I ill all add on this fubject the following account communicated
to me by an Englifh gentleman at Peteriburgh, who
vas.ordered to bathe for his health. “ The bathing room was
‘ fmall and low, and contained a heap o f large ftones piled
! over a fire, and two broad benches, one near the ground,
‘ and the other near the deling. Small buckets o f water
being occafionally thrown upon the heated ftones, filled
‘ the room with a hot and fuffocating vapour; which,
‘ from its tendency to afcend, rendered the upper part
‘ much hotter than the lower. Having taken off my
£ clothes, I laid myfelf down upon the higheft bench,
‘ while the bathing woman was preparing tubs o f hot and
£ cold water, and continued to increafe the vapour in the
‘ manner above-mentioned. Having clipped a branch of
‘ twigs into the hot water, ihe repeatedly fprinkled, and then
‘ rubbed with it my whole body. In about ha lf an hour
‘ I removed to the lower bench, which I found much cooler;
* when the bathing-woman lathered me from head to foot
‘ with foap, fcrubbed me with flannel for the fpace o f ten
■ minutes, and throwing feveral buckets o f warm water over
‘ me till the foap was entirely waihed off, Ihe finally dried
{ me with napkins. As I put on my clothes in a room with-
1 out a fire, I had an opportunity o f remarking, that the cold
‘ air had little effe£l on my body, though in fo heated a ftate;
‘ for while I was dreffing I felt a glow o f warmth which
continued during the whole night. This- circumftance
convinced me, that, when the natives rufh from the vapour-
baths into the river, or even roll in the fnow, their
, « in the fame manner. E v e r y individual, “ baths o f the rich differ only from thofe of
even o f the fmalleft fortun e,,has a p r iv a te “ th e po o r peop le in b ein g more clean.”
bath in his own houfe, in w h ich the fa - B u t fu ch ihameful mifreprefentations
•** ther, mother, .and children fometimes fca r c e ly deierve to be mentioned, were it
b athe all to g e th e r .” A n d aga in, “ T h e not to expofe their fa lfity .
“ fenfations
« fenfations are in no refpetft difagreeable, nor the effedfs in chap.
“ any degree unwholefome.” . '
Though the hardinefs o f the Ruffians has, with reafon,
been generally attributed to the fudden extremes o f heat and
cold’ which they experience on thefe occafions, yet other
caufes are not wanting that may concur to this effetft. The
peafants change their drefs without the leaffi attention to the
variation o f the feafons; on -the fame day they wear only
their coarfe Ihirts and drawers, or are clad in- the warmeft
clothing. They are totally unacquainted with the luxury
of beds-; fleeping either upon the tops o f their ftoves, or
on the hare floor, fometimes in their clothes, and at other
times almoft naked. Their cottages alfo are rendered exceedingly
hot, from the number o f perfons crouded into a
fmall fpace, and from the ftoves, which are almoft always
heated, even in the midft o f fummer; fo that when they go
out it is'like iffuing from a warm bath into the open air;
The children are not tenderly nurtured, but aro equally inured
from their earlieft infancy fo the rnoft oppofite extremes.
We feldom, indeed, palled through a village, in which we
did not obferve feveral running about the ftreets, and others,
who were fcarcely able to crawl, ftanding or lying near the
doors of the cottages, with no other covering than their ihirts,
even in rainy or frofty weather. Thus the natives are ufed
to fudden changes o f heat and cokl-, and accuftomed from
their infancy to the hardieft kind o f life.
On the evening o f the 3d o f February, 1 7 7 9 , we took
our departure from Peteriburgh, and, travelling all night,
arrived on the following day- at Wiburgh. I took the following
precaution's to guard againft the cold. I had on a
iuit of Bath-drugget lined with flannel; two pair o f worfted
ftockings; flippers, over which 1 drew boots w-ell fe.cured
" Vol. II. R r with