12 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



potato, also gave us tobacco. When, almost four 

 centuries ago, Christopher Columbus discovered the 

 new world, one of the first landings he made was on 

 the large island of Cuba. Apprehensive of danger 

 in the forests from the savage tribes on every side, 

 Columbus sent scouts ahead to reconnoitre- the coun- 

 try. 



"The sailors forming this party encountered on 

 the way, to their extreme surprise, numerous Indi- 

 ans, both men and women, holding each a sort of 

 lighted fire-brand between the teeth and inhaling the 

 smoke. These -fire-brands, called 'tabagos,' were 

 made of a plant rolled up in a dry leaf. There, then, 

 were the first smokers and the first cigars recorded 

 in history. 



' ' The natives of Cuba and the neighboring islands 

 had, we infer, been addicted to smoking for a long 

 time, probably for centuries, when the Europeans 

 first appeared among them. They had their rolls of 

 dry leaves, or tabagos, and their smoking appliances 

 of soft stone or baked clay, appliances called by us 

 'pipes' and by them 'calumets.' Tobacco, in fact, 

 played a prominent part in their medicine, their su- 

 perstitious observances, and their political assem- 

 blies. 



"Consulted as to future events, the soothsayer 

 first of all inhaled the smoke of several tabagos, 

 while the other persons present, seated in a circle, 

 vied with one another in the energy of their smoking, 

 their ultimate object being to enwrap themselves in 

 a dense cloud. Then from the midst of this cloud 



