To counterfeit the blacke woode called Hebenus or Hebenum, and to make it as faire as the natural Hebene, which groweth no where but in India
‘All kinde of woode that is like unto this Hebene, maie be died blacke : but the hardest and massivest (as Bore and other) are meetest for it, and will bee brighter : and above all, the woode of the Mulberie tree, as well the white as the blacke, is the best to bee coloured, albeit the blacke be much more for the purpose : take then the saide woode, and let it lie the space of three daies in alome water, either in the sunne, or a pretie waie off from the fire, until the water ware somewhat warme : Then take oile oliue, or oile of lineseed, and put it in a little pan, wherein is the bighnesse of a nut of Romaine Vitrioll, and as much Brimstone. This done, seeth your woode in the saide oile, a certaine space, and so shall you haue a thing verie darke of colour. And the longer you let it boile, the blacker it will ware, but too much oile burneth it, and maketh it brittle, therefore, both in the one and the other, you must be circumspect, and vse discretion.’