406 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



trees contain these matters in greater or less propor- 

 tions, and therefore by the use of an iron mordant 

 may be made to give all the gradations of shade, 

 from a yellow-brown to a black. 



Among others, the bark of the Birch-tree (Betula 

 alba) affords a decoction of a clear fawn colour, which 

 becomes speedily turbid and brown by exposure to 

 the air, and which may be made to produce many 

 shades of colours. 



Sir William Jones relates, that in the island of 

 Hinzuin or Johanna he observed a very elegant 

 shrub, about six feet high, not then in blossom. On 

 inquiry he learnt that it was the celebrated Henna- 

 tree, of which he had read so much in Arabian 

 poems. He, in imitation of the heroes of oriental 

 poesy, had his nails stained with a preparation of 

 this plant, and thus obtained sufficient evidence of 

 the durability of the colour ; his fingers remaining 

 discoloured until the substance of the nails changed 

 by growth. This plant is much esteemed in the 

 East and in Africa for this strange purpose ; and the 

 toilet of the Asiatic or African beauty is deemed in- 

 complete, unless her charms are heightened by this 

 potent auxiliary, the dark tints of which, to Euro- 

 pean eyes, impart no very becoming lustre. The 

 use of henna is not, however, wholly confined to 

 staining the nails and skin, as it is employed in the 

 East for dyeing ordinary stuffs. It produces a red- 

 dish brown substantive dye. There is evidence that 

 the ancient Egyptians made a similar application of 

 this colouring matter, as in the envelopes of their 

 mummies the henna dye is still observable. 



The shrub whence it is obtained was known to 

 the ancients under the name of Ciprus. It is the 

 Lawsonia inermis of botanists, and in English is 

 called Egyptian privet. It is indigenous to, and is 



