THE SOVERANE HERBE 



CHAPTER I 



THE BEGINNING OF SMOKING 



Smoking originated as a religious rite — Its evolution from 

 incense — First seen by Columbus — Described by Gonzalo— 

 The first pipe, Tobago — Origin of word 'tobacco' — Its 

 names in America — Practice common in the New World — 

 Descriptions of its use by the early travellers — Introduced 

 into Europe — Was smoking practised in the Old World 

 before the discovery of America ? — Use of herbal fumes by 

 ancients— Smoking unknown until brought from America. 



The first man who ate an oyster is proverbial ; the 

 inventor of roast pig is immortally enshrined ; but 

 the first smoker is unknown. He is robed in no 

 legend and enwreathed by no fable. Poets have 

 not sung him, artists have not pictured him, nor 

 have historians traced his rise and conquests, greater 

 than those of Mahomet. Yet there is no practice 

 so curious and universal as that of inhaling the 

 smoke of tobacco. We have no story of the hero 

 who dared the world's first smoke, of his fortitude 

 under its tribulations, of his constancy, and of the 



