姬每與余靜坐香閣，細品名香。宮香諸品淫，沉水香俗。俗人以沉香著火上，煙撲油膩，頃刻而滅。無論香之性情未出，即著懷袖皆帶焦腥。沉香堅致而紋橫者，謂之“橫隔沉”，即四種沉香內革沉香紋者是也，其香特妙。又有沉水結而未成，如小笠大菌，名“蓬萊香”，余多蓄之。每慢火隔砂，使不見煙，則閣中皆如風過伽楠，露沃薔薇，熱磨琥珀，酒傾犀斝之味。久蒸衾枕間，和以肌香，甜艷非常，夢魂俱適。

The Appreciation of Incense

My concubine often sat quietly with me in her fragrant bedchamber to sample or judge famous incense. The so-called “palace incense” is seductive in quality, while the popular way of preparing aloeswood is vulgar. The ordinary people often set aloeswood right on the fire and its fragrant fume is soon put out by the burning resin. Thus not only has its fragrance failed to be brought out, but it also leaves a smoky, choking odor behind around one’s body. The hard quality with horizontal grains called hengkoch’en has a superb fragrance, being one of the four kinds of aloeswood, but distinguished by having horizontal fibers. There is another variety of this wood, known as p’englaihsiang, which is the size of a mushroom and conically shaped, being not yet fully grown. We kept all these varieties, and she burned them on top of fine sand over a slow fire so that no actual smoke was visible. Its subtle perfume permeated the chamber like the smell of chianan wood wafted by a breeze, or like that of dew-bedecked roses, or a piece of amber rubbed hot by friction, or of fragrant liquor being poured into a horn cop. When bedding is perfumed by this method, its fragrance blends with that of the woman’s flesh, sweet and intoxicating even in one’s dreams.