HOW THE WORLD BATHES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21456, 24 April 1935, Page 5

HOW THE WORLD BATHES

SEEKING CLEANLINESS

WAYS IN DIFFERENT

COUNTRIES

T 0 the average English man or woman, a bath means warm, steamy, perhaps slightly scented water, soap and occasional snatches of song ac companied by much splashing, wnte. a contributor to the "Cape Cape Town. Then follows that comfonable feeling of lying languidly m the bath, with the hot-water tap slightlj opened. This, to the British way o thinking, is a bath, and the on y of cleanliness worth while. Thai, tneic arc other people, with an equal desire for cleanliness, who would uoi feel clean after the operation described, is unthinkable. Yet the world seeks cleanliness in many \va,\c. I remember some years ago asking for a bath in a French provincial town. The manager was delighted, for I cio believe I was the very man whom he had patiently awaited for years. He informed me, not without pride, tha. a bath had been installed in his hotel against such an occasion. I was impressed, and expectant. The manager led me to a bare room, absolutely without furniture. There was not even a nail on which to hang clothes, in the middle of the room was an oldfashioned hip-bath into which had been poured one jug of hot and another of cold water! When I received my bill, there was a separate charge for this unwonted luxury. I tell a dreadful libertine.

Nudism in Japan

In Japan (ho bath is one nf tho great institutions; of the country, anc everv Japanese person takes at least one 'hot bath daily. In Tokyo there are thousands of public baths whei e one may have an excellent, batli at the cost of about one penny. Japanese baths are large, communal nil airs, filed and scrupuluosly clean, where many people wash at the same time. A private bath can be obtained, but few people avail themselves of this luxury. On entering a Japanese bath for the first time, I was given hot water and soap and told to wash my body from head to foot. Then I was allowed to enter the large communal bath, which is always very hot—hotter than I have experienced anywhere' else. Soon one feels not the slightest embarrassment at bathing openly with tome 50 other naked people. Embarrassment comes when a young chambermaid offers to scrub your back! I saw one Japanese gentleman reading the paper while the girl scrubbed h;m thoroughly. Until I became used to Japanese 'baths I found them very weakening and lost 51b in weight during the first week.

11l Cool Water

India is another great place for washing and bathing, and here people seem always to be engaged in this way. The first sounds in the morning, after the muezzin has called the Faithful to prayer, are of splashing in. the native open-air baths. Every bedroom in India has a bathroom attached, and people retire at all hours of the aay and night to bath in cool water. I have been down to the ."ghats" (broad stairs leading down to the water's edge), too, with thousands of others who were washing their sins away, and have seen a man, not a dozen yards from where I stood, being pulled under by a crocodile. If a dead body floats by the bathers arc filled with envy, for how lucky is the man who can breathe his last on the broad bosom of "Mother Gunga"! On one occasion in India, however, I had a very different kind of bath. It was in 1920, during a strike which covered an area of more than 1000 miles square. I was at Asansol, and as the water supply had stopped, we were compelled to repair to the locomotive sheds and complete our ablutions under the water tanks which supplied the engines. While we bathed half the population of the town, both male and female, gathered to watch what they thought was a new kind of English "tamasha" (entertainment).

Snow Baths One does not associate Norway with enjoyable cold baths. Yet I remember having a bath in the snow which left me warm and glowing. It was mid-winter, and when I was informed that a number of my companions were about to have'a snow bath I was somewhat sceptical. Clad in slips, we emerged and rubbed each limb with snow. After this we were handed bundles of twigs, specially bound for the purpose, with which we beat eacn other till our bodies glowed and tingled with warmth. It was one of the healthiest sensations I have ever experienced, and I believe the custom is an age-old one lost in the mists of antiquity. The slapping by twigs keeps the skin, one of the chief outlets for bodily poisons, in excellent condition, and the fine health and physique of the Scandinavians are in all probability due largely to this custom.

I have bathed in the hot springs in the Tongariro region in New Zealand, in the muddy waters of the Tigris, in the cayman infested Amazon, and in GraafY's Pool in Cape Town. Once I was the guest of an American millionaire in Chicago who bathed on a very grand scale—or rather his wife did. He still clung to the habits of the Bowery, where he was born. There were two baths, one jade and the other lapis-lazuli, both equally intriguing. One was filled with hot and the other with icy water. After a scalding dip one merely rolled into the cold water. There were no towels, but lovely warm air kissed my limbs when I touched a switch. Moreover, it was delicately perfumed. After my luxurious bath I had the services of an expert masseur.

Talking of masseurs reminds me of a very painful experience in Algeciras. I was the guest of a sheikh at the time, and alter my bath—which, by the way, was scented with attar of roses—two enormous eunuchs laid me on a cold mai'ble slab and rubbed me from head to foot in sandal-wood oil. They slapped me all over with hamlike hands, and almost tore me limb from limb. Then I was bathed again, and, clad in silken garments, regalerl myself on one of the finest repasts I have ever eaten.

Thin places in cotton materials can often be darned most successfully with a sewing machine. Place a thin piece of material underneath, tack in place, then run the machine, with matching cotton, backwards and forwards across the right side. This type of darn wears well, and lasts a long time in" tablecloths as well as clothes. When bananas are being used in fruit salads, custards, or cakes, there is always the nuisance of them being discoloured unless they are eaten or cooked as soon as peeled. An excellent way to avoid this is to have a mixtui'e of one teaspoon of salt and one pint of water handy, aiid as soon as the banana is peeled to dip it in two or three times.