264 ROSACEiE. 



times, Poller^ has shown that rose oil is prepared in India by simple 

 distillation of the flowers with water. But this Indian oil has never 

 been imported into Europe as an article of trade. 



As already stated, the supplies at present come from European 

 Turkey ; but at what period the cultivation of the rose and manufacture 

 of its oil were then introduced, is a question on which we are quite in 

 the dark. There is no mention of attar in the account given by Savary "^ 

 in 1750 of the trade of Constantinople and Smyrna, but in the first 

 years of the present century some rose oil was obtained in the Island of 

 Chios as well as in Persia.^ 



In English commerce, attar of rose was scarcely known until the 

 commencement of the present century. It was &rst included in the 

 British tariff in 1809, when the duty levied on it was 10s. per ounce. 

 In 1813 the duty was raised to lis. 10|d ; in 1819 it was 6s., and in 

 1828, 2s. per ounce. In 1832 it was lowered to Is. 4d per lb., in 1842 

 to Is. and in 1860 it was altogether removed.* 



On searching a file of the London Price Current, the first mention 

 of "Otto of Rose" is in 1813, from which year it is regularly quoted. 

 The price (in bond) from 1813 to 1815, varied from £3 to £5 5s. per 

 ounce. The earliest notice of an importation is under date 1-8 July, 

 1813, when duty was paid on 232 ounces, shipped from Smyrna. 



Production — The chief locality for attar of rose, and that by which 

 European commerce is almost exclusively supplied, is a small tract of 

 country on the southern side of the Balkan mountains, the " Tekne " of 

 Kazanlik or Kisanlik, an undulated plain famous for its beauty, as 

 picturesquely sketched by Kanitz® and many other travellers. The 

 principal seat of the trade is the town of Kizanlik, in the valley of the 

 Tunja. The other important districts are those of Philippopli, Eski 

 Zaghra, Yeni Zaghra, Tchirpan, Giopca, Karadsuh-Dagh, Kojun-Tepe, 

 Pazandsik. North of the Balkans, there is only Travina to be men- 

 tioned as likewise producing attar. All these places with Kizanlik 

 were estimated in 1859 to include 140 villages, having 2,500 stills. 



The rose is cultivated by peasants in gardens and open fields, in 

 which it is planted in rows as hedges, 3 to 4 feet high. The best 

 localities are those occupying southern or south-eastern slopes. Plan- 

 tations in high mountainous situations generally yield less, and the 

 oil is of a quality that easily congeals. The flowers attain perfection in 

 April and May, and are gathered before sunrise ; those not wanted for 

 immediate use are spread out in cellars, but are always used for 

 distilling the same day. The apparatus is a copper still of the simplest 

 description, connected with a straight tin tube, cooled by being passed 

 through a tub fed by a stream of water. The largest establishment, 

 "Fabrika," at Kizanlik has 14 such stills. The charge for a still is 

 25 to 50 lb. of roses, from which the calyces are not removed. The 

 flrst runnings are returned to the still ; the second portion, which is 

 received in glass flasks, is kept at a temperature not lower than 15° C. 



1 Asiaticlc Researches, i. (1788) 332. ^ Donau-Bulgarien, ii. (1877) 103-123.— 



2 Diet, de Commerce, iv. 548. A figure of a still is given, p. 123. A good 

 ^ Oliver, Voyage dans VEmpire Othoman, map of the Tekne of Kizanlik and environs 



etc. ii. (Paris, An 9) 139, v. (1807) 367. will be found in Zeitschrift der Gessell- 



* Information obligingly communicated schaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin, xi. (1876) 



by Mr. Seldon of the Statistical Office of Taf. 2. 

 the Custom House. 



