MANILLA TOBACCO. 375 
the plants are set on the ridges where they flourish and 
mature until the buds and flowers are broken off. The har- 
vest occurs in the autumn, when the singular process of 
curing begins. 
Abbott says of the culture and commerce of tobacco in 
Persia: 
“Jehrum, South Persia, is the principal mart for tobacco, 
which is brought here from all the surrounding districts, and 
disposed of to traders, who distribute it over the country far 
and near. These traders are numerous, and many established 
here are wealthy ; they usually transact their business in their 
private houses, without resorting to the caravansaries of 
which there are six in the place. There are many grades 
and qualities of Shiraz tobacco but that produced at Tuffres 
(according to Forster), a town about one hundred miles to 
the south-west of Turshish, is esteemed the best in Persia. 
“Of the many varieties of the tobacco plant grown in the 
East, that known as Manilla is among the most famous and the 
most extensively cultivated. Itis grown in several of the Phil- 
ippine islands, particularly in Luzon and the southern group, 
known as the Visayos. The Philippines are a large group of 
islands in the North Pacific Ocean, discovered by Magellan 
in 1521; they were afterwards taken posession of by the 
Spaniards, in the reign of Philip IL, from whom they take 
their name. : 
“ The islands are said to be eleven hundred in number, but 
some hundreds of them are very small, and all are nominally 
subject to the Spanish government at Manilla. The Philip- 
pines produce a great variety of tropical products such as 
rice, coffee, sugar, indigo, tobacco, cotton, cacao, abaca, or vege- 
table silk, pepper, gums, cocoa-nuts, dye-woods, timber of all 
descriptions for furniture and the buildings, rattans of various 
kinds, and all the agreeable fruits of the tropics. On the 
shores are found nacre, or mother of pearl, magnificent pearls, 
bird’s-nests, shells of every description, an incredible quan- 
tity of excellent fish, and the trépang, or balaté, a sea-worm, 
or animal substance, found on the shores of the Philippine 
Islands, resembling a large pudding. The Chinese esteem it 
as a great delicacy and mix it with fowl and vegetables. 
The inhabitants practise various kinds of industry; they 
weave matting of extraordinary fineness and of the brightest 
colors, straw hats, cigar cases and brackets; they manufacture 
cloth and tissues of every sort from cotton, silk, and abaca ; 
