~ 
the roses ; those of Shiraz, Kirman, and 
Cashmere, are particularly celebrated, 
as the following quotations will prove. 
The learned Keimpfer, (ins bis Amaenz 
tates Exotica, page 374,) informs us, 
that “the roses of Shiraz yield on dis- 
tillation, a thick substance, resembling 
butter, called attar gul; and this oil is 
purchased for its weight in gold, and is 
unequalled in sweetness and fragrance ; 
which shows, that the roses of the ter- 
ritory of Persepolis, are of the hottest 
nature.” The same traveller adds, “ that 
sandal-wood gives additional! strength to 
the perfume ;” and this obseryation is 
confirmed by Colonel -Polier, who- re- 
marks, however, at the same time, that 
this addition reduces the value of the es- 
sence. The use of sandal-wood succeeds 
better in the composition of simple nose- 
water, which according to the ingenious 
Anquetil du Perron (see his Zendavesta, 
vol. i. 525, &c.) is styled Sandali gulab, 
or, if we may so translate it, rose-water 
efsandal. In the first volume of Lin- 
schoten’s Voyages, (pp. 125-126) we 
read, that the sandal-wood itself piro- 
duces an odoriferous oil. 
The roses of Kirman are described, 
by Olearius, and other travellers, as won- 
derfully abundant, and a very delightful 
water is said to be distilled. from them, 
which forms a considerable branch of 
commerce in that country; but those 
writers have-not made any meniee of 
the essence: 
The most exquisite roses of Asia, ap- 
pear to be those of Cashmere ; and Mr, 
Forster, (in Journey frem India to Pe- 
tersburgh, vol. 11. page 15, quarto edi- 
tion,) says, “I may venture to class in 
the first rank of vegetable produce, the 
rose of Cashmere,which, for its brillianey 
and delicacy of odour, has long been 
proverbial in the East; and its essential 
oil, or otiar, 1s held in “universal estima- 
tion.” Indeed, long before the publication 
of Mr. Bonscd $ Travels, we had learned 
from Monsieur Anquetil du Perron, that 
the best species of rose was produced i in 
Cashmere. 
Roses are found in great abundance 
also in Syria, Faiume, and the different 
provinces: of the Barbary states; and an 
essence is extracted from them, but 
much inferior to that of Persia, and of 
Cashmere. Cue would scarcely imagine 
that a process, at once so simple, and so 
universally known throughout the East, 
and even on the coasts of Western 
Africa, and which is the result of another 
process in use, from time immemorial, 
14 Enquiries into the Discovery of the Essence-of Hoses. [revs fy 
cannot be: traced back two 
years. 
In this opinion, I divet very much 
hundred 
‘from. many ingenious men; and amongst 
others from Mr, Weston, who, (in his 
Specimen of the Conformity of Lan- 
guages, &c. page 113,) expresses his 
belief that the ottar, or essence of roses, 
is the oil with waich the Psalmist desires 
to be anointed, because he styles the oy 
green.—Psalm xcil. 10. 
v7 yowa snb2 
Delibutus. sum in. oleo. virids. 
Nothing can be more -vague than this 
epithet; since many kinds of oil-are of 
that colour, and simce the ottar ts not 
always green: besides, it is not certain 
that the Hebrew epithet Yw should be 
understood as Ex DPSSDE ay particular 
colour;-and the Septuagint have ren-= 
dered of by the Greek word aieu, fué > 
(the Euglish version says, “1 shall be 
anointed with fresh oil.”) I shall not 
here detain my readers by along digres- 
sion, In which it-might be proved that 
the Hebrews, as well as the Christians, 
employed only common oil, and nat per _ 
fumes, in the consecration of their kings. 
But, in support of my‘opinion on the 
recent discovery of the ottar, I shall ad- 
duce both negative’ and positive proofs; 
and I hope to demonstrate, that it was 
not, known before the year 1021 of the 
Mohamedan, or 1612 of the Christian, 
ra; my, negative proofs are derived 
from the silence of Eastern, and of Eu- 
ropean writers, prior to the epoch above- 
mentioned. 
In -the works ef Hafiz, and of Sadi, 
we find frequent mention of the gulab, or 
rose-water; none of the oftar, or essence. 
Sherifaddin Ali Yezdi, who wrote a Hise 
tory of Tamerlane, often describes, the 
perfumes lavishly expended in the ene 
tertainments given by that Tartar cone ~ 
queror, and his children ; but the histo- 
rian is silent on the subject of the ottar. 
The Ayeen Akbery, or Commentary 
of the Grand Mogul Akber, translated by 
Mr. G! adwin, of Calcutta, contains a 
chapter on the regulation cf the Imperial 
Perfumery, in which various preparations 
of roses are noticed, without-any mention 
of the essence. This work, the Ayeer 
Akbery, was composed in the year of our 
era, 1569; and consequently, forty-two 
years befure the date that I have as= 
signed to the discovery of the otter. 
“As to European travellers, I can ven- 
ture to affirm, that of those who visited 
Persia. and Hindoostan; and whose nar- 
ratives prior to the seventeenth wer os 
ave 
