COLOMBIAN TOBACCO. 395 
long before Raleigh’s “ would-be-colonists” sailed for Vir- 
ginia. The principal varieties grown are Colombian, Carmen 
Ambalema, Palmyra, and Giron. Most of these tobsecos 
are used for cigar purposes, especially the latter. The leaf ig 
fine, of good size, and marked with light yellow spots. 
Tanning says of the tobacco of Colombia: 
“The Cumanacoa, Tobacco de la Cueva, de los Misones, de 
la Laguna de Valencia cura seca and Caraco, de la Lagunade 
Valencia cura negro, de Oriluca, de Varinos cura seca, de 
Casovare, de Baylodores, de Rio Negro en Andull, are equal 
to the tobacco of the Brazils. The tobacco of the Cueva, in 
the department of Cumana, is said to be grown from the 
excrements of certain birds deposited by them in a cavity, 
from which the natives extract it: it is considered the finest 
tobacco in Colombia. The birds are a species of the owl. 
“The natives of Varinos, and in fact of the whole kingdom, 
chew a substance called chimo, which is made of a jelly, by 
boiling the Varinos tobacco, and afterwards mixed with an 
alkali called Aurado, which is found in a lake near Merida, 
Both are an estanco of government, and produce a large 
annual income. The mode of cultivating the above tobacco 
by the natives is as follows:—They prepare a small bed, 
sifting the earth very fine, on which they sow the seed, and 
then cover it with plantain leaves for some days. As soon as 
the plants make their appearance, they raise the leaves 
about two feet, so as to give the plants free air, and to allow 
them sooner to grow strong. When they become large 
enongh to transplant, they have the land prepared; and as 
soon as the rainy season sets in, they plant out their young 
plants, taking great care to protect them from the sun, and 
to keep them clean as they grow up, as well as to prevent the 
worms from destroying or eating the leaves. When the leaf 
is ripe, it gets yellow spots on it; and on bending the leaf it 
eracks. Then it is fit for pulling off, which is done, and 
the leaves are ueatly packed in handsful, placed in a dry 
situation, and occasionally shifted from one place to another. 
When the leaves are well dried they are all packed closely, 
and well covered, to keep the flavor in. 
“The leaf is left in this state for one or two months, and 
then made up for use. They never top their tobacco, and 
the leaves never ripen together. The mode adopted by the 
North American planters is somewhat different; they top 
their plants when they have eight full leaves, or they keep it 
