is light in
color and of peculiar flavor, well suited to his taste, and in keeping
with his idea of quality and excellence. The crop is usually
bountiful, notwithstanding the heat of the summer and the absence of
moisture in the soil.

[Illustration: Tobacco field in Africa.]

The tobacco plant is also cultivated in other parts of Africa besides
Algiers. In Egypt and Nubia it is grown to a considerable extent, as
well as by most of the native tribes of the South-west. Among some
tribes it forms an important article of trade, and serves the purpose
of money or its representative. The natives are partial to the plant,
and devotedly attached to smoking. Little patches may be seen near
their huts, on which they lavish their attention and care. In some
parts of Africa tobacco grows to a very great height. Livingstone
gives an account of a variety that attained an altitude much higher
than the American plant. Several varieties are cultivated, some of
them resembling the Shiraz and Latakia, while most of it is said to be
similar to Virginia tobacco, only larger. With careful culture the
plant would doubtless thrive in most parts of Africa, as the soil is
light and the season usually favorable. Though the heat is extreme the
plant flourishes even in the hottest part of the season, and attains a
degree of perfection corresponding to the labor bestowed by the
natives in cultivating. Their manner of curing is simply by drying the
leaves, and is not suited to the taste of any besides themselves. In
Egypt, Algiers, and Nubia, the plant is cultivated with more care, and
a better system of curing is adopted than by the natives of the
interior. Burton gives an account of the cultivation of tobacco by the
natives of East Africa:--

"Tobacco grows plentifully in the more fertile regions of
East Africa. Planted at the end of the rains, it gains
strength by sun and dew, and is harvested in October. It is
prepared for sale in different forms. Everywhere, however, a
simple sun-drying supplies the place of cocking and
sweating, and the people are not so fastidious as to reject
the lower or coarser leaves and those tainted by the earth.
Usumbara produces what is considered at Zanzibar a superior
article; it is kneaded into little circular cakes four
inches in diameter by half an inch deep: rolls of these
cakes are neatly packed in plantain-leaves for exportation.
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