158 PIPE STEMS. 



burning or soiling the carpet. The tubes of the kabliouns 

 are often as much as seven or eight feet long. Some of the 

 gardens of Turkey and Greece contain jasmine trees pur- 

 posely cultivated to produce straight stems for these pipes." 



Of those Turkish pipes which are used in Egypt, Mr. Lane, 

 after mentioning the narghile and the chibouque or " shibuk," 

 says : 



" The most common kind used in Egypt is made of wood 

 called garmashak (I believe it is maple). The greater part 

 of the stick, from the mouth-piece to three-fourths of its 

 length, is covered with silk, which is confined at each extremity 

 by gold thread, often intertwined with colored silks, or by a 

 tube of gilt or silver ; and at the lower extremity of the cover- 

 ing is a tassel of silk. The covering was originally designed 

 to be moistened with water in order to cool the pipe, and 

 consequently the smoke by evaporation ; but this is only done 

 when the pipe is old or not handsome. These stick pipes 

 are used by many persons, particularly in winter ; in summer 

 the smoke is not so cool from them as from the kind before 

 mentioned. The bowl is of baked earth, colored red or 

 brown." 



AUSTRIAN AND HUNGARIAN PIPE STEMS. 



Before passing to the subject of the costly mouth-pieces of 

 Oriental pipes, we must say a few words concerning the 

 extraordinary care bestowed on some kinds of plain wood 

 sticks for stems or tubes. Cherry-tree stems, under the name 

 of agriots, constitute a specialty of Austrian manufacture. 

 The fragrant cherry (prunus makaleb) is a native of that 

 country ; and the young trees are cultivated with special ref- 

 erence to this application. They are all raised from seed. 

 The seedlings, when two years old, are planted in small pots, 

 one in each ; as they grow, every tendency to branching is 

 choked by removing the bud ; and as they increase in size 

 from year to year, they are shifted into larger pots or into 

 boxes. Great care is taken to turn them round daily, so that 

 every part shall be equally exposed to sunshine. When the 

 plants have attained a sufficient height they are allowed to 

 form a small bushy head ; but the daily care is continued 

 until the stems grow to a proper thickness. They are then 



