410 



Notices of Books, 



[Oct. 



with the general infection ; and though some religiously abstain from 

 its use, their nobles, as their women, may be seen inhaling it in the 

 midst of perfumed essences, while the labouring bearer and hard-work- 

 ing boatman seem to derive fresh vigour from their ever-in-hand 

 hooqqas : the mountaineer, finding it inconvenient to carry such an 

 apparatus over his rugged roads, makes a hole in the ground, through 

 which he smokes. 



" The Spaniards are said to have first become acquainted with the to- 

 bacco in the West Indies. The name by which it is now known was 

 that used in the Haytian language to designate the pipe used in smok- 

 ing the herb, which by the Mexicans was called yetl, and by the Pe- 

 ruvians sayri (Humboldt). It was first cultivated near Lisbon about 

 1560 ; and introduced into England in 1 586 by Sir Walter Raleigh and 

 his companions. It early attracted the notice of the English settlers 

 in Virginia, especially after the founding of James Town in 1607. 

 Shortly after this, it appears that tobacco was introduced in lieu of 

 specie, as the tavern-keepers were compelled to exchange a dinner for 

 a few pounds of tobacco, and government officers were paid in the 

 same commodity (Tatham, p. 180) ; Malte Brune, quoting from Morse, 

 states that, about 1619, on the arrival of a fresh body of emigrants, 

 150 young women were sold to the planters as wives, at 1501bs. of 

 tobacco each. In the native annals tobacco is described to have been 

 first taken to Java in 1601. In Persian works on Materia Medica, it 

 is stated to have been introduced into India in A. EL 1014 (A. D. 1605) 

 towards the end of the Sultunnut of Jelaladeen Akbar Padshaw. This 

 is confirmed by a proclamation of Jehangeer, who succeeded in July of 

 that year. From India tobacco was probably taken to the Malayan 

 peninsula, and perhaps to China ; but Pallas, Rumphius, and Lou- 

 reiro, are of opinion that in China the use of tobacco is more ancient 

 than the discovery of the New World. 



" As tobacco is now extensively cultivated both in the Old and New 

 World, it will be proper, if we wish to obtain an idea of the climate 

 best suited to it, to ascertain that of the places where the best kinds 

 are grown. The species referred to the genus Nicotiann are twenty- 

 six in number in the Syst. Yegetabiiium of Rcemer and Schultes. 

 Of these, some are doubtful and others probably only varieties ; so 

 that one-fifth may be safely deducted from the above number. The re- 

 mainder are indigenous in America from Brazil and Chili, along Peru, 

 to Mexico and the rocky mountains on the north. One species, Ni 

 Australasia, R. Brown Congo, p. 472 (suaveolens, Lehm., undulata, 

 Bot. Mag. 673) is undoubtedly wild in New Holland, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Port Jackson. N. persica, of Dr. Lindley, affording the fine 

 Shiraz tobacco, is supposed to be so in Persia and N. chi?iensis, in 

 China, 



