GENERAL CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 81 



whole atmospliere with exquisite perfume. Indeed, I be- 

 lieve that in no country in the world does the rose grow 

 in such perfection as in Persia; in no country is it so cul- 

 tivated and prized by the natives. Their gardens and 

 courts are crowded by its plants, their rooms ornamented 

 with roses, filled with its gathered branches, and every 

 bath strewed with the full-blown flowers, j^lucked with 

 the ever-replenished stems. * * * 13^^ jn ^his deli- 

 cious garden of Negaaristan, the eye and the smell are not 

 the only senses regaled by the presence of the Rose : the 

 ear is enchanted by the wild and beautiful notes of multi 

 tudes of nightingales, whose warblings seem to increase 

 in melody and softness, with the unfolding of their favor- 

 ite flowers. Here, indeed, the stranger is more power- 

 fully reminded, that he is in the genuine country of the 

 nightingale and the Rose." Rivers mentions that Sir 

 John Malcolm told him, that when in Persia he had once 

 breakfasted on an immense heap, or rather mount, of roses, 

 which the Persians had raised in honor of him. The rose 

 of Cashmere has been long celebrated in the East, for its 

 brilliancy and delicacy of odor — 



" Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere, 

 With its Roses, tlie brightest that earth ever gave? " 



Throughout the whole season during which the roses 

 remained in bloom in this beautiful valley, the Feast of 

 Roses was kept with great rejoicing, and an entire aban- 

 donment to pleasure. At this time, a great number of 

 tents were pitched, and multitudes of men, women, boys, 

 and girls, were dancing and singing to the music of their 

 various instruments. 



All that has been handed down to us, and all we know 

 at the present time of the climate and productions of 

 Persia, and the customs of its inhabitants, prove that it 

 w^as cm})hMtically the land of roses; and all that we can 

 gather from its history or tradition evinces, that to the 

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