If the prophecy attributed to Mahomet be not a fabrication of after
times, it is strongly corroborative, and goes to show that he was himself
acquainted with the practice of smoking, viz.
"To the latter day there shall be men who will bear the name of
Moslem, but will not be really such, and they shall smoke a
certain weed which shall be called tobacco."--See Sale's
_Koran_, ed. 8vo. p. 169.
Query. Is tobacco the word in the original? If so, it is a
stumbling-block.
Lieut. Burns, in his _Travels_, has the following curious statement:
"The city of Alore was the capital of a great empire extending
from Cachemere to the sea. This was conquered by the Mahomedans
in the seventh century, and in the decisive battle they are
reported to have brought fire, &c., in their pipes to frighten
the elephants."
Lieut. Burns conjectures that they must have smoked bang, &c., tobacco
being then unknown.
Buchanan's account of the cultivation and preparation of tobacco in
Mysore, carries with it a conviction that these elaborate processes were
never communicated to them by Europeans, nor brought in any way from
America, where they have never been practised.
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