Murray, Pallas, Rumphius,
Savary, &c.
Masson describes a "chillum," or smoking apparatus, found embedded in an
ancient wall in Beloochistan. (_Travels_, ii. 157.)
Dr. Yates saw amongst the paintings in a tomb at Thebes the
representation of a smoking party. (_Travels in Egypt_, ii. 412.)
There is an old tradition in the Greek Church, said to be recorded in
the works of the early Fathers, of the Devil making Noah drunk with
tobacco, &c. (Johnson's _Abyssinia_, vol. ii. p. 92.)
Nanah, the prophet of the Sikhs, was born 1419. Supposing him fifty when
he published his _Ordinances_, it would bring us to 1469, or 23 years
before the discovery of America by Columbus. In these _Ordinances_ he
forbade the use of tobacco to the Sikhs; but found the habit so deeply
rooted in the Hindu that he made an exception in their favour. (Masson's
_Beloochistan_, vol. i. p. 42.) Should this be true, the Hindu must have
been in the habit of smoking long before the discovery of America, to
have acquired so inveterate a predilection for it.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59