250 SNUFF AND SNUFF-BOXES. 



rounded by a rich scroll border, within which are 

 introduced figures of men unloading snuff-casks, 

 pounding leaves, and rasping carottes ; while the 

 enjoyment of snuff-taking is depicted in a fourth 

 figure, dressed in the extreme of fashion. 



This mode of making snuff by grating the twisted 

 tobacco is excellently shown in the cut. Carver, in his 

 History of the Tobacco-plant (1779), thus describes the 

 mode of preparing this roll tobacco and snuff, as he 

 saw it in America : — " Being possessed of a tobacco- 

 wheel, which is a very simple machine, they spin the 

 leaves, after they are properly cured, into a twist of 

 any size they think fit ; * and having folded it into 

 rolls of about twenty pounds weight each, they lay it 

 by for use. In this state it will keep for several years, 

 and be continually improving, as it every hour grows 

 milder. When they have occasion to use it, they take 

 off such a length as they think necessary, which, if 

 designed for smoking, they cut into small pieces, for 

 chewing into larger, as choice directs ; if they intend 

 to make snuff of it they take a quantity from the roll, 

 and laying it in a room where a fire is kept, in a day 

 or two it will become dry, and being rubbed on a 

 grater will produce a genuine snuff. Those in more 

 improved regions, who like their snuff scented, apply 

 to it such odoriferous waters as they can procure, or 

 think most pleasing." As the tobacco-roll and the 

 Indian became the sign of the tobacconist ; so the 



* See a cut of the process, p. 125. 



