I checked my mail again this morning and I now have two new SPAM emails:

Unread KANE ADAMA A GREAT OPPURTUNITY 11:00 9KB
Unread Dani Ouedrago BUSINESS PROPOSAL FROM MR DANI 1:06 11KB


Anyway, I shall now send my Mum a new email:

Hi Mum,

I've done a bit more thinking around fumigation and remembered those CARPET shops in Turkey that you visited and how you complained about the smokiness inside - the shop-owners would have been fumigating their wares to make sure that they didn't get insect-infested. So you might check up on this if you have any contacts in this area.

I learnt in Israel that this is the traditional way of fumigating...as practised at the Imperial Hotel where I was staying after a massive infestation was found in one of the bedrooms. The whole hotel was then fumigated with a special combination of ingredients but the main two were FRANKINCENSE and MYRRH - really.

http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200605/natural.remedies.of.arabia.htm

Here is an informative website upon Middle-Eastern herbal medicine in general and after reading through it - I somewhat remembered what MR D’AJANI the hotel-owner had told me - what he had put into his fumigation ‘oil-burner’ - this is a rough guide (although FRANKINCENSE appeared to be the main ingredient and predominant ‘odour‘:

FRANKINCENSE
MYRRH
ground CARDAMON seeds (one or two depending upon size - as far as I can recall)
A tiny bit of WALNUT BARK
TUMERIC/SAFFRON
LEMON/CITRONELLE a few drops of this oil
A pinch of CINNAMON

The Myrrh apparently acts as fixative to make the Frankincense more effective:

"Myrrh is a fixative, meaning it increases the longevity of the aroma of any fragrance it is combined with but doesn’t dominate or overpower that fragrance.
Scientific tests have shown myrrh to possess significant antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. "

The early Christian churches in Israel had also learnt this fumigation technique to cleanse their holy places of the risk of infection from airborne diseases carried by insects…and if you visit the CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE - the Greek Orthodox swinging their metal balls of incense from the ceiling now and then - if the wind is in the wrong direction - you nearly choke on it!

Kind regards,

Emily