IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 105 



up into cigarettes by girls. The process is not 

 quite that with which we are familiar, for they are 

 supplied with completed cigarette-papers, into 

 which cylinders the tobacco is pushed. Another 

 girl cuts off the loose ends, and the cigarette is 

 ready. They are then packed in boxes. As a 

 rule Herzegovinian cigarettes are made with 

 mouthpieces. No cigars are made here. 



The tobacco, which is to be sold as such, is 

 also put up in packets by women. The very finest 

 (flOi-) is combed out by hand, and the threads, 

 which are all of equal length, are packed in tin 

 boxes. This quality, of course, is very expensive. 



The fault, to an English smoker, of these 

 tobaccos is that they are so very dry. Of course 

 one has the satisfaction of knowing that one is 

 not buying water at the price of tobacco ; but some 

 damping process is necessary before the govern- 

 ment product can be smoked in a pipe. Even 

 then it cannot be called satisfactory, as it is all too 

 finely cut. 



The prices paid to the cultivator are, of course, 

 a great deal lower than those at which the 

 tobacco is afterwards sold. Allowing for the heavy 

 expenses of the factory, and of the fiscal super- 

 vision of the fields, roads, and frontiers, the profit 

 must be enormous. This of course leads to 

 smuggling, and excellent contraband tobacco can 

 be readily bought at much less than half the 



