t the
beginning of March, and continue so through April. Early in the
morning the flowers are plucked by numbers of men, women, and
children, and are conveyed in large bags to the several contracting
parties for distillation. The cultivators themselves very rarely
manufacture.

The native apparatus for distilling the rose-water is of the
simplest construction; it consists of a large copper or iron boiler
well tinned, capable of holding from eight to twelve gallons, having
a large body with a rather narrow neck, and a mouth about eight
inches in diameter; on the top of this is fixed an old dekchee, or
cooking vessel, with a hole in the centre to receive the tube or
worm.

This tube is composed of two pieces of bamboo, fastened at an acute
angle, and it is covered the whole length with a strong binding of
corded string, over which is a luting of earth to prevent the vapour
from escaping. The small end, about two feet long, is fixed into the
hole in the centre of the head, where it is well luted with flower
and water. The lower arm or end of the tube is carried down into a
long-necked vessel or receiver, called a bhulka. This is placed in a
handee of water, which, as it gets hot, is changed. The head of the
still is luted on to the body, and the long arm of the tube in the
bhulka is also well provided with a cushion of cloth, so as to keep
in all vapour. The boiler is let into an earthen furnace, and the
whole is ready for operation. There is such a variety of rose-water
manufactured in the bazar, and so much that bears the name, which is
nothing more than a mixture of sandal oil, that it is impossible to
lay down the plan which is adopted. The best rose-water, however, in
the bazar, may be computed as bearing the proportion of one thousand
roses to a seer of water; this, perhaps, may be considered as the
best procurable.

From one thousand roses most generally a seer and a half of
rose-water is distilled, and perhaps from this even the attar has
been removed. The boiler of the still will hold from eight to twelve
or sixteen thousand roses. On eight thousand roses from ten to
eleven seers of water will be placed, and eight seers of rose-water
will be distilled. This after distillation is placed in a carboy of
glass, and is exposed to the sun for several days to become pucka