complaining thait they could not sleep 

 because of the wailing of the nightin- 

 gale. When Solomon asked the bird 

 if this were so, the nightingale replied 

 that his love for the rose was the 

 cause of his grief. 



Not only do the Persians deck the 

 person, the house, or the grave with 

 roses, but they literally prepare a bed 

 of them. On the Sinan Nile these 

 flowers grow in unequalled beauty 

 and fragrance, and from their leaves, 

 dried carefully in the sun, are made 

 mattresses for people of wealth to re- 

 cline upon. The natives scatter rose- 

 leaves in the water of the bath, and 

 from its sweet petals they distil an oil 

 that is the most precious and pene- 

 trating scent known, and even in the 

 land where it is made it is sold by the 

 drop. 



There are many fanciful tales as to 

 how attar of roses first came to be 

 109 



