8 o 
Camphire. 
of Khorassan,” Moore has thus daintily availed himself of the 
comparison: 
“While some bring leaves of henna, to imbue 
The fingers’ ends with a bright roseate hue, 
So bright, that in the mirror’s depth they seem 
Like tips of coral-branches in the stream.” 
As the henna is so little known in Western lands, a short 
description may not be deemed altogether foreign to the pur¬ 
pose of this book. It is a tall shrub, with the bark of the stem 
and branches of a deep grey. The leaves are of a lengthened 
oval form, opposite to each other, and of a faint green colour. 
The flowers grow at the extremities of the branches in long 
and tufted bouquets, supported by small red stalks, which give 
a very brilliant aspect to the plant, contrasting as they do with 
the delicate white and yellow of which the blossoms, collected 
in long clusters like the lilac, are coloured. 
Lane, in his work on “ Egypt and the Egyptians,” says that 
the Egyptian henna is pronounced more excellent than the 
rose ; and Mahomet said, “ The chief of the sweet-scented 
flowers of this world and of the next is the faghiyeh',' this 
being the bloom he meant. “ I approve of his taste,” adds 
Lane, “ for this flower has most delicious fragrance.” 
Sometimes the kupros, as the Greeks call this plant, grows 
on the hills of the islands in the Grecian Archipelago, pouring 
its sweetness on the vales beneath, “ stealing and giving odour ” 
to the passing airs of “ the sweet south.” Its blossoms, when 
gathered, are the favourites of the Hellenic women, who re¬ 
tain an ancestral fondness for flowers, and use them in pro¬ 
fusion. 
The Hindoo maidens dye their nails with henna as soon as 
they are betrothed, which is generally at a very early age; they 
also use it to colour the soles of their feet and the palms of 
their hands. The practice of using this dye appears to be very 
ancient, from the circumstance that the mummies of Egypt 
have often their nails covered with the red paste of the henna. 
The aged Mahommedans frequently perfume their beards 
by holding the face over the vapour arising from a preparation 
of this odoriferous bloom, and this was doubtless the perfume 
which, poured upon Aaron’s beard, was in its sweetness com¬ 
pared by the Psalmist to the delights of fraternal affection. 
