368 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



and that he has knowu Spaniards in tlie island of Hispaniola who 

 adopted the same habit, and who, being reproved for it as a vice, replied 

 that it was not in their power to leave it ofl". " 1 do not know," he adds, 

 "what savor or profit they found in them (tobacos)."' 



Millions of people throughout the world still sympathize with this 

 sentiment. The habit has increased until it has encircled the earth, 

 and to-day there is scarcely a race which has not adopted the pipe in 

 some form, though not always coniining themselves to tobacco. Opium 

 is a rival to it in some parts of the East, and hasheesh ( Cannabis sativa), 

 an East Indian hemp, is smoked in India for its intoxicating properties. 

 Some idea may be gained of the consumption of tobacco from the pro- 

 duction of the manufactured article in the United States in 1897, which 

 for smoking tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes amounted to the enormous 

 sum of 371,705,148 pounds. How many of those who consume this 

 tobacco ever consider " what profit they found in it f " There are many, 

 who agree with Benzoni, of Milan, who, about 1541, said, " See what a 

 pestiferous and wicked poison from the devil this nuist be. It has 

 happened several times to me that going through the provinces of 

 Guatemala and Nicaragua I have entered the house of an Indian who 

 had taken this herb, which in the Mexican language is called tobacco, 

 and, immediately perceiving this sharp, fetid smell, I was obliged to go 

 away in haste and seek some other place. In La Espana and other 

 islands when their doctors wanted to cure a sick man they went to the 

 place where they were to administer the smoke, and when the patient 

 was thoroughly intoxicated by it the cure was mostly effected."^ 



To many smoking is only a habit admittedly without profit; to others 

 it is a "pestiferous weed;" to others again smoking is a solace and 

 unfailing comforter in solitude or sickness; to its votaries it is often a 

 nerve tonic of priceless value in times of great mental excitement, and 

 a sedative in favor of which too much can scarcely be said. 



Speaking of the messengers of Columbus who first witnessed smok- 

 ing, it is interesting to note the opinion of Washington Irving, who 

 speaks of tobacco as a weed which "the ingenious caprice of man has 

 converted into a luxury in defiance of the opposition of the senses."^ 



Bernal Diaz, who was first with Juan de Grijalva, in 1518, on the 

 coast of the mainland of the continent, and who appears also to have 

 been, in 1517, with Francisco Hernandez de Cordova in his expedition, 

 accompanied Cortez throughout his wonderful march to the City of 

 Mexico. Of his early history little appears known, though it is sup- 

 posed he was a foot soldier. The historian of the conquest, and thor- 

 oughly familiar with the daily events of the period, he wrote about 



iThc Spaiiisli Conquest in America, New York, 1856, I, p. 125, rcferrinjj; to Histona 

 de las Indias, MS., Book I, Chap. 40. 



2Gerolamo Benzoni, History of the New World, 1541-1556, pp. 80, 81, 82 (Haklujt 

 Society). 



^Tlie Life and Voyages of Christoi>lier Columlms. p. 129, referring to Navarette, 

 Primer Viage de Colon, p. 51. 



