Tobacco has been already fully described in the
agricultural department of the work, and in this
place it will only be necessary to offer a few remarks
on the trade in it. Small quantities of tobacco
are every where grown for domestic consumption,
but a rich soil and considerable agri-
cultural skill being necessary to produce it in
quantity and perfection, it is an article of foreign
exportation only in a few situations. These situations
are Lusong, Majindanao, but especially Java.
This latter country, besides its^ o wn internal supply,
exports an immense quantity to Borneo, Sumatra,
the Malayan Peninsula, Celebes, and the
Spice Islands. The whole quantity exported is
5,000,000 lbs. The tobacco of Java, as it appears
in commerce, is, as mentioned in another place,
divided into three kinds, collected from the
same plants,—the upper, middle, and under leaves,
constituting respectively tobacco of the Jirst, second,
and tim'd qualities, the prices of which
on the spot may be reckoned in order at 5d.,
3d., and Ifd. per lb. It would be difficult to
institute any comparison between these pricesj
and those of the tobaccos of other countries, from
the nature of the preparation which the Java
tobacco undergoes, which is finely shred, well
dried, and freed from the mid-rib, a state in which
other tobaccos do not appear in the markets. It is
t,Q be observed, that, in the present state of agricultural
industry, when dressings are never applied
to inferior lands to fit them for growing tobacco,
the growth of the plant is necessarily restricted to
a few favoured spots, which consequently pay an
enormous rent to the landlord, by which the price
of tobacco is necessarily enhanced. At the same
time, the state of commercial intercourse, the peculiar
preparation of the drug, and the long established
prejudice of the consumer in its favour,
contribute to give the Javanese commodity a monopoly
of the market, and to exclude the competition
of foreign produce. This naturally accounts
for its high price, compared to the raw produce
of the same soil.
Java tobacco, as it appears in commerce, is prepared
by the Chinese, who pack it very neatly in
little parcels of a few ounces in Chinese paper, which
is stamped with their seals. A certain number
are contained in a basket, which are sold by kodis,
corges, or scores, one of which weighs 1100 lbs. a-
voirdupois. T h e cost at the market of Samarang, after
payment of inland duties, and charged with the
heavy cost of transport on men’s shoulders, over
sixty or seventy miles of difficult road, may be
reckoned, for the lowest sort, 40 Spanish dollars, or
18s. 4d. per cwt.; for the second sort, 80 Spanish
dollars, or 86s. Sd.; and for the first, 120 Spanish
dollars, or 55s. per cwt.
Of drugs and perfumes, a considerable number
v o l . i n . D d