112 



ST NICOTINE 



dynasty, about two centuries before Columbus had dis- 

 covered America. Those who cry down every other than 

 an American origin for the weed, assert that the Chinese 



A CHINESE PIPE. 



product is not tobacco, but some other herb used in the 

 same way. Botanists, however, have shown this opinion 

 to be erroneous. The great plain of Ching-too Foo is 

 noted as the region where the culture and manufacture of 

 tobacco are conducted on a more extensive scale than in 

 any other part of the empire. In this plain the district of 

 Sze-Chuen stands out prominently as the great centre and 

 mart of the industry ; from its plantations are exported 

 large quantities of tobacco to other parts of China, to Yun- 

 nan, Hoo-nan, Han-Kow, and also to Se-fon in Thibet. 

 To Han-Kow alone are annually exported about fifty 

 thousand piciils, — say, about three thousand tons. The 

 best is grown in the district of Pe-Heen : the next quality 

 is the product of Kin-lang Heen ; and an inferior kind is 

 grown in the plantations of She-fang Heen. 



Europeans who have visited this tobacco-producing 

 district speak of a practice common among the inhabitants 



