59 



gular rows, three or four feet distant from each 

 other. Care is taken to weed them often, and 

 the principal stalk is several times topped, till 

 greenish blue spots indicate to the cultivator 

 the maturity of the leaves. They begin to ga- 

 ther them in the fourth month, and this first 

 gathering generally terminates in the space of a 

 few days. It would be better to pluck the 

 leaves only as they dry. In good years, the 

 cultivators cut the plant when it is only four 

 feet high ; and the shoot, which springs from 

 the root, throws out new leaves with such rapi- 

 dity, that they may be gathered on the thir- 

 teenth or fourteenth day. These last have the 

 cellular texture very much extended ; and they 

 contain more water, more albumen, and less of 

 that acrid, volatile principle, which is but little 

 soluble in water, and in which the stimulant 

 property of tobacco seems to reside. 



The preparation which the tobacco, after 

 being gathered, undergoes at Cumanacoa, is 

 what the Spaniards call cura seca. Monsieur 

 de Pons has very well described it, as it is prac- 

 tised at Uritucu, and in the valleys of Aragua*. 

 The leaves are suspended by threads of cocui- 

 za : their ribs are taken out, and they are 



twisted into cords. The prepared tobacco 



■ 



* Voyage h la Terre-Ferme, vol. ii, p. 300 to 306. 

 t Agave americana, 



