The females of the higher and middle classes, and many of the poorer women, stain certain parts of their hands and feet (which are, with very few exceptions, beautifully formed) with the leaves of the henna tree,[68] which impart a yellowish red, or deep orange colour. Many thus dye only the nails of the fingers and toes; others extend the dye as high as the first joint of each finger and toe; some also make a stripe along the next row of joints; and there are several other fanciful modes of applying the henna; but the most common practice is to dye the tips of the fingers and toes as high as the first joint, and the whole of the inside of the hand and the sole of the foot;[69] adding, though not always, the stripe above mentioned along the middle joints of the fingers, and a similar stripe a little above the toes. The henna is prepared for this use merely by being powdered and mixed with a little water, so as to form a paste. Some of this paste being spread in the palm of the hand, and on other parts of it which are to be dyed, and the fingers being doubled, and their extremities inserted into the paste in the palm, the whole hand is tightly bound with linen, and remains thus during a whole night. In a similar manner it is applied to the feet. The colour does not disappear until after many days: it is generally renewed after about a fortnight or three weeks. This custom prevails not only in Egypt, but in several other countries of the East, which are supplied with henna from the banks of the Nile. To the nails the henna imparts a more bright, clear, and permanent colour than to the skin. When this dye alone is applied to the nails, or to a larger portion of the fingers and toes, it may, with some reason, be regarded as an embellishment, for it makes the general complexion of the hand and foot appear more delicate; but many ladies stain their hands in a manner much less agreeable to our taste: by applying, immediately after the removal of the paste of henna, another paste, composed of quick-lime, common smoke-black, and linseed-oil, they convert the tint of the henna to a black, or to a blackish olive hue. Ladies in Egypt are often seen with their nails stained with this colour, or with their fingers of the same dark hue from the extremity to the first joint, red from the first to the second joint, and of the former colour from the second to the third joint, with the palm also stained in a similar manner, having a broad, dark stripe across the middle, and the rest left red; the thumb dark from the extremity to the first joint, and red from the first to the second joint. Some, after a more simple fashion, blacken the ends of the fingers and the whole of the inside of the hand. ------------------------------------------- [Illustration: A LADY IN THE DRESS WORN IN PRIVATE.] _Lane’s Modern Egyptians_] [_Page 33_ -------------------------------------------