TOBACCO 



5826 



TOCANTINS 



feed on the leaves of the tobacco plant. They 

 are large green caterpillars having diagonal 

 white stripes along the sides, and a sharp horn 

 at the back of the body. These worms also 

 feed on the leaves of the tomato plant, another 



THE 

 TOBACCO WORM 



member of the nightshade family. Weeds of the 

 nightshade group planted near tobacco fields 

 will serve as a decoy for the pests, and heavy 

 applications of Paris green will kill them. See 

 INSECTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES. 



History. Although it is believed that tobacco 

 was used in China in ancient times, the knowl- 

 edge of the plant and its uses spread to the rest 

 of the world through America. At the time 

 Columbus discovered the New World, the In- 

 dians were using tobacco in tribal ceremonies 

 and in religious rites, and this custom had pre- 

 vailed for centuries. The plant was introduced 

 into Spain from Santo Domingo in 1559, and 

 the same year seeds were sent to France by 

 Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal, 

 who gave his name to the essential principle of 

 the plant nicotine. Sir Francis Drake took 

 the plant to England in 1585, but it was 

 through the illustrious example of Sir Walter 

 Raleigh, who "took a pipe of tobacco a little 

 before he went to the scaffolde," that smoking 

 spread among the courtiers. Although smoking 

 was strongly opposed by the Church and State, 

 and its devotees were threatened with severe 

 penalties, such as the lash, excommunication 

 and even capital punishment, the popularity of 

 tobacco spread with amazing rapidity through- 

 out Europe and Asia. There are several ex- 

 planations for the origin of the name tobacco. 

 It has been connected with the name of the 

 pipe smoked by the Carib Indians, with the 

 old name of an island near Trinidad, now 

 known as Tobago, and with Tobaco, the name 

 of a province in Yucatan, and there are other 

 le sources. E.B.P. 



Related Subjects. In connection with this 

 article on tobacco, the reader may consult the 

 following topics in these volumes : 

 Anti-Cigarette League Narcotic 



of America Nicotine 



Cigarette Snuff 



Internal Revenue 



TOBOGGANING, tohbog'aning, an exhila- 

 rating outdoor sport which consists of coasting 

 on snow or ice by means of toboggans, or sleds 

 without runners. A typical toboggan is shown in 

 the accompanying picture. It is made of strips 

 of hickory, ash or maple, turned up in front 

 and fastened together by crosspieces. The sur- 

 face that touches the snow or ice is highly pol- 

 ished, and there is a light handrail on each 

 side. The sled is usually about a foot-and-one- 

 half ' wide and from six to eight feet long. A 

 toboggan load consists usually of four people, 

 the one at the rear acting as steersman. In 

 mountainous countries the snow-covered hills 



Consult Werner's Textbook on Tobacco; Tan- 

 ner's Tobacco from Grower to Smoker. 



A TOBOGGAN 



are used for slides, but in level localities arti- 

 ficial ice chutes are constructed. A tremendous 

 rate of speed is possible, 900 yards in thirty 

 seconds having been recorded. 



Toboggans were originally built by Indian 

 hunters to carry their dead game across the 

 snow. They were first built of a strip of bark, 

 turned- up in front to breast the snow. The Es- 

 kimos make sledges of strips of whalebone. 



TOBOLSK, toh bahlsk' , the capital and chief 

 town of the Russian government of Tobolsk, is 

 situated in the western part of Siberia on the 

 Irtish River, at its junction with the Tobol. 

 Since the completion of the Trans-Siberian 

 Railway the city has declined, but is still an 

 important center of river commerce. Fishing 

 and the making of fur are the chief industries 

 of the inhabitants. The place is substantially 

 built, and has a citadel and numerous churches. 

 Among the relics of the old regime is a work- 

 house for Siberian exiles. In the summer of 

 1917 the deposed czar and his family were 

 sent as prisoners to Tobolsk and established in 

 exile. Population in 1913, 24,800. 



TOCANTINS, tohkahnteenz', a river of 

 Brazil. It rises in the southern part of the 

 state of Goyaz, and after flowing northward for 

 about 1,700 miles, empties into the Atlantic 

 through the Para River, the southern estuary 

 of the Amazon. It is navigable for large steam- 



