196 Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists
After urging our way through the narrow street, at this time almost
blockaded with people and merchandise, we found ourselves looking
upon quite another scene. A swift-flowing mountain stream crosses
the main street at right angles, and in an open space we see a row of
women kneeling on its banks. On coming a little nearer, we find that
they are washing. Each one is kneeling in a small box with the cover
and one side removed, and a little straw laid on the bottom. In front
of each is a slanting slab of granite rock which she uses something as
we would a rubbing board. However, instead of rubbing the clothes,
they squeeze, and slap, and rinse them, using a stiff brush and soap on
the dirtiest parts. Occasionally one would have a few live coals by her
side with a little pail of hot water in which to dip her hands when they
became too stiff and cold. Most of them seemed to take considerable
pains to get their clothes clean, and after they had finished they put
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them across a stick and carried them home on their shoulders. We are
told that in all well-to-do families washing is seldom done oftener than
once in six weeks, and sometimes only once in three months. It is then
done by hand, without the aid even of a rubbing-board. This is the
common way of washing. In the cities, places are prepared in various
parts for this work; while in the country, women may be seen far off
in the fields, away from any house, washing in some stream from
which they have perhaps broken the ice. There are those, of course,
who have regular wash-rooms in their house or in a separate building.
These are furnished with immense tubs, around which the entire family
can gather, if need be, when wash week comes. One room is used
exclusively for clean clothes, and one for dirty, and before the soiled
ones are put away, they are sprinkled with a powder which prevents
them from smelling bad or spoiling.
The question with us is how these women can keep their hands in
ice-cold water for hours at a time without injury to their health. Indeed,
we are quite inclined to the opinion that this practice is one cause of
the enlarged necks which we saw everywhere. This is, however, most
commonly attributed to the water which they drink. Another thing
which it seems reasonable to suppose would produce this unnatural
swelling, is the heavy loads that many carry on their heads and backs. It
is not uncommon to see a man or woman coming down the mountains,
carrying a bundle of wood or hay much larger than himself. When we
were in Italy, men, women, and children were out gathering chestnut