PKODUCTION AND COMMEKCE. 143 



Bourbon. Efforts are being made to successfully intro- 

 duce tobacco into the rotation of crops on the sugar estates, 

 with the object of supplying the article to the French 

 regie or Government monopoly, which buys annually 

 upwards of 40 million francs' worth of tobacco in the 

 islands of Cuba, Java, and other colonies. The results 

 hitherto obtained are not unsatisfactory, and this article 

 may shortly acquire importance among Bourbon products. 

 The exports in 1884 were 10,185 Mo., value 61,110 fr. 



Brazil. In Brazil, tobacco is chiefly cultivated in the 

 provinces of Bahia, Minas, Sao Paulo, and Para. The 

 town of Purificagao, in Bahia, is the centre of an important 

 district. The cultivation is increasing, and greater care is 

 being taken in the preparation. The common up-country 

 method is to pick the leaves from the stalks, dry them 

 under the hut-roofs, remove the midribs, and spread them 

 in superposed layers, amounting to 2-8 lb., for rolling to- 

 gether and binding with bark strips. These rolls are 

 bound very tightly with cord, and left for several days, 

 when the cord is replaced by strips of jacitara, the split 

 stem of a climbing palm (Desmoncus sp. div.), and have a 

 stick-like form 1 J inch in diameter. They are sold in masas 

 of 4-6 feet in length, but the tobacco is not considered good 

 till it has fermented for 5-6 months, when it is hard and 

 black, and shaved off as required for pipes, cigarettes, and 

 cigars, the last made with wrappers of tauari bark (Coura- 

 tari guianensis). The Tapajos tobacco is considered the 

 finest in the Amazon valley. The export of tobacco from 

 Bahia in 1877-8 was 17,272,678 Ho., and in 1878-9, 

 18,149,201 Mo., almost the whole being to Germany. 

 Santos, in 1878-9, shipped 381,310 kilo. Bahia sends 



