A singular custom is observable both among Moorish and Arab females—­that of ornamenting the face between the eyes with clusters of bluish spots or other small devices, and which, being stained, become permanent.  The chin is also spotted in a similar manner, and a narrow blue line extends from the point of it, and is continued down the throat.  The eyelashes, eyebrows, and also the tips and extremities of the eyelids, are colored black.  The soles, and sometimes other parts of the feet, as high as the ankles, the palms of the hands, and the nails, are dyed with a yellowish-red, with the leaves of a plant called Henna (Lawsonia inermis), the leaf of which somewhat resembles the myrtle, and is dried for the purposes above mentioned.  The back of the hand is also often colored and ornamented in this way with different devices.  On holidays they paint their cheeks of a red brick color, a narrow red line being also drawn down the temples.

In Greece, “for coloring the lashes and sockets of the eye they throw incense or gum labdanum on some coals of fire, intercept the smoke which ascends with a plate, and collect the soot.  This I saw applied.  A girl, sitting cross-legged as usual on a sofa, and closing one of her eyes, took the two lashes between the forefinger and thumb of her left hand, pulled them forward, and then, thrusting in at the external corner a sort of bodkin or probe which had been immersed in the soot, and withdrawing it, the particles previously adhering to the probe remained within the eyelashes.”—­CHANDLER’S Travels in Greece.

Dr. Shaw states that among other curiosities that were taken out of the tombs at Sahara relating to Egyptian women, he saw a joint of the common reeds, which contained one of these bodkins and an ounce or more of this powder.

In England the same practice is adopted by many persons that have gray hair; but instead of using the black material in the form of a powder, it is employed as a crayon, the color being mixed with a greasy body, such as the brown and black stick pomatums, described in the previous article.

TURKISH HAIR DYE.

In Constantinople there are some persons, particularly Armenians, who devote themselves to the preparation of cosmetics, and obtain large sums of money from those desirous of learning this art.  Amongst these cosmetics is a black dye for the hair, which, according to Landerer, is prepared in the following manner:—­

Finely pulverized galls are kneaded with a little oil to a paste, which is roasted in an iron pan until the oil vapors cease to evolve, upon which the residue is triturated with water into a paste, and heated again to dryness.  At the same time a metallic mixture, which is brought from Egypt to the commercial marts of the East, and which is termed in Turkish Rastiko-petra, or Rastik-Yuzi, is employed for this purpose.  This metal, which looks like dross, is by some Armenians intentionally fused, and