on which these paintings were found has been removed to
the museum at Naples. In the peristyle was a large earthenware jar,
which had been broken across the middle and the pieces then sewed
carefully and laboriously together with wire. The value of these
vessels, therefore, can not have been very small, though they were
made of the most common clay. At the eastern end of the peristyle
there was a pretty fountain, with a jet d'eau. The western end is
occupied by four large vats in masonry, lined with stucco, about seven
feet deep, which seem to have received the water in succession, one
from another.

Dyeing and painting in ancient times was rather more perfect than at
present, at least the colors were stronger and more durable. The
Egyptians had the most durable colors. The Henna is a plant which is
abundant in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine, and was used by the
ancients, as it is by the moderns, for dyeing. The leaves were dried
and pulverized, and then made into a paste. It is a powerful
astringent dye, and is applied to desiccate and dye the palms of the
hands and soles of the feet and nails of both, and gives a sort of dun
or rust color to animal tissues, which is very permanent.

It is stated that when sal-ammoniac and lime were put upon the colored
parts they changed to a dark greenish-blue color, and passed on to
black, probably from the sal-ammoniac containing iron which would give
this result.

The Tyrian ladies dyed rings and stars upon their persons. Men gave a
black dye to the hair of their heads and beards. The dyeing of the
nails with henna is a very ancient custom. Some of the old Egyptian
mummies are so dyed. It is supposed that the Jewish women also
followed this custom. Reference is made to it in Deuteronomy, where
the newly-married wife is desired to stain her nails. Also, in the
Song of Solomon, _Camphire_, in the authorized version, is said to
mean henna, which has finely-scented flowers growing in bunches, and
the leaves of the plant are used by women to impart a reddish stain to
their nails.

Speaking of the Arabian women at the present day, Dr. Thomson, in "The
Land and the Book," says: "They paint their cheeks, putting tahl
around their eyes, arching their eyebrows with the same, and stain
their hands and feet with henna thus to deck themselves, and should an
unmarried woman do so, an impression is conveyed highly injurious to
the girl's character."

GALLS are named among the substances kn