MANILLA TOBACCO. 375 



the plants are set on the ridges where they flourish and 

 mature until the buds and flowers are broken off. The har- 

 vest occurs in the autumn, when the singular process of 

 curing begins. 



Abbott says of the culture and commerce of tobacco in 

 Persia : 



" Jehrum, South Persia, is the principal mart for tobacco, 

 which is brought here from all the surrounding districts, and 

 disposed of to traders, who distribute it over the country far 

 and near. These traders are numerous, and many established 

 here are wealthy ; they usually transact their business in their 

 private houses, without resorting to the caravansaries of 

 which there are six in the place. There are many grades 

 and qualities of Shiraz tobacco but that produced at Tuffres 

 (according to Forster), a town about one hundred miles to 

 the south-west of Turshish, is esteemed the best in Persia. 



" Of the many varieties of the tobacco plant grown in the 

 East, that known as Manilla is among the most famous and the 

 most extensively cultivated. It is grown in several of the Phil- 

 ippine islands, particularly in Luzon and the southern group, 

 known as the Visayos. The Philippines are a large group of 

 islands in the North Pacific Ocean, discovered by Magellan 

 in 1521 ; they were afterwards taken posession of by the 

 Spaniards, in the reign of Philip II., from whom they take 

 their name. 



" The islands are said to be eleven hundred in number, but 

 some hundreds of them are very small, and all are nominally 

 subject to the Spanish government at Manilla. The Philip- 

 pines produce a great variety of tropical products such as 

 rice, coffee, sugar, indigo, tobacco, cotton, cacao, abaca, or vege- 

 table silk, pepper, gums, cocoa-nuts, dye-woods, timber of all 

 descriptions for furniture and the buildings, rattans of various 

 kinds, and all the agreeable fruits of the tropics. On the 

 shores are found nacre, or mother of pearl, magnificent pearls, 

 bird's-nests, shells of every description, an incredible quan- 

 tity of excellent fish, Bnd the trepang, or ~balate, a sea-worm, 

 or animal substance, found on the shores of the Philippine 

 Islands, resembling a large pudding. The Chinese esteem it 

 as a great delicacy and mix it with fowl and vegetables. 

 The inhabitants practise various kinds of industry; they 

 weave matting of extraordinary fineness and of the brightest 

 colors, straw hats, cigar cases and brackets ; they manufacture 

 cloth and tissues of every sort from cotton, silk, and abaca ; 



