Nard

“ This was exported to the East and thence to Egypt, and was used in the preparation of baths. Mountain nard was collected in Cilicia and Syria, and is supposed to have consisted of the root of Valeriana tuberosa. The false nard of Dauphiné, used in later times, and still employed as a charm in Switzerland, is the root-stock of Allium victorialis. It presents a singular resemblance to the spikes of Indian nard, but is devoid of fragrance. It is remarkable that all the nards belong to the natural order Valerianaceae, the odour of valerian being considered disagreeable at the present day ”

“ On such wise they abode for awhile, that he was ware of no thing else on earth save only the sense-maddening caress of that lady’s hair, the perfume of it, the kiss of her mouth, the swell and fall of that lady’s breast straining against his. She said in his ear softly, “I see thou art too masterful. I see thou art one who will be denied nothing, on whatsoever thine heart is set. Come.” And they passed by a heavy-curtained doorway into an inner chamber, where the air was filled with the breath of myrrh and nard and ambergris, a fragrancy as of sleeping loveliness. ”

“ They use, too, the unguent made from lilies, and that from the cypress. Nard is in high estimation with them, and the ointment prepared from roses and the others which women use besides, both moist and dry, scents for rubbing and for fumigating; for day by day their thoughts are directed to the gratification of insatiable desire, to the exhaustless variety of fragrance. Wherefore also they are redolent of an excessive luxuriousness. And they fumigate and sprinkle their clothes, their bed-clothes, and their houses. Luxury all but compels vessels for the meanest uses to smell of perfume. ”

“ A striking, decorative plant, once much sought after for its medicinal virtues - still another herb with which old women delight to dose their victims for any malady from a cold to a carbuncle. Quite a different plant, but a relative, is the one with hairy, spike-like shoots from its fragrant roots, from which the "very precious" ointment poured by Mary upon the Saviour's head was made. The nard, an Indian product from that plant, which is still found growing on the distant Himalayas, could then be imported into Palestine only by the rich. ”

“ The witch was greedy for gold, so one night while Nardo slept she crept into the palace, aided by the wicked Stephen, and cast a spell over Nardo, which made him forget the ring and also his love for the beautiful Princess. ”

“ We had the English service in the Villa Nardi in the evening. There are some Englishmen staying here, of the class one finds in all the sunny spots of Europe, ennuye and growling, in search of some elixir that shall bring back youth and enjoyment. They seem divided in mind between the attractions of the equable climate of this region and the fear of the gout which lurks in the unfermented wine. One cannot be too grateful to the sturdy islanders for carrying their prayers, like their drumbeat, all round the globe ”

“ Wills managed to keep up, even when suffering the severest hardships, and feeling himself gradually dying, he gives in his diary a curiously accurate picture of the effects of living for a length of time on an innutritious substance. He liked the nardoo, and consumed considerable quantities of it, but gradually wasted away, leaving a record in his diary that “starvation on nardoo is by no means unpleasant but for the weakness one feels, and the utter inability to rouse one’s self; for as far as appetite is concerned, it gives the greatest satisfaction.” ”

“ E. D. Cleland, `White Kangaroo,' p. 113:
"The great thing with the blacks was nardoo. This is a plant which sends up slender stems several inches high; at the tip is a flower-like leaf, divided into four nearly equal parts. It bears a fruit, or seed, and this is the part used for food. It is pounded into meal between two stones, and is made up in the form of cakes, and baked in the ashes. It is said to be nourishing when eaten with animal food, but taken alone to afford no support." ”

“ Es hat die Kraft, zu erwärmen, zu adstringieren, die Verdauung zu befördern, und Magen und Bauch von hineingedrungenen galligen Stoffen zu reinigen. Es treibt den Harn und verhindert, wenn es vorher genommen wird, den Rausch. Mit Sesel und keltischer Narde getrunken ist es ein gutes Mittel gegen Blähungen und Bauch- und Magenschmerzen, auch heilt der Aufguß oder die Abkochung davon Appetitlosigkeit und Gelbsucht, wenn sie täglich in der Gabe von 3 Bechern genommen werden. ”

