OF TOBACCO. 315 



unsightly protuberance, just above and on one side 

 of the chin, and occasions a continual ejection of 

 saliva, which, as it is cast only upon the earth, is 

 less objectionable than a similar indulgence when 

 committed in the more civilized resorts of men, as, 

 for example, in the drawing-rooms of the less 

 fastidious of our Transatlantic brethren. 



The people of Tajourah manufacture this tobacco 

 into snuff by first scorching the leaf, and then 

 triturating it between two stones, something in the 

 same manner as paint is ground in England. 

 Some of the Dankalli tribes, among which are the 

 Assobah, and Omah Battah's family of the Sidee 

 Abreu, are remarkable for their abstinence from 

 the use of this intoxicating herb, an indulgence in 

 which, by any individual belonging to either of 

 these tribes would be followed by his assassination. 

 These people may have derived this prejudice from 

 some early connexion with the Christian Church of 

 Abyssinia, one canon of which interdicts the use of 

 tobacco among its communicants. I suspected also 

 that it might have arisen from the exhortation of 

 some of their more respected Sheiks, who had 

 learnt the existence of a similar abstinence 

 from tobacco, practised by the modern Islam sect 

 termed Whaahbee. On inquiry, however, I found 

 that the Dankalli had rejected its use long before 

 the appearance of these Unitarians of South 

 Arabia. I may observe that the Whaabhee found 

 their objection to the use of tobacco, upon some 



