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on which these paintings were found has been removed to the museum at Naples. In the peristyle was a large earthenware jar, which had been broken across the middle and the pieces then sewed carefully and laboriously together with wire. The value of these vessels, therefore, can not have been very small, though they were made of the most common clay. At the eastern end of the peristyle there was a pretty fountain, with a jet d'eau. The western end is occupied by four large vats in masonry, lined with stucco, about seven feet deep, which seem to have received the water in succession, one from another. Dyeing and painting in ancient times was rather more perfect than at present, at least the colors were stronger and more durable. The Egyptians had the most durable colors. The Henna is a plant which is abundant in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine, and was used by the ancients, as it is by the moderns, for dyeing. The leaves were dried and pulverized, and then made into a paste. It is a powerful astringent dye, and is applied to desiccate and dye the palms of the hands and soles of the feet and nails of both, and gives a sort of dun or rust color to animal tissues, which is very permanent. It is stated that when sal-ammoniac and lime were put upon the colored parts they changed to a dark greenish-blue color, and passed on to black, probably from the sal-ammoniac containing iron which would give this result. The Tyrian ladies dyed rings and stars upon their persons. Men gave a black dye to the hair of their heads and beards. The dyeing of the nails with henna is a very ancient custom. Some of the old Egyptian mummies are so dyed. It is supposed that the Jewish women also followed this custom. Reference is made to it in Deuteronomy, where the newly-married wife is desired to stain her nails. Also, in the Song of Solomon, _Camphire_, in the authorized version, is said to mean henna, which has finely-scented flowers growing in bunches, and the leaves of the plant are used by women to impart a reddish stain to their nails. Speaking of the Arabian women at the present day, Dr. Thomson, in "The Land and the Book," says: "They paint their cheeks, putting tahl around their eyes, arching their eyebrows with the same, and stain their hands and feet with henna thus to deck themselves, and should an unmarried woman do so, an impression is conveyed highly injurious to the girl's character." GALLS are named among the substances kn
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