“ Tuesday, 11th June, 1861.--King out for nardoo; Mr. Burke up the creek to look for the blacks.
Wednesday, 12th June, 1861.--King out collecting nardoo; Mr. Burke and I at home pounding and cleaning. I still feel myself, if anything, weaker in the legs, although the nardoo appears to be more thoroughly digested.
Thursday, 13th June, 1861.--Last night the sky was pretty clear, and the air rather cold, but nearly calm, a few cirrostratus hung about the north-east horizon during the first part of the night. Mr. Burke and King out for nardoo; self weaker than ever ”

“ Wills and I went out to gather nardoo, of which we obtained a supply sufficient for three days, and finding a pounding stone at the gunyahs, Mr. Burke and I pounded the seed, which was such slow work that we were compelled to use half flour and half nardoo. Mr. Burke and Mr. Wills then went down the creek for the remainder of the dried meat which we had planted; and we had now all our things with us, gathering nardoo and living the best way we could. Mr. Burke requested Mr. ”

“ The Nature of the Soil is what breeds Nitre, as is apparent, in that where it is wanting, neither Salts nor Showers avail any thing. This is also very wonderful, that tho’ the Spring be always seen to flow, yet neither does it increase the Lake nor run over; but if it Rains in those Days in which it is bred, the Nitre will become more Salt, and worse if the North-Winds happen to blow, for they violently stir up the Mud: In this place indeed ’tis produc’d, but more plentifully in Egypt, |Egyptian Nitre.| tho’ a worser sort, for ’tis of a dark colour and stony. ”

“ Nero (Irritably.)
The wine! (The Page, startled, presents the salver, from which Nero takes the goblet with unsteady hand. Page is in the act of fleeing.)
Stay! 58 (Page stops and turns tremblingly.)
Never dare
Again to look like—anyone! Beware! (Page’s head shakes a timid negative. Nero stares into goblet and muses.)
Blood’s red too. Ah, a woman is the grape
Ripe for the vintage, from whose flesh agape
Glad feet tonight shall stamp the hated ooze! ”

“ Nero hopped on three legs about the cave. [Pg 48] He was very thirsty, as all animals are after a meal and a sleep, and, besides, he was hot and feverish from his hurt paw. He wanted a drink very much.
Now, when a wild animal wants a drink of water he does not do as you boys and girls can do—go to a faucet or the pump and get a drink. Lions in the jungle can't get water whenever they want it, and the only way they have of telling where some may be—that is unless they live near a spring or a pool—is by smelling. ”

“ Crawling into the tepee, Narcisse turned back the blankets from the huddled body. A mat of long gray hair and beard obscured the sunken features of an old half-breed. Hurriedly he examined the body for signs of life. Detecting a faint flutter of the heart, the Company man vigorously set to work in a struggle with the white death for the life of the man he had found.
Bringing up his sled, he soon had a fire going under kettles of tea and pemican. Then he started in to rub the circulation back into the shrivelled limbs of the old breed. ”

“ Involuntarily Nare whistled. In the hazy twilight it was not easy to distinguish shapes exactly, and the desolate moorland with the black bare Mill frowning in its midst, only a single skeleton sail left to show for what purpose it had been built centuries ago, and the utter silence, except for the homing bees, no doubt tended to ghostly thoughts. But either Nare was dreaming or——
"Whatever is that?" cried Miss Corcoran, suddenly catching sight of it. She put a startled hand on his arm, and Nare regained his cheerfulness. ”

“ In full measure had the avenging goddess meted out to Narcissus the restless longing of unsatisfied love. By day and by night he haunted the forest pool, and ere long the face that looked back at his was pale as a lily in the dawn. When the moonbeams came straying down through the branches and all the night was still, they found him kneeling by the pool, and the white face that the water mirrored had the eyes of one of the things of the woods to which a huntsman has given a mortal wound. ”

“ By the clear moonlight Nadir beheld the body of the serpent, stretched along the rock, and said, "Thou hast lived for evil, but even evil pays its tribute to the will of Heaven. Man knows not its use, as the insect destroyed by the icy wind of this night knows not that that wind would dispel the clouds. ”

