EARLY SNUFF-TAKING. 35 



make a powder of the leaves, which " they take through a 

 cane half a cubit long ; one end of this they place in the 

 nose, and the other upon the powder, and so draw it up, 

 which purges them very much." 



This is doubtless the first account that we have of snuff- 

 taking ; Fairholt says concerning its use : 



"Its effects upon the Indians in both instances seem to 

 have been more violent and peculiar than upon Europeans 



since." 



This may be accounted for from the fact of the imperfect 

 method of curing tobacco adopted by them and all of the 

 natives up to the period of the settlement of Virginia by the 

 English. As nearly all of the early voyagers allude to the 

 plant and especially to its use it would seem probable that it 

 had been cultivated from time immemorial by all the native 

 people of the Orinoco ; and at the period of the conquest the 

 habit of smoking was found to be alike spread over both 

 North and South America. The Tamanacs and the May- 

 pures of Guiana wrap maize leaves round their cigars as the 

 Mexicans did at the time of the arrival of Cortez. The 

 Spaniards since have substituted paper for the leaves of 

 maize, in imitation of them. 



" The poor Indians of the forests of the Orinoco know as 

 well as did the great nobles at 

 the court of Montezuma, that 

 the smoke of tobacco is an ex- 

 cellent narcotic ; and they use 

 it not only to procure their 

 afternoon nap, but also to put 

 themselves in that state of qui- C 

 escence which they call dream- 

 ing with the eyes open or day 

 dreaming." 



Tobacco at this period was 

 also rolled up in the leaves of 

 the Palm and smoked. Colum- 

 bus found the natives of San NATIVJS SMOKING . 

 Salvador smoking after this 

 manner. Lobel in his History of Plants* gives an engraving 



History ol Plants, 1576. 



