TOBACCO. 589 



Agency that the cultivator's accounts of one season shall be definitively settled 

 before the commencement of the next, and that no outstanding balances shall 

 remain over. When a cultivator has from fraud neglected to bring produce to 

 cover his advances, the balances due by him are at once recovered, if necessary 

 by legal means ; whereas, if he can satisfactorily show that he has become a 

 defaulter from calamity and uncontrollable circumstances, and that the liquida- 

 tion of his debt is placed entirely beyond his power, his case is then made the 

 subject of report to the Government by the Agent, with the request that the 

 debt may be written off to profit and loss. These provisions are most wise, for 

 outstanding balances may be made the means of oppression, and to their opera- 

 tion may be trace< I a considerable amount of litigation and agrarian crime in 

 the indigo districts of lower Bengal, it is clear that when such balances become 

 so large that the cultivator cannot discharge them, he is no longer a free agent, 

 but is perfectly subservient to the will of his creditor, for whom he must culti- 

 vate whether he d ,-.-ure it or not. Such burdens may even be handed down from 

 father to son. The fairness of the Agency system, and the justice with which the 

 cultivators are treated, are best evidenced by the readiness with which they come 

 forward to cultivate, and also by the comparative rarity of agrarian crime, 

 arising out of matters connected with the poppy cultivation. 



Opium is grown to some extent in Egypt ; 39,875 Ibs. were 

 produced in 1831, and sold at two dollars a pound. 



At the end of October, after the withdrawal of the N"ile waters 

 the seed, mixed with a portion of pulverised earth, is sown in a 

 strong soil, in furrows ; after fifteen days the plant springs up, 

 and in two months has the thickness of a Turkish pipe, and a 

 height of four feet ; the stalk is covered with long, oval leaves, 

 and the fruit, which is greenish, resembles a small orange. 

 Every morning before sunrise, in its progress to maturity, small 

 incisions are made in the sides of the fruit, from which a white 

 liquor distils almost immediately, which is collected in a vessel ; 

 it soon becomes black and thickish, and is rolled into balls, which 

 are covered with the washed leaves of the plant ; in this state it 

 is sold. The seeds are crushed for lamp oil, and the plant is used 

 for fuel. 



A plant known in Jamaica under the name of bull hoof yields 

 a narcotic which has been administered successfully in the shape 

 of tincture and a syrup, instead of opium. This is the Muracuja 

 ocellata, or Passiflora muracuja, of Swartz, an elegant climber, 

 bearing bright scarlet blossoms. There is another species, J. 

 orbiculata, found in Hayti and other islands, which may be ex- 

 pected to partake more or less of the properties of the former. 

 The flowers are the parts most commonly employed. 



THE TOBACCO PLANT. 



SEVERAL species of Nicotium furnish tobacco ; that chiefly used 

 in Europe is procured from N. Tabacum and its numerous varieties, 

 a plant naturally inhabiting the hotter parts of North and South 

 America. The popular narcotic furnished by tobacco is probably 

 in more extensive use than any other, and its only rivals are opium 

 and the betel-nut and leaf of the East. The herb for smoking 

 was brought to England from Tobago, in the West Indies, or 

 from Tobasco, in Mexico (whence the name), by Sir Ralph 



