rtuguese conquerors, whose thirst for gold
was gratified by its discovery. The finding by the Spaniards of gold,
silver, and the balmy plant, and by the Portuguese of valuable and
glittering gems, opened up to Spain and Portugal three great sources
of wealth and power. But while the Spaniards were the first
discoverers of the plant there seems to be conflicting opinions as to
which nation first began its culture, and whether the plant was
cultivated first in the Old World or in the New. Humboldt says:--

"It was neither from Virginia nor from South America, but
from the Mexican province of Yucatan that Europe received
the first tobacco seeds about the year 1559.[20] The
Spaniards became acquainted with tobacco in the West India
Islands at the end of the 15th Century, and the cultivation
of Tobacco preceded the cultivation of the potato in Europe
more than one hundred and twenty years. When Sir Walter
Raleigh brought tobacco from Virginia to England in 1586,
whole fields of it were already cultivated in Portugal.[21]
It was also previously known in France."

[Footnote 20: Mussey in his Essay on Tobacco records
"That Cortez sent a specimen of the plant to the king of
Spain in 1519." Yucatan was discovered by Hernandez
Cordova in 1517, and in 1519 was first settled.]

[Footnote 21: Spain began its culture in Mexico on the
coast of Caracas at the islands of St. Domingo and
Trinidad, and particularly in Louisiana.]

Another author says of its introduction into Europe:--

"The seeds of the tobacco plant were first brought to Europe
by Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo, who introduced it into
Spain, where it was first cultivated as an ornamental plant,
till Monardes[22] extolled it as possessed of medicinal
virtues."[23]

[Footnote 22: Pourchat declares that the Portuguese
brought it into Europe from Tobago, an island in the
West Indies; but this is hardly probable, as the island
was never under the Portuguese dominion.]

[Footnote 23: Monardes wrote upon it only from the small
account he had of it from the Brazilians.]

Murray says of the first cultivation of tobacco and potatoes in the
Old World:--

"Amidst the numerous remarkable productions ushered into the