PRODUCTION AND COMMERCE. 179 



20s. a pood (of 36 lb.), giving a profit of 22s. a cwt. 

 Hitherto the cultivation has been confined to the plains, 

 where both soil and atmosphere are damp, but it might 

 be worth trying the hill-skirts. About 2000 cwt. were 

 produced in 1878. The exports of tobacco, the produce 

 of Ghilan, from Eesht to Russia, were valued at 4615Z. in 

 1878, and 6154/. in 1879. The values (in rupees) of the 

 exports in 1879 were 13,000 from Bushire, 73,500 from 

 Lingah, and 35,000 from Bahrein. 



At the time when I wrote the article on tobacco in 

 Spons' Encyclopedia, the true source and history of an 

 article called " tumbeki " was still in doubt. From re- 

 searches made at the instigation of my friend E. Morell 

 Holmes, F.L.S., the Curator of the Pharmaceutical Society's 

 Museum, it is now clear that it is a Persian tobacco, and 

 as such calls for mention here. The following paragraph 

 reproduces what I said on the subject in Spons' Encyclo- 

 paedia. 



" Tumbeki. This word, under a multitude of forms, is 

 the common name in several Eastern languages (Bengali, 

 Hindustani, Telugu, Sunda, Javanese, Malayan, Persian, 

 Guzerati, Deccan) for ordinary tobacco. But in Asia 

 Minor, it is applied to a narcotic leaf which is spoken of 

 as distinct from tobacco, and is separately classified in the 

 Consular Keturns. Botanical authorities are at variance 

 as to the plant which affords it, some attributing it to a 

 Lobelia, while others consider it a kind of tobacco. The 

 latter appears to be the more correct supposition. The flower 

 resembles the tobacco in being trumpet-shaped ; the leaf 

 is broader, larger, and rounder than that of the tobacco 

 raised in Turkey, and is also wrinkled like the inner leaf 



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