"After we had amused ourselves at the indifference of the really beautiful, and the minute and strenuous efforts of others to appear so, we again sipped our coffee and completed our toilette, ready at any time, to spend another day in such delightful aquatic luxuries. I could not help contrasting my sensations with those I had often felt on leaving one of the bathing establishments in my own country. There, a solitary closet, a tub, from which perhaps some dirty wench had just emerged, a hook or two, a dirty flesh brush for general service, etc. True, the warm water was agreeable, and for the moment caused an oblivion of all antecedents, the hook convenient, and the brush need not be used. After an immersion of perhaps half an hour, you hurry on your apparel, and hurry home, all à l'Américaine. But here, in this Turkish bath, how imperceptibly a whole day had passed away, how entertaining the scene, how beautiful the fair handmaidens of Nature, so soft and pure, after their watery festivities. Their skin so white, their lips so red, the delicate rosy tinge of their cheeks so tempting; even old age seemed to bloom again, while a universal exhilaration took possession of us all. A delicate tissue of softness seemed to envelop my body, and a wonderful feeling of amiability and love for all the race of human kind glowed within my breast. Every motion gave me pleasure, and I could scarce recognize myself. Alas! for American ladies, they can never feel the true oriental Kief in bathing; for they have no cushions to repose upon, no softly murmuring fountains to lull their senses, nor any such relaxation from all external and internal woes, as follows a Turkish bath. In vain they tinge their complexions, powder, and wash, they cannot attain this to kalon of beauty, nor be electrified by this wand of enchantment, which renders the humblest Cinderella of the Orient lovely as a princess, and says avaunt to all the modern mysteries of the toilette." CHAPTER XXXV. THE RAYAS OR NON-MUSSULMAN SUBJECTS. THE ARMENIANS. The whole population of Turkey may be estimated at over 35,000,000 of souls, including the principalities and other tributary states, which, if deducted, leaves 27,000,000 in Turkey proper, half of whom are Mohammedans, and the rest Christians and Jews. The Christians are of various denominations, each denomination constituting a separate community, governed by their own municipal regulations, and guided by their respective spiritual heads. Hitherto the Europeans have regarded the Greeks as the predominating Christian population of the East; the truth is, among the different communities the Armenians stand most prominent, because not only next to the Bulgarians they rank high in numbers, but in reality supersede all others, politically and morally, in their relations with Turkey.