BOSACE^! 391
The first time, it occurs in the chapter entitled: " Marriage of the
Princess Nour-Djihan with the habitant of the paradise Djihan-guyr;
inventions and discoveries of the Queen of the World ". The second
mention is made in the chapter entitled : " History of the seventh year of
the reign of Djihan-guyr, and Feast of the New Year ". According to
the translation, it appears that at the commencement of this fete, the
mother of Nour-Djihan having presented to the prince the " essence of
rose water " which she had prepared, the prince thereon attached to this
discovery his illustrious name, and called the perfume A'ther Djihan-
guyry (Perfume of Djihanguyr); at the same time presenting to the
princess a necklace of the value of 30,000 rupees.
Another version of the circumstances connected with this discovery
is recounted by Manucci, a Venetian physician who resided about forty
years in India. He bases it on the Annals of the Mongolian Empire, an
important work translated by Catron. According to this description the
f&te was of a very costly and magnificent character, luxurious amuse-
ments of every sort being provided, the princess even carrying her ex-
travagance and prodigality to the extent of causing 'rose water to flow
through a canal constructed in the flower gardens. It then happened
that whilst the emperor and the princess were walking along the bank
of this canal they noticed that an oily stratum had concentrated on the
rose water and was floating on its surface ; this was carefully collected
and recognised by the entire Court as the most delicate of perfumes.
The distillation of otto of rose to-day, however, is essentially a Euro-
pean industry.
The Bulgarian rose plantations are situated in the Balkans, and from
the slopes of these mountains the greater portion of the otto of rose of
•commerce is obtained. The most important centre of the industry is
Kezanlik. The area under cultivation is included between the 24th
and 26th degrees of longitude east, and the 42nd and 43rd degrees of
latitude north. The geological formation is chiefly syenite, the decom-
position of which has produced a very fertile soil. The roses flourish
best in sandy sun-exposed slopes, with a south or south-eastern aspect.
The most important districts are (1) the department of Stara-Zagora,
including the cantons of Kezanlik, Nova-Zagora, and Stara-Zagora;
(2) the department of Pazardjik, chiefly the canton of Pechtera; (3)
the department of Philippopolis, including the cantons of Karlovo,
Tchirpan, Novo-Selo, and Brezovo.
The rose country occupies especially the two valleys of the Toundja
(canton of Kezanlik) and of the Strema (canton of Karlova) both
bounded on the lower side by a spur of the Balkans called Sredna-
Gora. The south side of this mountain supports numerous rose farms,
but their produce is inferior to that obtained from the south side of the
Balkans proper, not only in consequence of less favourable climatic and
geological conditions, but because the two indi spensable factors of the
work of distillation, namely, the water, and the wood for fuel, are much
less easy to obtain there by the distillers.
The rose cultivated in this district is Rosa damascena, a red rose,
but the hedges of the plantations are often made up of Rosa alba. The
latter are often distilled with the red roses, but as the resulting oil con-
tains more stearoptene than that of the Rosa damascena, it is rarely dis-
tilled alone.
The flowers are gathered before they commence to open, in the early