying for burial to
the Asian necropolis of Scutari.
Immediately beyond this jetty, a floating-bridge, stretching from the pier of
Galata (the quarter of the Frank merchants, dominated by the hill on which
Pera is built,) to the " Gate of the Garden," near the Kiosque of Pearls, and
immediately under the walls of the Seraglio, shuts in the harbour; while the
line of shore in the distance, fringed with the houses and public buildings of
Topp-hanne, gently recedes, until it disappears under the stately shadow of
BulgurIhu.
TURKISH BATHS.
Here Beauty on her 'broidered cushion lies
With languid brow, and dreaming downcast eyes-
A rose o'ercharg'd with rain : beside the fair
A kneeling slave binds up the glossy hair;
Pours perfumed water o'er the drooping face,
And lends to loveliness another grace.
MS. Poem.
There is, perhaps, no luxury throughout the luxurious East more perfect,
or more complete, than the Baths. Those of the great and the wealthy in
Constantinople embody the idea of a scene in the " Thousand and One Nights"
—they are so bright and fairy-like in their magnificence—so light and gay with
painted glass, white marble, brocade, and embroidery.
Every bath, however small may be its dimensions, consists of three apart-
ments; the outer hall, in which the bathing-dress is arranged; the cooling-
room, a well-cushioned and comfortable space, moderately heated, and intended
13
a small creek, and overlooking a wooden pier. A wet-dock, handsomely enclosed
within solid and well-made walls, and entered through a noble pair of iron gates,
below Kassim Pasha, is succeeded by a height covered with cypresses, which leans
downward to the water, where it terminates in a steep flight of steps, partly
artificial and partly hewn in the rock, and designated the Meit-iskelli, or Ladder
of the Dead. This gloomy forest is the " Little Cemetery," or lesser burial-
ground of Pera, the faubourg inhabited by the Franks ; and the jetty at the foot
of the stair which has just been described, is principally used for the embarkation
of the bodies of deceased Turks, whom their friends are conveying for burial to
the Asian necropolis of Scutari.
Immediately beyond this jetty, a floating-bridge, stretching from the pier of
Galata (the quarter of the Frank merchants, dominated by the hill on which
Pera is built,) to the " Gate of the Garden," near the Kiosque of Pearls, and
immediately under the walls of the Seraglio, shuts in the harbour; while the
line of shore in the distance, fringed with the houses and public buildings of
Topp-hanne, gently recedes, until it disappears under the stately shadow of
BulgurIhu.
TURKISH BATHS.
Here Beauty on her 'broidered cushion lies
With languid brow, and dreaming downcast eyes-
A rose o'ercharg'd with rain : beside the fair
A kneeling slave binds up the glossy hair;
Pours perfumed water o'er the drooping face,
And lends to loveliness another grace.
MS. Poem.
There is, perhaps, no luxury throughout the luxurious East more perfect,
or more complete, than the Baths. Those of the great and the wealthy in
Constantinople embody the idea of a scene in the " Thousand and One Nights"
—they are so bright and fairy-like in their magnificence—so light and gay with
painted glass, white marble, brocade, and embroidery.
Every bath, however small may be its dimensions, consists of three apart-
ments; the outer hall, in which the bathing-dress is arranged; the cooling-
room, a well-cushioned and comfortable space, moderately heated, and intended