estancias, collected more than the authorised supply; and
violation of this rule, when discovered, was punished by confiscation
of the offender's stock. Everybody was free to purchase cigars in the
estancia, but nobody was permitted to sell a chest of cigars to an
acquaintance at cost price. Several Spaniards with whom I have spoken
concerning these strange regulations maintained them to be perfectly
just, as otherwise all the cigars would be carried off by foreigners,
and they would not be able themselves in their own colony to smoke
a decent cigar.

[Money juggling.] There was, as I afterwards learnt, a still more
urgent reason for the existence of these decrees. The government
valued their own gold at sixteen dollars per ounce, while in commerce
it fetched less, and the premium on silver had, at one time, risen
to thirty-three per cent. Moreover, on account of the insufficient
quantity of copper money for minor currency, the small change
frequently gained a premium on the silver dollar, so much so that by
every purchaser not less than half a dollar was realized. In exchanging
the dollar from five to fifteen per cent discount was charged; it was
profitable, therefore, to purchase cigars in the estancias with the
gold ounce, and then to retail them in smaller quantities nominally
at the rate of the estancias. Both premiums together might in an
extreme case amount to as much as forty-three per cent. [245]

[Directions for cultivating tobacco] Not being able to give a
description of the cultivation of tobacco from personal knowledge
and experience, I refer the reader to the following short extract
from the Cartilla Agricola:--

Directions for preparing and laying out the seed beds.--A suitable
piece of land is to be enclosed quadrilaterally by boundaries,
ploughed two or three times, cleared of all weeds and roots, made
somewhat sloping, and surrounded by a shallow ditch, the bed of
which is to be divided by drains about two feet wide. The soil of
the same must be very fine, must be ground almost as fine as powder,
otherwise it will not mix freely and thoroughly with the extremely
fine tobacco seed. The seed is to be washed, and then suspended in
cloths during the day, in order to allow the water to run off; after
which it is to be mixed with a similar quantity of ashes, and strewn
carefully over the bed. The subsequent successful results depend
entirely upon the careful performance of this work. From the time
the se