60 



should be carried to the king's warehouses in 

 the month of June : but the laziness of the in- 

 habitants, and the preference they give to the 

 cultivation of maize and cassava, commonly 

 prevent them from finishing the preparation 

 before the month of August. It is easy to con- 

 ceive, that the leaves, so long exposed to very 

 moist air, must lose some of their flavour. The 

 administrator of the farm keeps the tobacco 

 deposited in the king's warehouses sixty days, 

 without touching it. When this time is ex- 

 pired, the manoques are opened to examine the 

 quality. If the administrator find the tobacco 

 well prepared, he pays the cultivator three pi- 

 astres for the arroba of twenty-five pounds 

 weighty The same quantity is resold for the 

 king's profit at twelve piastres and a half. The 

 tobacco that is rotten (podrido)^ that is, again 

 in fermentation, is publickly burnt ; and the 

 cultivator, who has received money in advance 

 from the royal farm, loses irrevocably the fruits 

 of a long labour. We saw heaps of five hun- 

 dred arrobas burnt in the great square, which 

 in Europe, might have served for making snuff. 



The soil of Cumanacoa is so proper for this 

 branch of culture, that tobacco grows wild, 

 wherever the seed finds any moisture. It grows 

 thus spontaneously at Cerro del Cuchivano, and 

 around the cavern of Caripe. Besides, the only 

 kind of tobacco cultivated at Cumanacoa, as 



