AND PERSIAN HAMMS ARE AS HILL OF BEAUTY SECRBTS
as any other, but the only recipe that seems, to have come
from them into general European use is that of henna for
the hair. The Arab ladies, of course, use it for other
things as well—for the beautifying of their nails and
palms, and, in places where they go barefoot, for the
adornment of their feet, which they paint with henna in
the shape of sandals. In Kuwait, where I used to go into
these feminine matters with Haila my maid, the latest
thing is to paint your nails and finger-tips black and not
orange: a very pretty little hand, with the first joints Hack
against the whiteness of the rest looks just as well and no
more artificial than our violent red. The stuff they use,
said Haila, is" called Wasm, She promised to bring me
some, and appeared next morning with a bottle of black
hair-dye made in Germany, and, presenting It- to me with
a hopeful glance at my fingers, made me feel what un-
expected things our international civilization is capable
oŁ
The washing of my hair opened up another vista of
* [213]