52 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
far as the eye can reach, extending in the same 
bespangled carpet of red and green. The breezes, 
too, are loaded with the sweet odour which is wafted 
far across the river Ganges. The flower is cultivated 
thus extensively for the manufacture of rosewater, 
that of Ghazipore being justly esteemed as surpassing 
in excellence every production of the sort. Whether 
or not this may be attributable to the superiority of 
the flowers, or the process of distillation, I cannot say ; 
but as the roses did not appear to me to possess 
greater fragrance than others of their class, I should 
rather refer it to the latter cause ; unless, indeed, it be 
that the wonderful abundance of the material enables 
them to be more lavish in its decoction, than is else- 
where possible. It is no less cheap than excellent : 
a gallon of the most delicious may be purchased for 
seven or eight shillings. They do not, however, 
understand at Ghazipore, the art of distilling the 
atr of roses in the same perfection as the Persians. 
The spurious compound which they endeavour to 
palm upon the traveller is weak, and possesses a sickly 
disagreeable odour foreign to the rose ; but the pur- 
chaser is often deceived by a little of the true atr 
being rubbed about the stopper and neck of the bottle. 
The prices demanded for this miserable imitation are 
exorbitant ; the explanation of which I received from 
one of the vendors ; he assured me that long ex- 
perience had taught him, that it was part of the 
character of the English to despise every thing cheap. 
