b o o k . But the confequences o f th is - feaft were indeed dreadful.
— j - / T h e cold had fuddcnly inereafed with fuch violence,| th a t
Fahrenheit’s thermometer, which at mid-day flood only at
4, funk towards the elofe o f the evening to 1 5 below freezing
point: confequently many intoxicated perfons were
frozen to death ; .not a few fell a facrifice to' drunken quarrels
; and others were robbed and murdered in the more
retired parts of the city, as they were returning late to their
homes. From a comparifon o f the various reports, we bad
reafon to conclude, that' at leaft 400 perfons loft their lives
upon this melancholy occafion.
The Ruffian baths have been defcribed by every traveller
who has given to the publick any relation o f this country.
Inftead o f tranfcribing from the accounts o f others, I ihall
relate what fell under my own immediate notice.
In one o f the Ruffian villages we entered a bathing-houfe,
and examined it with as much attention as the extreme heat
would permit. It was a wooden building o f one room, with
fmall windows like thofe o f the common cottages. Within
an old woman was employed in preparing the bath'; and as
the violent fmoke and heat rendered it fcarcely poffible for
us to ftay in the room for the fpace of a, minute, we took our
ftation at the door, and obferved the procefs. She firft made
a fire under an arch o f large granite ftones about four feet in
height, and when they were fufficiently heated, ihe fprinkled
them at different intervals with water, which immediately flew
off in vapour. She then took from the fire, by means of
two fticks, feveral fmall red-hot pebbles, and put them into
pails and troughs of water, which acquired thereby different
degrees of warmth. In about half an hour three men entered
the bath, and, taking off their clothes, remained within,
while
while the old woman continued to throw water upon the CHAP-
arch o f ftones, which heated the room to a prodigious de- t ìS w i
gree. They then lay down upon a fort o f table, and, having
lathered their bodies With fùap, fhe rubbed them lightly
with a bundle o f twigs in full foliage. On account o f the
exceffi ve heat, we were driven from the door; and foon afterwards
the men, having their bodies quite fuffufed with a deep
erimfon from the effefts o f the vapour, rufhedout, and in-
ftantly plunged themfefves into the river.
Another bath which we entered near th.e convent o f Yu-
rief at Novogorod, being larger and more commodious, we
were able to remain for feme time fpedtators o f the whole
procefs. It was a.large wooden building, containing, like
that juft defcribed, only one room, and was provided with *
ranges o f broad benches, placed like fteps one above the
other almoft to the height o f the deling. Within w.ere
about twenty perions undrdied ; fome were lying upon the
benches ; fome were fitting, others ftanding ; fome were
wafhing their bodies with foap ; others rubbing themfelves-
with fmall branches o f oak-leaves tied' together like a rod ;
fome were pouring hot water upon their heads, others colff
water ; a few, almoft exhàufted b y the heat, were ftanding,
in the open air, or repeatedly plunging into the Volkof ».
1 ito li
T rav e lle r s ar-e too a p t not to difruiguiih' gan t in-tlie îr enter,ta inme'n-ts an d h eh a v io u r ;
between the cuftoms o f the common peoplfc the v ery reverie p f which is th e ,fa it ; T h e
and thofe of. the. nobles j. often imp uting to au th o r o f the A n t id o te to his T ra v e ls has-
the latter,w h a t is trne on^y -of th e ,form e r , n o t ,fa ile d , w ith ,a glow o f ,nationa l.pa t r i ch
e A b b é de C h a p p é , in his-a ccount o f his otifm, to cenfure fu ch indifcriminate ac-
Journey through Sibe ria, has in many in - cou n ts . Tn no one inftance has-the A b b é
francos been g u ilty o f th is abfurtlity ; and- ' , been more erroneous than-in his defcription-
the reader- is led to conc lu de ,from h is nnr>- -of the bath?.. A f te r ad u d ic rou s relation o f
rative, that, the nobles bathe p romifcu ouily them, he adds, “ T Ìiefe b a th s are in ufe all
«n publick like the common people ; th at <“ over Ruffia ; every inhabitant o f this va ft
t ie y aie equally- addicted to-fpirituous li- 4 c - t r a d o f lan d , from the fovereign to the.
Auors,^ and -that they a re as. rude and inde.- mean eil fu b je ft, bathes twice a week , aneli