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Notices of Books, 



high dried, or as all stalk and powder, fit only for the inferior kinds of 

 snuff, or for re-exportation. The inconveniences of this are not so 

 much experienced in India as elsewhere, for both natives and Europeans 

 use the tobacco for their hooqqas, only when beat up with molasses, 

 conserves, and spices. 



" That it is not owing to any inherent defect in the climate of the 

 British possessions in India, that the tobacco is of such inferior quality, 

 I am happy to be able to prove by extracts from official documents, 

 with which, owing to his kindness and anxiety to assist in improving 

 the resources of India, I have been favoured by Mr. William Johnson, 

 of the East-India House. First, with respect to that which obtained 

 considerable repute under the name of Martaban tobacco, Dr. Wallich 

 states, that ' the sort is from Arracan and not from Martaban ; ? and 

 describes it as having ' a fine silky leaf : tried by many people, it had 

 been pronounced the very best they had ever tasted, equal to, nay, sur- 

 passing the finest imported from Turkey and Persia.' An extensive 

 tobacconist says, ' a finer and better flavoured tobacco he never saw or 

 tasted in his life.? One of the first brokers in the city says, ( the 

 sample of leaf tobacco is certainly of a very fine quality, and appears 

 to have been produced from some peculiar seed, and a greatly improved 

 cultivation and cure.' By many manufacturers ' it was supposed to be 

 from the seed of Havannah or St. Domingo tobacco.' For smoking, it 

 is compared with Maryland tobacco, having the same qualities, ' except 

 the flavour, which is better, and more like Havannah.' The colour and 

 leaf are moreover pronounced excellent for cigar-making; ' but if any 

 thing is against it for that purpose, it is the largeness of the principal 

 stalk, and coarseness of the small fibres in the leaf.' The commercial 

 gentleman by whom the tobacco was transmitted to the brokers, pro- 

 nounces it very superior, and the leaf as very ' fine, adding, that the 

 price of 6d. or 8d. might readily be obtained, perhaps more, with the 

 improvements suggested. 



" As it is interesting, if possible, to ascertain the peculiarities of 

 climate and country where so superior an article is grown, we have a 

 communication from Mr. R. Hunter, the gentleman who brought the 

 tobacco from Arracan, who states that ' the Sandoune tobacco grows 

 on the sloping banks of rivers not overflowed while the crop is on the 

 ground, but inundated during the rains. The best is that grown above 

 the influence of the tides, about thirty miles from the mouth of the 

 river. The ground receives apparently great attention in cleaning and 

 in breaking the clods. The tobacco is all transplanted about Novem- 

 ber, and the crops are cut about March.' Here we see the coldest 

 season is selected for the cultivation: with respect to climate, it may 

 be inferred from the province of Arracan extending along the western 

 side of the Bay of Bengal, and included between the coast and a range 



