"None of these ladies," says Shaw, "take themselves to be completely dressed, till they have tinged their hair and edges of their eyelids with the powder of lead ore. Now, as this operation is performed by dipping first into the powder a small wooden bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards through the eyelids over the ball of the eye, we shall have a lively image of what the Prophet (Jer. iv. 30) may be supposed to mean by rending the eyes with painting. This practice is no doubt of great antiquity; for besides the instance already taken notice of, we find that where Jezebel is said (2 Kings ix. 30.) to have painted her face, the original words are, she adjusted her eyes with the powder of lead-ore."—Shaw's Travels.
[58] "The appearance of the blossoms of the gold-colored Campac on the black hair of the Indian women has supplied the Sanscrit Poets with many elegant allusions."—See Asiatic Researches, vol. iv.
[59] A tree famous for its perfume, and common on the hills of Yemen.—Niebuhr.
[60] Of the genus mimosa "which droops its branches whenever any person approaches it, seeming as if it saluted those who retire under its shade."—Niebuhr.
[61] Cloves are a principal ingredient in the composition of the perfumed rods, which men of rank keep constantly burning in their presence.— Turner's "Tibet."
[62] "Thousands of variegated loories visit the coral-trees."—Barrow.
[63] "In Mecca there are quantities of blue pigeons, which none will affright or abuse, much less kill."—Pitt's Account of the Mahometans.
[64] "The Pagoda Thrush is esteemed among the first choristers of India. It sits perched on the sacred pagodas, and from thence delivers its melodious song."—Pennant's "Hindostan."
[65] Tavernier adds, that while the Birds of Paradise lie in this intoxicated state, the emmets come and eat off their legs; and that hence it is they are said to have no feet.
[66] Birds of Paradise, which, at the nutmeg season, come in flights from the southern isles to India; and "the strength of the nutmeg," says Tavernier, "so intoxicates them that they fall dead drunk to the earth."