Great stress is laid on the silence of Marco Polo, Rubruquis,--the two
Mahomedans, Drake, Cavendish, and Pigafelta; also of the _Arabian
Nights_, on the subject of smoking,--and with reason; but, after all, it
is negative evidence: for we have examples of the same kind the other
way. Sir Henry Blount, who was in Turkey in 1634, describes manners and
customs very minutely without a single allusion to smoking, though we
know {156} that twenty years previously to that date the Turks were
inveterate smokers. M. Adr. Balbi insists likewise on the prevalence of
the Haitian name "tambaku" being conclusive as to the introduction of
tobacco from America. This, however, is not exactly the case: in many
countries of the East it has vernacular names. In Ceylon it is called
"dun-kol" or smoke-leaf; in China, "tharr"--Barrow says, "yen."
The Yakuti (and Tungusi?) call it "schaar." The Crim Tartars call it
"tuetuen." The Koreans give it the name of the province of Japan whence
they first received it. In the Tartar (Calmuc and Bashkir?) "gansa" is a
tobacco-pipe.
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