Of all the luxurious appointments of the Moorish houses, none were
more prominent than the baths. And you must not think that means
a bath just big enough to get into, like those in our houses. At
Seville and Granada, and wherever the Moors lived and built, you may
see remains of the vast constructions which served them for baths,
all of white marble, and situated in the midst of scented shrubs and
sweet and brilliant flowers.
In their own hotter country, their baths received a still greater
development. There was once a sultana, Moorka-Hama, who had a fancy
to have her baths always filled with rose-water. One day, when she
came to bathe, she found the air perfumed to a most unusual degree;
and on her causing an inquiry into it, they found that the heat of
the sun had expressed the essential oil, which was floating on the
surface. The process thus suggested by accident, was immediately
imitated by art; and by it is produced the delicious scent which is
now an article of commerce, and which we call attar of roses.