TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
184 
was believed to have killed, besides the sow, a cow 
which had disappeared some weeks previously. 
The weather was now very dry : no rain had fallen | 
for some time ; the oranges were fully ripe, and the grass, j 
so green and fresh when I arrived, was beginning to , ! 
assume a brownish-yellow tinge. Tobacco-picking had j 
begun, and I saw the process of the manufacture as car- | 
ried on here. Tobacco is sown thickly on a small patch | 
of ground, and the young plants are then set in rows, 
just as we do cabbages. They are much attacked by 
the caterpillar of a sphinx moth, which grows to a large 
size, and would completely devour the crop unless care- 
fully picked off. Old men, and women, and children are 
therefore constantly employed going over a part of the | 
field every day, and carefully examining the plants leaf | 
by leaf till the insects are completely exterminated. 
When they show any inclination to flower, the buds are 
nipped off ; and as soon as the leaves have reached their 
full size, they are gathered in strong wicker baskets, and 
are laid out in the house or a shed, on poles supported |jjj 
by uprights from the floor to the ceiling. In a few I, 
days they dry, and during the hot days become quite f 
crisp ; but the moisture of the night softens them, 'and | \ 
early in the morning they are flaccid. Wlien they are 
judged sufficiently dry, every leaf must have the strong 
fibrous midrib taken out of it. Tor this purpose all the 
household— men, women, and children^ — are called up 
at four in the morning, and are set to work tearing out 
the midrib, before the heat of the day makes the leaves : 
too brittle to allow of the operation. A few of the best | 
leaves are sometimes selected to make cigars, but the I ; 
