8 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE chap. 



with the exception of a portion of South America, 

 and the actual tropics. 



It is very extensively cultivated in Persia and 

 Bulgaria for the manufacture of attar or otto of 

 Eoses and Eose-water, which are distilled from the 

 petals. In Persia a variety of the Musk Eose (Eosa 

 moschata) is used for this purpose, but it has not 

 the real odour of musk, which is said to be found 

 only in Salet, a Perpetual Moss Eose. In Bulgaria, 

 the country which is the largest producer of the 

 otto, a variety of the Damask Eose (E. damascena) 

 known as Kazanlik, is used : and experts allege that 

 the Damask and Provence (E. centifolia) Eoses are 

 the best representatives of the true inimitable odour 

 of Eose. The modes of distillation in these Eastern 

 countries are very primitive and imperfect, and 

 moreover in Bulgaria there has been considerable 

 adulteration of the valuable otto with geraniol or oil 

 of pelargonium. The finest otto of Eoses now in 

 the market is manufactured by modern skilled 

 appliances in Germany, near Leipzig, where the 

 Bulgarian variety of Damask Eose is used, and in 

 Prance, near Grasse, where a strain of the Provence 

 Eose is cultivated for the purpose. Eose-water and 

 otto of Eoses are also made in India, Turkey, and 

 other places. 



Few readers of a Eose-book will care for much 

 research into the history of the Eose. The late 

 Mr. William Paul has with much care gone deeply 

 into that subject in his large volume The Bose 

 Garden, and I will only touch a few points, and 

 refer inquirers on this subject to his fuller work. 



Homer's allusions to the Eose in the Iliad and 

 the Odyssey are, I suppose, the earliest mentions 



