PRODUCTION AND COMMERCE. 181 



give was that in the ' Treasury of Botany ' tumbeky is 

 stated to be the narcotic leaf of a species of lobelia. 



" From its frequent occurrence in the Blue Books in the 

 same list with tobacco, and from the large quantities men- 

 tioned as an export from Trebizonde, my correspondent sug- 

 gested that it was probably something used for smoking 

 like tobacco. In the hope that tumbeki might prove 

 to be some drug possessing important narcotic or possible 

 medicinal properties, I wrote to Mr. A. Biliotti, Consul at 

 Trebizonde, for information. In reply, he forwarded 

 samples of tumbeki of different growths and qualities. 

 This proved on examination to be unquestionably some 

 kind of tobacco, and being puzzled to know why it figured 

 in the Blue Books as a distinct article, I asked Mr. Thomas 

 Christy, F.L.S., to make inquiries for me in Persia. He 

 received the following note through Mr. Zanni, the well- 

 known chemist at Constantinople, from whom I received 

 the following information : 



" ' There are three qualities of the teymbeki, all derived 

 from the Nicotiana persica. 



" 1. Shiraz teymbeki, valued at twenty gold piastres 

 per oke.* 



" ' 2. Kechan teymbeki, valued at ten gold piastres. 



" * 3. Teheran teymbeki, equal in value to No. 2. 



" c The Shiraz is the best quality, the leaves are four 

 decimetres long and half a decimetre wide. The leaves 

 of the two other qualities are not so large. The quantity 

 of alkaloid in the leaves of teymbeki is more than in the 

 leaves of Nicotiana Tabacum ; it is much used in Constanti- 

 nople, but more so in Egypt, Syria, and particularly in 

 * The oke equals ten kilogrames ; a piastre, 2%d. 



