266 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



mummies are, most commonly, of a reddish hue *. 

 But the Egyptian ladies refine still further on 

 the general practice : they too paint their fingers, 

 space by space only, and, in order that the co- 

 lour may not lay. hold of the whole, they wrap 

 them round with thread at the proposed distances, 

 before the application of the colour-giving paste, 

 so that, when the operation is finished, they have 

 the lingers marked circularly, from end to end, with 

 small orange-coloured belts. Others, and this 

 practice is more common among certain Syrian 

 dames, have a mind that their hands should present 

 the sufficiently disagreeable mixture of black and 

 white. The belts which the henna had first redden- 

 ed, become of a shining black, by rubbing them with 

 a composition of sal-ammoniac, lime, and honey. 



You sometimes meet with men likewise who 

 apply tincture of henna to their beards, and anoint 

 the head with it. They allege that it strengthens 

 the organs, that it prevents the falling off of the 

 hair-j~ and beard, and banishes vermin. 



The henna is a tall shrub, endlessly multiplied in 

 Egypt. The leaves are of a lengthennd oval form, 



* See Memoir on Embalment by M. de Caylus, in the Mem. 

 of the Acad, of Inscr. and Bel. Let. vol. xxiii. p. 133. 



f The followers of Mahomet, it is well known, preserve, on 

 the crown of the head, a long tuft of hair. 



opposed 



