1812. 
MODE OF TAKING SNUFF. — ON SMOKING TOBACCO. 
321 
proof of their having enjoyed abundance. They begged for lishuena 
(snuff) ; and to each I gave enough to have lasted two days, at a 
moderate rate of using it. 
Their mode of taking snuff was certainly no imitation of Euro- 
peans, whose finger and thumb are generally found sufficient for 
this purpose ; but the Bachapins think otherwise : they lay a large 
quantity in the palm of their hand, and draw the whole of it up their 
nostrils at once. It was in this manner that I saw it now taken, and 
with an eagerness which proved how great was the enjoyment it 
afforded them ; although, from seeing their eyes streaming with 
tears, it would rather have been concluded that it must have been 
painful. 
But, I will not dare to dispute that there is pleasure in a custom 
which, by having been followed by so many, and such various, 
nations, must, I imagine, really possess something agreeable, to have 
thus gained adoption so generally. The same remark may be made 
on that of smoking tobacco, or similar drugs, a practice still more 
general, and even more at variance with the simple course of nature ; 
if such an opinion may be pronounced of any artificial habits, to 
which common consent among the generations of several centuries, 
seems to have lent a character which gives them a place among 
legitimate, and even reasonable, indulgences. 
From the New Continent, the native soil of the tobacco, the 
practice of inhaling the smoke of its leaves, and along with it, the 
plant itself, have spread over almost every country of the Old World, 
and have been received as a valuable addition to the comforts of life. 
In no nation can it be estimated at a higher rate, than among those of 
Southern Africa ; an assertion which has been well proved in the 
preceding parts of this journal ; and, in those which follow the same 
testimony will be found. 
It may be convenient to bring together in this place, the sub- 
stance of the information obtained on the subject of Bichudna 
tobacco. Although the tobacco-plant has not yet reached the 
Bachapins, and although they do not, more than the Bushmen, 
cultivate it ; vet it has long been travelling southward over the con- 
VOL. II. T T 
