Camphire. 
(FRAGRANCE.) 
I F the West can now vaunt of the beauty and fragrance of 
its roses and carnations, the East alone can boast of the 
Camphire , which pleases alike by loveliness and odour. Its 
light green foliage, the pretty mixture of white and yellow in 
its clusters of blossoms, and the red hue of its little flower- 
stalks, render it as grateful to the eye as to the smell. It is 
the favourite flower of Egyptian ladies, who deck themselves 
with its blossoms, embellish their apartments with them, carry 
them to their bath, continually hold them in their hand ; in a 
word, perfume their persons with their delicious perfume, so 
that the Prophet’s praise, “ My beloved is unto me as a cluster 
of camphire,” may be considered as rather more than a figura¬ 
tive expression. At Cairo, it is said, clusters of these flowers 
may be seen hanging to the ceilings of houses, where they not 
only please the eye, but purify the air. Egyptian women have 
such an intense love of camphire that they would willingly 
appropriate it exclusively to their own use, and are extremely 
jealous of Christian and Hebrew women partaking of it with 
them. From its leaves is produced the admired orange-coloured 
dye with which they stain certain parts of their hands and 
feet. This custom, however, is very prevalent, not only in 
Egypt, but in several other countries of the East, which are 
largely supplied with henna , as the Orientals call the camphire, 
from the Nile’s fruitful banks. 
The practice of staining the nails with henna is alluded to 
in all works of Eastern travel, and it is from this habit that 
the plant is made the emblem of artifice. In the “ Story of 
Prince Futtun in Bahardanush,” it is said, “they tinged the 
ends of the fingers scarlet with henna, so that they resembled 
branches of coral.” And, in his poem of the “Veiled Prophet 
