156 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



respectable quantity of perfectly cured beans grown here were 

 sent, some to Madras, some home, by F. One point in their 

 previous treatment I remember, namely, their being soaked 

 in sweet oil to keep them moist, and to extract, while at the 

 same time retaining, their distinctive, exquisite aroma. 



Tobacco, too, was there. The flowers of this Indian 

 variety, unlike the original American stock, and the culti- 

 vated English-garden plant, are quite small, and pink and 

 white in colour ; not anything like so beautiful to look at, 

 but fully as fragrant, so that our patch of them was a 

 veritable joy. 



The experiment of cultivating this tobacco ended, as it 

 was meant to do — in smoke ; for men who understood the 

 work came from Trichinopoly to do the curing and rolling 

 into cheroots x (here we did not call them cigars) after the 

 manner of ' Trichies/ a sort which it takes a well-seasoned 

 smoker to appreciate, as they are very strong. Trichies 

 have a special shape of their own, being large and tapering, 

 and cut off square at each end, and have a reed through 

 them, which is supposed to make them ' draw ' better. 



Besides the work being all part of his profession, F. 

 delighted in the garden, and was in it morning, noon, and 

 night. One of his experiments had a rather curious develop- 

 ment. 



The idea occurred to him of trying to acclimatise ipecacu- 

 anha, 2 and having procured seedlings — no difficulties in such 

 matters ever daunting him — he succeeded in rearing healthy 

 plants. The experiment was carried out entirely on his own 

 initiative, and he finally made a present of his results to the 

 Indian Government, wrote a pamphlet stating that, in his 

 opinion, the experiment would be an advantageous one to 

 follow up, and gave full directions for the obtaining of seed- 

 lings, their culture, and the sort of ground necessary for 



1 Anglicised form of Tamil word, shuruttu, a roll. 



2 South America is the natural habitat of this plant. 



