s
smoking the leaves of a plant, "the perfume of which was fragrant and
grateful." But while cigars are of very ancient origin in the West
Indies, they were not generally known in Europe until the beginning of
the Nineteenth Century. In fact, of all the various works on
gastronomy and the pleasures of the table, written and published from
1800 to 1815, not one speaks of this now indispensable adjunct of a
good dinner. Even Britlat-Savarin, in his _Physiologie du Gout_,
entirely ignores tobacco and all its distractions and charms. Benzo
gives the following account of the manufacture of a cigar in
Hispaniola:--

"They take a leafe from the stalks of their great bastard
corn (which we commonly called Turkie--wheat) together with
one of these tobacco-leaves and fold them up together like a
coffin of paper, such as grocers make to put spices in, or
like a small organ-pipe. Then putting one end of the same
coffin to the fire, and holding the other end in their
mouths, they draw their breath to them. When the fire hath
once taken at the pipe's end, they draw forth so much smoke
that they have their mouth, nose, throat, and head full of
it; and, as if they tooke a singular delight therein they
never leave supping and drinking till they can sup no more,
and thereby loose their breath and their feeling."

Sahagun, in his "History of New Spain," speaks of the natives as using
the leaves of tobacco rolled into cigars, which they ignite and smoke
in tubes of tortoise-shell or silver. The following article from the
_New York Times_ contains much valuable information in regard to
cigars, especially Havanas:

[Illustration: Cigars.]

"It is perfectly safe to say that there is more money spent
every day in New York for cigars than for bread," (doubted.)
"From the fine gentlemen, who buy their cigars at
Delmonico's, or get them direct from the importers, down to
the little barefoot boys in the streets, who buy theirs from
the Chinamen at the corners or pick up the stumps that are
thrown away, all smoke. In some countries pipes and
cigarettes are made to do duty by the poorer classes, but in
New York cigars seem to be almost invariably preferred. Now,
while there is nothing better, in the way of something to
smoke, than a first-class Havana cigar, there is nothing
nastier than some of the cheap abominations made i