

PATAGONIANS AS SMOKERS. 



135 



in which he states that " their chief indulgence is smoking. 

 The native pipes are fabricated out of a piece of stone, 

 fashioned into the shape of a bowl, into which is inserted a 

 long brass tube. The latter is obtained by barter at Bohia 

 Blanca. The tobacco in the bowl being lighted, each man of 

 a party takes a suck at the pipe in his turn." Tilston, who 

 witnessed the operation, describes it as a most ludicrous one. 

 " The smoker gives a pull at the pipe, gulping in a quantity 

 of Tobacco vapour, the cubic measurement of which my 

 informant would be afraid to guess at. All the muscles of 

 the body seem in a temporary convulsion whilst it is being 

 taken in, and the neighbour to whom the pipe is transferred 

 follows suit by inhaling as if he were trying to swallow down, 

 brass tube, bowl, Tobacco, fire, and all. 'Meanwhile, there 

 issues from the nose and mouth of the previous smoker such 

 a cumulus of cloud as for a few seconds to render his face 

 quite invisible." Tobacco is more used in Chili than in the 

 other countries on the Pacific side of South America ; this is 

 owing to the extensive use of the leaves of the Cocoa plant as 

 a narcotic by the natives of Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. 



We refrain from enlarging on the nature and use of this 

 narcotic, as on some future occasion we may take an oppor- 

 tunity of making some observations on Cocoa, which according 

 to Jonson, holds an undisputed sway over some seven or 



SOUTH AMERICANS SMOKING. 



eight millions of the inhabitants of South America. The 

 Indians formerly inhabiting the high table-lands of what is 

 BOW called Peru and Bolivia appear prior to the invasion of 



