THE PERFUMES USED BY THE EGYPTIANS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 609, 22 November 1881, Page 3

THE PERFUMES USED BY THE EGYPTIANS.

The consumption of essences must hare been enormous at the highest tide of Egyptian splendor, for the people were actually enjoined to perfume themselves on Fridays ; corpses were anointed with aromatic essences ; sherbets and sweetmeats were flavored with flue vegetable extracts ; perfumes filled the air in every well-to-do house, and saturated the letters and presents which were constantly being exchanged. Ihe ladies bathed in perfumed water, the men used scented oils for the hair, and both made use of red, yellow and green soap. During the festivals incense were burnt in all the streets, so that even (he poorest might he regaled ty the mere act of breathing. Nor was there any lack of narcotics. The mode of preparing opium, introduced from Sve-'t, in Upper Egypt. was wel'-known and the Sultan Boy bars promulgated S veral edicts prohibiting the use of

hesli-sh, a stupefying and intoxicat■p g preparation of .In-Uan hemp. In spite ',! tire .pact’s ■'‘n'hibiliou, tfie

juice of the grape continued to be indulged in. Alcohol (as its name indiC;<t< j s) is an Arab discovery, and beer—the favwite beverage of the ancient Egyptains—was also brewed and drunk under the Khalifs. Many a jovial songin praise of wine was sung by Arab poets and in the early times many Arabs wqiiid by no means admit that the Prophet bad forbidden its use. In an old MS. copy of fha’dlibit it is said : “ The Prophet—may God bless and accept him —permitted wine, and mercifully allows us to strengthen ourselves with if at our meals, and to lift the veil of our cires and sorrows.”