Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1889-12-22
SMOKING AND CHEWING.
How Different Nations OF the East
Use Tobacco.
Children Al! Women Who Use Their
cara as CiEar-Iolden-Prrtty Women
Who Consume n Hundred Gig
aretteS Each Day.

EAra as tretty women
Who Consume n Gig
arettes Each Day.
The baby smokers Of the world arc
found in Siam and Burnah, writes +. G..
Carpenter in the Louisville Courier
Journal. l saw little tots Of four, as
naked as on the day they were born,
trot;ing about Bangkok with cigarettes
in their mouths, and the babies of Ran
COON and Mandalay are taught to chew
the betel nut, mixed with tobacco, as
soon as they arc wcaned. Tho Siamcsc
children, like their fathers, use their
cars as cigarette and cigar-holders, and
the lack of clothing and pockets on the
part of the little ones ncccssitatcs their
carrying these articles over their ears,
as the American clerk carries his pencil
or pen. ! saw one noble SiamCse boy
with 4 shaved head and 4 string about
his waist, who had a cigarette over each
ear and another in his mouth. After 4
fow moments he threw away the cigar
cttc in his mouth and began to chow
bctel, squirting out the blood-rcd saliva
until he made q puddle in the road be-
side him. His father, who was with
him, was also smoking, and his mother
had 4 cigarette between her lips. When
the party went away the mother took
up the naked smoking boy, and balancing
him on her hip, walked off, both smok-
ing as they went. The thousand odd
women who make up the harcm OF tho
Siancse King all smoke and chew, and
it takes 4 good part of his Majcsty's ten
million dollars . year TO pay his tobacco
bill. Each lady has TO have her bctcl
Spittoon, which is of decorated china,
the size of n coffee cup, and, IL She is \
favorite, she has also q silver box in
which to carry her tobacco and betel
nut.
Tho women OF Burmah, like tho
smokers Of Siam, use their ears as
cigar-hoidcrs, but they use them in q
different way. Every Burmese girl
pridcs herself on the size of the hole
she can make in the lobes of her cars,
and l have seen Burmese cars which
had holes in them as big around rs n
napkin ring. These holes are made
when the girls are young, and the lobe
both stretches and grows until it gets
rs big around as the thumb of q big
boued man. Into these holes some Of
the poorer women of Rurmah put their
SAhaASNNSo Va NASaAo "ANH NhSI AAONS
from one place TO another. Cigars are
more used han any thing else, and the
Burmese cigar is tho biggest of its kind
in general use. 1t is from eight to ten
inches long, and is often moro han an
inch in diameter. Tho Burmese women
are very beautiful, and even their big
cigars can not take away the beauty OF
their Juicy rcd lips. They make the
-.-..l Ill. d.. 1.,.1, lao ,-l,1o 49,, .sN
in them, but il resumes its natural size
when the young lady, holding the cigar
between her two first fingers, bows the
smoke out in 4 stream. 1t is not Unusual
for n Burmese maiden to make her lover
a bundle Of cigars rs n present during
their courtshlp, n some or tho best OF
the Burmese imported cigars arc made
by women. They have their cigar
booths in the bazars, and they know how
to sell ut a profit. The Burmese always
smoke after meals, and they chew the
bctcl nut ut tho same time that they
smoke, though many of them only chew
in the intervals between the smokes.
The Buddhist priests Of Siam and Bur
nah are inYctcrate smokers, and 4 com
mon sight is n crowd of b~arc-headed,
shayed-pated men in yellow gowns trot-
/ ting along with cigars or cigarettes in
their mouths and with bowls in their
hands going around 10 collect the offer
ings of rice which the people give them
for their sustcnauce.
The Burmese are very social in their
smoking, and l saw cigars passed from
one sweet maiden to another in the
bazars. and l saw a young IA accept
with a smile the cigar of a belle and
smoke II while she waited upon me and
tried to sell me some silk at an cxtrava.
CANT rate. Smoking is common during
courtship, and l doubt not that these
big Burmese cigars undergo tho same
method Of exchange as docs tho wal Of
%succulent gum among tho lovers in the
mountains OF Tennessee.
It is different in India. Love-makine
there is n matter of bargain and sale,
and such smoking as is done during tho
making OF matches is between tho
match-makers and tho fathers who wish
to sell or bind their girls to infant mar
riaEes. The women of India smoke
but they do not dc II during courtship
and they practically hive no courtship
In some parts OF tho country tobacco
like opium, is used to- certain extent tc
lessen the pangs of hunger and to do
crease tho appetite. 1t is raised If
every province in India. and very ncarl,
thrcc-quartcrs OF n million dollars
worth are exported yearly. Tho Indiar
pipes arc OF all kinds and descriptions
a very common one stands about n!
high as n baseball club. At its bottom
is q bowl as big around "a a cocoanut
and often, in fact, made OF q cocoanut
This contains water. it has n hole I'm
side Of II, and at its top there Is q pip'
about mn inch or an inch md n bali II
diameter. which runs up for two feet
and at tho top OF which there Is u bow
in which the tobacco Is placed. Tn,
smoker sucks Il hole ut tho sido OF Tn,
cocoanut, and he sometimes has n flcxi
bic tube with - mouthpiccc, tho end o
which Is inserted In this holo. and tn,
pil,o then stands upon tho ground. Tn,
hookah, or watcr.pipc. In in use to som,
extent among tho Mohammcdans O
India, and cigars and cigarettes or,
common. They arc very cheap and ar,
not very good.