Poyning crowed with delight as he stared at the water. I am open to admit that I was grinning--at Poyning. I couldn't help it. When I remembered the dandy figure he'd cut during the earlier stages of the expedition, and saw him now after weeks of forced abstention from washing, the contrast was irresistibly absurd. His hide was scaly with filth. Poyning glared at me. 'They don't appear to go in for mirrors here, Mirlees,' he said rather severely, 'or you'd see you are in a pretty loathsome condition yourself.' I looked round the bathing chamber. 'They don't seem to go in for soap either,' I said, 'and that's worse.' 'Eh? No, apparently not. The fellow made no mention of what we were to wash with. I suppose the idea is to lie and soak. Here goes!' He flung himself into the water and stretched his limbs with renewed crows of delight. I watched him for a moment or two, until something in his appearance attracted my gaze more insistently, and I stared with such intentness that Poyning demanded what was up. 'What does the water feel like?' said I. 'Gorgeous. Why?' 'Look at yourself, man!' Poyning looked. He jumped out of the water as if he had been stung, then stared down at his own limbs and up at me in bewilderment. Ye gods!' he gasped. 'You saw me before I got in, Mirlees. I'm not dreaming, am I?' 'If you are, I am too. You were filthy as any Tibetan. It must be something in the water.' I got into one of the other baths, and saw the same startling purification overtake my own grimy limbs. I am convinced, too, the water had not only the trick of cleansing like magic, but some strange healing virtue; it left the body with a sense of supreme comfort, the skin soft and smooth; and if there was any unpleasant after-effect, I never observed it, though I used these baths daily from that time on. As I lay there, the dull throb of my injured ankle melted gradually away, not to return. And perhaps the queerest part of it all was that the water looked as clean when we got out as when we got in. At the very moment we had dried ourselves the attendants reappeared without being summoned, in a way that reminded me strongly of the way the litter-bearers turned up on the hillside; and we were taken into an adjoining chamber and helped off with the formidable stubble then disfiguring our chins. Here again that strange healing water took the place of soap. A white marble basin of it was given us, together with a curious sort of vegetable sponge and half a dozen razors with straight handles of rock crystal, looking more like surgical knives than an outfit to shave with. Yet we had to admit that the operation, which one of the attendants performed for us, was swift, painless, and effective. The servants now brought us each a suit of the very simple lawn garments and sandals we had seen everywhere, which having put on, we were taken back to the main hall to eat.