LATAKIA TOBACCO. 363 
same seed. Latakia tobacco is not sweated like most tobacco 
but is first cured in the sun and then hung up in the peasants? 
huts to cure until ready for market. The plants ripen very 
fast and emit an aromatic odor, increasing in strength as the 
plants ripen. For smoking it has but few superiors. After 
curing, it is baled and sent to Europe, where it is manu- 
TOBACCO FIELD IN SYRIA. 
factured into smoking tobacco. The plants are well cultivated 
and watched against the ravages of birds, which seem to like 
the young and tender plants especially before they are trans- 
planted. From the nature of the soil the plants are watered 
frequently, and when the leaves are about the size of a large 
cabbage leaf are ready to harvest. As the plants ripen 
the leaves gradually thicken and take on a lighter shade; 
the leaf when green is very thick, but after curing is quite 
thin and of a bright yellow or brown, according to the pro- 
cess employed in curing. The peasants take equal pains in 
its fumigation, using various kinds of wood according to the 
color of leaf they wish to obtain. They usually make two 
kinds of leaf, the finest being colored brown and known by 
the name of abowri. The tobacco is fumigated with two 
kinds of wood, gozen (pine wood) and sindian (oak), the 
tobacco fumigated with gozen having the best smell. The 
fumigation, however, is said not to be resorted to expressly 
