TOBACCO. 



BY 



MISS LAURA BIGNEY, 



Tobacco is so largely produciKl in tlio Kast that an eastern 

 origin has sometimes been claimed for it; but Ali^ionse do 

 Candolle, after considerabli; i-eseareh and a thorough studv of 

 the subject, finds no satisfactory evidence that it was cultivated 

 or used before the discovery of America. 



In the month of NovemlxM-, 1402, when Columbus discovered 

 the island of Cuba, he sent two sailors to ex[)lore. who, on their 

 return, ref)orted many curious discoveries, one of which was 

 that the natives puffed suioke frou) their mouths and noses. 

 On their return to Europi! they assewted that they '-saw the 

 naked savages twist large leaves together and smok»i like 

 devils." The impression the first sight of this hal>it, which is 

 now so connnon in every city and town, made upon those 

 civilized Europeans was evidently not a favorable one, as they 

 compared the smoking Indians to devils. 8ince then little or 

 no improvement has been made in connection with the use t)f 

 Tobacco ; men liave simply followed the examjile of those naked 

 savages whom the discoverers of America saw sntilKng, chewing, 

 and smoking like " devils." Tobacco-using is a barbarous 

 piactice in its fullest sense, for the imi)lemerits of its use and 

 all the different modes of taking it originated wholly with the 

 barbarians, who roamed like; wild l>easts through the forests of 

 America. History gives us ir hint as to how the savages 

 learned the use of this weed. 



Tobacco was first brought to England in 1586 by Sir Francis 

 Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Ralph Lane. Sir John 

 Hawkins is also credited as having introduced it to that 



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