“ Nor have any of the Ancients 256distinguish’d Nitre into artificial and natural, one made by Art, and the other a concrete Body dug out of the Earth; for all Nitre is certainly made by Art, after the manner of other Salts, and not conceal’d in the Earth, but found above it. Nor is there any native Nitre dug out of the Earth, altho’ it may be made from Water; for Rain-Water being the purest, lightest and sweetest of all Waters, makes the best Nitre; so likewise does the Nile-Water, which from the force of its Mud, soon condenses the Nitre. ”

“ Pliny, Lib. 31. cap. 10. says, The Nature of Nitre is not to be esteem’d very different from Salt, and this he the more diligently asserts, inasmuch as those Physicians who have written of it, were ignorant of its true Nature, altho’ none has written more carefully of it than Theophrastus. He says, moreover, some Nitre is made in Media, the Vallies growing white and hoary with dryness. After the Rain or Fountain-Water is exhal’d from it, it is condens’d by the Soil, and converted into Nitre. ”

“ Alas! that I should ever have been the cause of such a foul effect! But let it be so; the whitest skins have moles, the sun has spots; he is my mole, my spot; and I, I am the father of the fool, Narcisse.”
Narcisse was that moment at a tavern in the beautiful village of Cote des Neiges, adjacent to Stillyside, and much resorted to by pleasure seekers from Montreal. His companions, too, were there, bewailing the loss of one of their fowling-pieces, and devising means for revenge on their interrupter and successful assailant. ”

“ When that is done they salt the body in covering it with natrum for seventy days.” (Natrum, with the intention of carrying off, and drying the oily, lymphatic, and greasy parts; but this ought to have been the first operation, for if they had commenced with filling the body with myrrh and aromatics, previous to salting it, the natrum, acting on the balsamic matters, and forming with their oils a soapy matter, very soluble and readily carried off by the lotions, would have destroyed the greater part of the aromatics. Besides, Diodorus does not mention natrum.) ”

“ The features of the human monster before me were mild and almost handsome; a heavy eye and a figure tending to fulness gave the impression of a quiet mind, and but for an occasional restlessness of brow and a brief glance from under it, in which the leaden eye darted suspicion, I should have pronounced Nero one of the most indolently harmless of mankind. ”

“ Meantime the Narcissus, with square yards, ran out of the fair monsoon. She drifted slowly, swinging round and round the compass, through a few days of baffling light airs. Under the patter of short warm showers, grumbling men whirled the heavy yards from side to side ”

“ The little man bowed and hastened away, to return presently with twenty curiously crooked dwarfs, each armed with a sling and a quiver full of slender, sharp-pointed darts.
"Slay me these strangers!" exclaimed the king, in his gruffest voice.
Now Nerle, when he beheld these terrible Dart Slingers, of whom he had heard many tales in his boyhood, began to shiver and shake with fright, so that his teeth rattled one upon another. And he reflected: "Soon shall I be content, for these darts will doubtless pierce every part of my body." ”

“ Narvasque followed into the deep jungle, unarmed as he was; there a deadly combat must have ensued, for when his cries aroused us, as we sat within the hut, we found him bitten on every part of the body, and so near death that he had only time to tell how it happened, when he expired. ”

“ God covers earth with food for man and beast,
Insect and bird; yea, the poor creeping worm
Partakes the Creator’s bounty.”
In this barren and poverty-stricken country, food is so scarce that, without the naras, the land would be all but uninhabitable. The naras serves, moreover, a double purpose; for, besides its usefulness as food, it fixes with wonderful tenacity, by means of extensive ramifications, the constantly shifting sands; it is, indeed, to those parts what the sand-reed (ammophila arundinacia) is to the sandy shores and downs of England. ”

“ A few days later, when the sun was setting on the prairie, making the whole sky crimson, and flooding the world with its last rays of light, they buried him by the river's edge, Nares reading the funeral service over him, who, though perhaps he had said less of religion than most men, had lived a life so close to Nature, and face to face with God and His works, that he must have learnt the great secret and loved the Creator, as he undoubtedly in his own rough way loved all His beautiful creation. ”