ind a
lot of tobacco, which has just arrived, and is being prepared for
inspection; the first requisite being to remove from it any leaves that
are either dead or in any way injured. The tobacco lays loosely
scattered over an immense wooden tray, which is kept continually
moving, by means of machinery, from one end of a table to the other.
Around this table are seated some twelve or fourteen Cuban workmen, all
good judges of tobacco. Each one throws aside such leaves as he deems
unfit for use, while the slow but yet continual motion given to the
tray brings each imperfection successively before the eyes of all. The
next step is to free the tobacco from any particles of sand or earth
that may adhere to it. This is done by moving the tray by machinery,
until it is over a large bin, into which the tobacco is allowed to
fall, being subjected in its passage to a powerful current of air
induced by means of an immense fan, likewise worked by machinery. One
step more, and a very simple one--that of drying--and the tobacco is
ready for a change of form. The tobacco is dried by simply exposing it
on the roof, for a few hours, to the heat of the sun. For cigarettes it
can scarcely be too dry, or for cigars too damp. A Cuban would not
think of smoking other than a damp cigar. In the factories one sees the
workmen smoking cigars they have just rolled, and no native could
understand why one should smoke dry cigars in which so much of the
natural flavor has been lost.

Thus far the process has been entirely one of cleansing or of freeing
from impurities. The next step is that of cutting the leaves into fine
particles in order to adapt the tobacco for cigarettes. The scattered
leaves are first collected and subjected to powerful hydraulic
pressure, from which they come out looking for all the world like a
pile of snuff-colored brick. The moulded tobacco next goes to the
cutting machine, falling from thence into a sieve, the meshes of which
pass only such pieces as have been reduced to the proper size. The
remainder is passed into a hopper, and thence goes for a second
cutting. One step more, and the tobacco will be issued to the
"rollers." Some half a dozen Chinese enter the room, each carrying with
him a small vessel containing an aromatic liquid, with which the loose
tobacco is carefully sprinkled. The preparation of this liquid is not
known. It is doubtless the desire to keep it secret that leads to the
preference of Chinese over n