For no par­tic­u­lar pur­pose, ex­cept that it made me laugh loud­ly on a train:

`[he] tried to mask [the smell] with all the spices and aro­mat­ic gums of the East. The place was all a-­dan­gle with small charm­s, clev­er­ly made in the shape of trees, im­preg­nat­ed with rare per­fumes.`

One of the themes of the book is that ev­ery­thing start­ed in the 17th cen­tu­ry, you know :-)