SMOKING IN PARAGUAY. 215 



company or council, though there be two or three 

 hundred of them. Then they, sitting in their usual 

 posture upon forms, make with their hands held to- 

 gether, a kind of funnel round their mouths and noses ; 

 into this they receive the smoke as it is blown upon 

 them, snuffing it up greedily and strongly, as long as 

 ever they are able to hold their breath, and seeming to 

 bless themselves, as it were, with the refreshment it 

 gives them." 



Lieutenant Page, who commanded the American 

 expedition to La Plata, speaks of the universal custom 

 of smoking in Paraguay and inviting visitors to join. 

 The servants, as a matter of routine, bring in " a small 

 brass vessel, containing a few coals of fire, and a plate 

 of cigars. This last hospitality is offered in every 

 house, however humble its pretensions in other 

 respects ; and all men, women, and children — delicate 

 refined girls, and young masters who would not with 

 us be promoted to the dignity of pantaloons — smoke 

 with a gravity and gusto that is irresistibly ludicrous 

 to a foreigner. My son sometimes accompanied me 

 in these visits, and was always greatly embarrassed b} r 

 the pressing offer of cigars. I made his excuse by 

 saying ' Smoking is a practice we consider injurious 

 to children.' ' Si, Seiior,' the Paragua}^an would 

 reply, 'with all other tobacco, but not with that of 

 Paraguay.' " With both sexes tobacco is a constant 

 passion. At all hours, and in all places, smoking goes 

 on — in the office, the drawing-room, at the dinner- 

 table, and even at balls and theatres. On the subject of 



