Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-27

tent to lessen the pangs OF hunger and to de-
crease the appetite. It is raised in every
province in India, and very nearly 800, ,OOO
worth are exported yearly.
INDIAN WATER PIPES.
The Indian pipes are of all kinds and
descriptions. A very common one stands
about as high as baseball club. At Its
bottom is bowl as big around as cocoa
nut, and often in fact made of a cocoanut.
This contains water. 1t has hole inside OF
1t, and at its top there is pipe about an
inch or an inch and a half in diameter,
which runs up for two feet, and at the top of
which there is bowl in which the tobacco
is placed. The smoker sucks hole at the
side OF the cocoanut, and he sometimes has a
flexible tube with q mouthpiece, the end of
which is inserted In this hole, and the pipe
then stands upon the ground. The hookah,
or weter pipe, Is in use to some extent
among the Mohammedans of India, and
cigars and cigarettes are common. They
are very cheap, and are not very good.
Some of the best tobacco in the world is
found along the Mediterranean Sea, and a
great part of the revenue of the Sultan and
khedlve comes from tobacco. The weed is
a monopoly in both Turkey and Egypt, and
the Khedive, in order to collect big i'm
port duty on tobacco, has prohibited its
raising in the country by a tax Of nearly
Sl6O an acre. The result is that American
tobacco is now imported into Egypt. 1t
comes in the shape of tobacco for cigarettes,
and it is sent first to France or England and
thence shipped to Egypt, The Turkish to-
baccos are very light and sweet, and they
are popular all over Europe. Turkish
cigarettes and Egyptian cigarettes are known
everywhere, and there is scarcely a
man, woman or child in Egypt who
does not smoke. You see Turkish
merchants in the bazaars, with long
hookahs before them, putting away while
they mediate upon Allah or drone over the
pages of the Koran. You see smart young
Egyptians in the high-cut broadcloth coats
of official rank putting cigarettes, and am
told that the dear little ladies of the harem
smoke their scores OF cigarettes every day.
Prominent among all the rulers of the East.
the Khedive of Egypt has set a good ex-
ample to his people by neither smoking nor
drinking. he offered me cigarette during
the interview had with him, and he told
me he did not smoke because he believed it
was not good for him. He abstains from
liquor on the ground Of personal health,
and of the prohibition against drinking con-
tanned in the Koran, and he is the great
Prohlbitionist of the East.
TARIFF ON TOBACCO.
You can buy good cigarettes in Egypt for
20 cents a thousand, and, notwithstanding
the heavy taxation, the cigarettes of Con-
stantinople are not overly dear.
1 found American cigarettes for sale in
nearly every country of the East, and the
best OF our brands go everywhere. American
tobacco is always expensive abroad, and the
whole world acknowledges that we make as
good an article as any other country.
1 saw no chewing whatever, save that of
the betel nut, which is common in various
parts of India and in siam, Burmah and
Malacca. I found the Manila cigars for
sale all along the Pacific coast, and I am
told that these are made largely by women,
who roll the cigars on their bare knees, and
who fasten the leaves by licking them with
their lips.
There is tariff tax on tobacco nearly
everywhere over the world. The manufac-
ture is a monopoly in France and Italy, and
one of the first things that is searched for in
the baggage of the traveller is boxes of cigars.
shall not soon forget curious experience
1 had with an ostrich egg. 1t was covered
with Arabic carving, and was very pretty
work of Egyptian art. I carried it in a
square. cigar box. in which 1t Just fitted
when we'll packed with cotton. The moment
my trunks were opened at station after
station on the frontiers of various countries,
the officers would pounce upon this. Their
faces would brighten and they would almost
smack their lips at the thought of the con-
fscation of some good cigars. When the
box was opened their smiles became frowns,
and their bright eyes were shaded with sad
ness. FRANK G. CARPENTER.