THE EOSE. 229 



pansion : and of a strength and delicacy of scent 

 which imbued the whole atmosphere with the most 

 exquisite perfume. " Indeed," he adds, " in no 

 country is it so cultivated and prized by the natives. 

 Their gardens and courts are crowded with its 

 plants, their rooms ornamented with vases filled 

 with its gathered bunches, and every bath strewed 

 with the full-blown flowers plucked from the ever- 

 replenished stems; even the humblest individual 

 who pays a piece of copper-money for a few whiffs 

 of a kalion, feels a double enjoyment when he finds 

 it stuck with a bud from his dear native tree ! " In 

 many parts of the east, as in Syria and Egypt, 

 dandies wear a rose at the side of the face, with its 

 stem thrust up into the fez of their turbans. 



The flower is not only used for strewing the floors 

 of the baths, but some rose-water is put into the 

 bath itself. According to Hasselquist, one particular 

 rose is principally used for this purpose, and he de- 

 scribes it as one of those roses the pink of which is 

 delicately tinged with blue. Large quantities of 

 rose-water are distilled in Persia, and exported to 

 various countries in copper vessels, coated inside 

 with wax. Ben Jonson thus alludes to the custom 

 of using baths scented with flowers : 



" Their bath shall be the juice of gilly-flowers, 

 Spirit of roses, and of violets." 



Sir R. K. Porter remarks that the Persian 

 servants " did not neglect to strew roses profusely 

 over the carpets of my chamber, as if I were 

 equally enamoured of their sweets with the night- 

 ingale/' And throughout his account we find that 



