frequently, and when the leaves are about the size of a large cabbage
leaf are ready to harvest. As the plants ripen the leaves gradually
thicken and take on a lighter shade; the leaf when green is very
thick, but after curing is quite thin and of a bright yellow or brown,
according to the process employed in curing. The peasants take equal
pains in its fumigation, using various kinds of wood according to the
color of leaf they wish to obtain. They usually make two kinds of
leaf, the finest being colored brown and known by the name of
_abowri_. The tobacco is fumigated with two kinds of wood, _gozen_
(pine wood) and _sindian_ (oak), the tobacco fumigated with gozen
having the best smell. The fumigation, however, is said not to be
resorted to expressly for the tobacco, but the mountaineers of
necessity burn much wood in their huts in the winter, and the smoke
improves the tobacco in color, smell, and flavor. All the tobacco
grown about Latakia derives its origin from the same seed, but the
difference between the _abowri_ and the other kinds is owing to the
cultivation of the former about high mountains and with the use of
pine wood in fumigating it. A field of Latakia tobacco presents a
novel appearance, the short straight plants with their ovate leaves
bearing yellow blossoms form a striking contrast to towering seed leaf
rising fully two or three feet higher than the Syrian plant.

Fairholt says that "Latakia tobacco is a native of America but grows
wild in other countries, and is a hardy annual in English gardens,
flowering from midsummer to Michaelmas, so that by some botanists it
has been termed 'common, or 'English tobacco.'" Burton's work on
unexplored Syria is full of passages relating to tobacco and the
custom of smoking.

"The tobacco which is grown on the slopes of the Libanus and
the Anti-Libanus mountains appears to be one of the finest
quality and most delicate flavor. The monks of the convents
are famous for the production of a snuff, which for
pungency, at least, is far superior to the snuffs of Europe.
Personal experience of it convinces us that a great deal of
the pungency of this snuff is due to the addition of some
aromatic herb in addition to the natural acridity produced
by the highly dried tobacco. The cultivation of tobacco in
Syria, will probably increase in proportion to the improved
condition of affairs in Syria, we have little doubt; a