may go off in transpiration; mixed with attar of roses,
smaragd cureth the bites of venomous reptiles; while ground with saffron
and applied to ailing eyes it eradicates night blindness. It also helps
in dysentery and the black cough that is incurable by any human means."

The king also bestowed upon his beloved Lybian amethysts, whose colour
resembled early violets, that put forth in forests at the foot of the
Lybian mountains,--amethysts, possessed of the wondrous property of
curbing wind, mollifying wrath, preserving from intoxication, and
helping at the trapping of wild beasts; turquoise of Persepolis, that
bringeth happiness in love, endeth connubial quarrels, turneth away the
wrath of kings, and is propitious in the breaking and selling of horses;
and cat's-eye,--that guardeth the property, reason, and health of its
possessor; and the pale beryllion, blue-green, like sea-water near
shore,--a good travelling companion for pilgrims and a remedy against
cataract and leprosy; and the vari-coloured agate: he that weareth it
hath no dread of the evil machinations of enemies, and avoideth
the danger of being crushed in an earthquake; and the apple-green,
turbidly-pellucid onychion,--its master's guardian from fire and
madness; and iaspis, that maketh beasts to tremble; and the black
swallow-stone, that endoweth with eloquence; and the eagle-stone,
esteemed of pregnant women,--eagles put it in their nests when the time
comes for their young to break out of their shells; and zaberzate out
of Ophir, shining like little suns; and yellow-aureate chrysolite,--the
friend of merchants and thieves; and sardonyx, beloved of kings and
queens; and the crimson ligurion: it is found, as all know, in the
stomach of the lynx, whose sight is so keen that it can see through
walls,--and for that reason he that weareth a ligurion is also noted
for keen sight, and besides this it stoppeth bleeding of the nose, and
healeth all wounds, save wounds inflicted by stone or iron.

The king also put upon Sulamith's neck carcanets of great price, of
pearls that had been dived for in the Persian Sea by his subjects; and
the pearls put on a living lustre and a soft colour from the warmth of
her body. And corals became redder upon her swarthy breast; and
turquoise came to life upon her fingers; and those baubles of yellow
amber which were brought from far northern seas, in gift to the king, by
the doughty ship-masters of Hiram, King of Tyre, emitted cra