226 
CtTMANA TOBACCO. 
which is but little soluble in water, and in which the stimu- 
lant property of tobacco seems to reside. 
At Cumanacoa the tobacco, after being gathered, under- 
goes a preparation which the Spaniards call cur a seca. The 
leaves are suspended by threads of cocuiza ;* their ribs are 
taken out, and they are twisted into cords. The prepared 
tobacco should be carried to the king’s warehouses in the 
month of June; but the indolence of the inhabitants, and 
the preference they give to the cultivation of maize and cas- 
sava, usually prevent them from finishing the preparation 
before the month of August. It is easy to conceive 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 expired, the manoques are 
opened to examine the quality. If the administrator find 
the tobacco well prepared, he pays the cultivator three piastres 
for the aroba of twenty-five pounds weight. 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 
gone into a state of fermentation, is publicly burnt. ; and the 
cultivator, who has received money in advance from the royal 
farm, loses irrevocably the fruits of his long labour. We 
saw heaps, amounting to five hundred arobas, burnt in the 
great square, which in Europe might have served for making 
snuff. 
The soil of Cumanacoa is so favourable to this branch of 
culture, that tobacco grows wild, wherever the seed finds any 
moisture. It grows thus spontaneously at Cerro del Cuclii- 
vano, and around the cavern of Caripe. The only kind of 
tobacco cultivated at Cumanacoa, as well as in the neighbour- 
ing districts of Aricagua and San Lorenzo, is that with large 
sessile leaves, t called Virginia tobacco. The tobacco with 
petiolate leaves, J which is the yeti of the ancient Mexicans, 
is unknown. 
In studying the history of our cultivated plants, we are 
surprised to find that, before the conquest, the use of tobacco 
was spread through the greater part of America, while the 
potato was unknown both in Mexico aud the West India 
Islands, where it grows well in the mountainous regions. 
* Agave Americana. + Nicotiana Tabacum. % Nicotiana rustic*. 
