TOBAGO TOBOLSK. 



635 



loaves larger and thicker. After this, the buds, 

 which sprout from the axils of the leaves, are all 

 plucked ; and not a day is suffered to pass without 

 examining the leaves, to destroy a large caterpillar 

 which is sometimes very destructive to them. 

 When they are fit for cutting, which is known by 

 the brittleness of the leaves, they are cut, with a 

 knife, close to the ground : and, after lying some 

 time, are carried to the drying shed, where the 

 plants are hung up by pairs, upon lines, having a 

 space between, that they may not touch one another. 

 In this state they remain, to sweat and dry. When 

 perfectly dry, the leaves are stripped from the stalks, 

 and made into small bundles, tied with one of the 

 leaves. These bundles are laid in heaps, and 

 covered with blankets. Care is taken not to over- 

 heat them ; for which reason, the heaps are laid 

 open to the air from time to time, and spread 

 abroad. This operation is repeated till no more 

 heat is perceived in the heaps, and the tobacco is 

 then stowed in casks for exportation. 



In the manufacture of tobacco, the leaves are 

 first cleansed of any earth, dirt, or decayed parts ; 

 next, they are gently moistened with salt and wa- 

 ter, or water in which salt, along with other ingre- 

 dients, has been dissolved, according to the taste 

 of the fabricator. This liquor is called tobacco 

 sauce. The next operation is to remove the mid- 

 rib of the leaf; then the leaves are mixed together, 

 in order to render the quality of whatever may be 

 the final application, equal ; next, they are cut into 

 pieces, with a fixed knife, and crisped or curled 

 before a fire. The succeeding operation is to spin 

 them into cords, or twist them into rolls, by wind- 

 ing them, with a kind of mill, round a stick. These 

 operations are performed by the grower. After- 

 wards, tobacconists cut it into chaff-like shreds for 

 smoking, by a machine like a straw-cutter, form it 

 into small cords for chewing, or dry and grind it 

 for snuff. In manufacturing snuff, various matters 

 are added for giving it an agreeable scent; and 

 hence the numerous varieties of snuffs. The three 

 principal sorts are called Rappees, Scotch, or 

 Spanish, and Thirds. The first is only granulated ; 

 the second is reduced to a very fine powder ; and 

 the third is the siftings of the second sort. 



Tobacco is extensively cultivated in France and 

 other European countries, in the Levant, and India ; 

 but the tobacco of the United States is considered 

 decidedly superior to most others, being much more 

 highly flavoured than that of Europe. The total 

 quantity of tobacco and snuff imported into the 

 United Kingdom in the year ending January 5th, 

 1836, was 25,818,905 Ihs., viz. 25,523,611 Ibs. of 

 unmanufactured tobacco; 294,601 Ibs. of manufac- 

 tured tobacco and cigars : and 753 Ibs. of snuff. 

 The imports from the United States amounted to 

 25,133,158 Ibs. of which 24,955,419 Ibs. were un- 

 manufactured tobacco ; 177,724 Ibs. of manufactured 

 and cigars ; and 15 Ibs. of snuff. The quantity of 

 snuff and manufactured and unmanufactured tobacco 

 entered for home consumption in the year ending 

 January 6th, 1836, was for England, 15,222,884 

 Ibs. ; Scotland, 2,014,156 Ibs. ; Ireland, 4,879,719 

 Ibs. -.total, 22,116,759 Ibs. The duty amounted 

 to 3,354,459 Is 5d 



TOBAGO; one of the Caribbee islands, in the 

 West Indies, belonging to Great Britain, about 

 thirty miles in length, from south-east to north- 

 west, and about nine in breadth ; Ion. 60 30' W. ; 

 lat. 11 16' N. ; population, 322 whites, 1164 free 

 people of colour, and 12,556 slaves. The climate 



of Tobago is temperate, the heat being allayed by 

 the sea breezes ; and it lies out of the track of those 

 hurricanes that prove so fatal to the other West 

 India islands. The surface is unequal and agreeably 

 diversified ; and its north-west extremity is moun- 

 tainous. Its soil is of different kinds, but, in gene- 

 ral, the mould is rich and black, and produces what- 

 ever is raised in other parts of the West Indies. 

 The abundance of springs upon the island contri- 

 butes to its healthfulness, and its bays and creeks 

 are very commodious for shipping. 



TOBIT. The book of Tobit, though rejected 

 as apocryphal by the Jews and Protestants, is re- 

 ceived into the canon by the Roman Catholics. It 

 contains an account of some remarkable events in 

 the life of Tobit, or Tobias, a Jew of the tribe of 

 Naphthali, and his son, of the same name. Jahn 

 thinks it was written in Greek, about 200 or 150 

 B. C. Tobit, though carried away captive, and 

 afflicted with the loss of sight, retained his trust in 

 God, and distinguished himself by his active bene- 

 volence towards his countrymen. Having become 

 poor, he determined to send his son Tobias to Me- 

 dia to collect a debt there due him, and the angel 

 Raphael, who was commissioned by God for that 

 purpose, served him as a guide. On arriving at the 

 river Tigris, the young Tobias was attacked, while 

 bathing, by a large fish, which, by the direction of 

 Raphael, he killed, preserving the heart, liver and 

 gall. Reaching Ecbatana, they found there a rela- 

 tion of Tobit, whose beautiful daughter, Sara, had 

 been married seven times. But her seven husbands 

 had all been killed, before consummating the mar- 

 riage, by a devil, who loved the maid. By com- 

 mand of the angel, Tobias married her, and, on 

 going into her chamber, burned the heart and liver 

 of the fish upon the ashes of the perfume; and 

 when the evil spirit smelt the smoke, he fled into 

 the utmost, parts of Egypt, and the angel bound 

 him. Tobias now returned to his father with the 

 money and his bride, and restored his sight by 

 anointing his eyes with the gall of the fish. Tobit 

 died at Nineveh, at the age of ninety-nine years, 

 and his son Tobias retired to Ecbatana, where he 

 lived to rejoice over the fall of Nineveh. 



TOBOLSK; a government of Asiatic Russia, 

 comprising the western part of Siberia, bounded 

 north by the Frozen ocean, east by Tomsk, south 

 by Orenburg, and west by Perm and Archangel ; 

 square miles, 356,000 ; population, 600,000. It is 

 watered by the Oby and its branches, the Irtisch, 

 Tobol, &c. (See Siberia.) The capital, of the 

 same name, the chief city of Siberia, is on the 

 Irtisch, at the junction of the Tobol; 1000 miles 

 east by north of Moscow; Ion. 68 16' E.; lat. 58 

 12' N. It consists of two parts, upper and lower 

 towns. The upper town has an elevated situation, 

 and forms what is properly called the city. It con- 

 tains the residence of the governor, the tribunals, 

 public offices, and the magazine of foreign merchan- 

 dise. The lower town is subject to inundation : it 

 is entirely built of wood, with the exception of a 

 convent. Tobolsk contains one Lutheran and 

 thirteen Greek churches, and two convents. Con- 

 nected with the lower town is a suburb inhabited 

 by Tartars, who are a quiet and industrious race. 

 The other residents are in a great measure descend- 

 ants of exiles sent here for their crimes, or for of- 

 fences against the Russian government, or some- 

 times on the mere caprice of despotism. The 

 largest colony ever transported hither consisted of 

 Swedish officers, mads prisoners at the battle of 



