[68]. Lawsonia inermis; also called “Egyptian privet.”
[69]. The application of this dye to the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet is said to have an agreeable effect upon the skin; particularly to prevent its being too tender and sensitive.
[70]. The depilatory most commonly used by the Egyptian women is a kind of resin, called libán shámee, applied in a melted state: but this, they pretend, is not always necessary: by applying the blood of a bat to the skin of a newly-born female infant, on the parts where they wish no hair to grow, they assert that they accomplish this desire. A female upon whom this application has been made is termed “muwatwatah”; from “watwát,” a bat. Some women pluck out the hair after merely rubbing the part with the ashes of charcoal.
[71]. Egyptian women swear by the side-lock (as men do by the beard), generally holding it when they utter the oath, “Wa-hayát maksoosee!”
[72]. This is similar in form to the tób of women of the lower orders.
[73]. See Genesis xxiv. 65; and Isaiah iii. 23. See also I Corinthians xi. 10, and a marginal note on that verse.
[74]. Some of those who are descended from the Prophet wear a green burko’.
[75]. For “muláäh.”
[76]. There is a superior kind of miláyeh, of silk, and of various colours; but this is now seldom worn. The two pieces which compose the miláyeh are sewed together, like those which compose the habarah.
[77]. The classical reader will recognise, in this picturesque garment, an article of ancient Greek and Roman female attire.