his belief the pipe became sacred, and smoking became
a moral if not a religious act, amongst the North American Indians.
The Iroquois are of opinion that by burning Tobacco they could send up
their prayers to the Great Spirit with the ascending incense, thus
maintaining communication with the spirit world; and Dr. Daniel
Wilson suggests that
"the practice of smoking originated in the use of
the intoxicating fumes for purposes of divination, and other
superstitious rites."

When an Indian goes on an expedition, whether of peace or war, his
pipe is his constant companion; it is to him what salt is among Arabs:
the pledge of fidelity and the seal of treaties. In the words of a
_Review_:

"Tobacco supplies one of the few comforts by which men who
live by their hands, solace themselves under incessant
hardship."

While the presence, and use of tobacco by the natives of America are
among the most interesting features connected with its history, it can
hardly be more so than is its early cultivation by the Spaniards,
English and Dutch, and afterward by the French. The cultivation of the
plant began in the West India Islands and South America early in the
Sixteenth Century. In Cuba its culture commenced in 1580, and from
this and the other islands large quantities were shipped to Europe. It
was also cultivated near Varina in Columbia, while Amazonian tobacco
had acquired an enviable reputation as well as Varinian, long before
its cultivation began in Virginia by the English. At this period of
its culture in America the entire product was sent to Spain and
Portugal, and from thence to France and Great Britain and other
countries of Europe. The plant and its use attracted at once the
attention as well as aroused the cupidity of the Spaniards, who prized
it as one of their greatest discoveries.

As soon as Tobacco was introduced into Europe by the Spaniards, and
its use became a general custom, its sale increased as extensively as
its cultivation. At this period it brought enormous prices, the finest
selling at from fifteen to eighteen shillings per pound. Its
cultivation by the Spaniards in various portions of the New World
proved to them not only its real value as an article of commerce, but
also that several varieties of the plant existed; as on removal from
one island or province to another it changed in size and quality of
leaf. Varinas tobacco at this time was one of the f