Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/269

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254 "tabaoum" not tobagoo, liumed at a place on the Big Blue river, plainly shows having been used, thus demonstrating the use of some material for smoking. Before proceeding with the ceremony, it may be well to dissertate on tobacco and its substitutes. Is it not a fact that invariably Sir Walter Raleigh is given credit for the introduction of the weed into Eu- rope? But the authorities name DeOvUdo, a Spaniard, as being the one who first took the seeds to Spain; then Jean Nicot, a Frenchman, in 1560 taught its use 1io his countrymen, and the word nicotine is derived from his surname. The books give 1560 as the date J of its appearance in France, at which time Raleigh -was.*<ight years of age: so considering the inter-- <5ourse between England and France, and that one country is only distant from the other twenty-five miles across the British Channel, it would seem that' the honor (if any) is not to he of cloak fame. There ^are* numerous species of tobacco, but the oommoa American plant was grown by the Indians along the Missouri, and the origin of the name is supposed to he from the Indian appellation of "tabaoum," 'VTbkdt. very nearly sounds like the word as now used. However, in the work so much referred to» it. fis; -stated: "Since the introduction of manufactured IKk bacco, most Indians purchase inferior grades. Ping:, is preferred, but this is generally mixed with the na-- tive product. In former times, leaves of the sunai^ were used for smoking; the mixture contained tannie: acid, which produced bronchial irritation. But amonff "the Indians the bark of the osier and red-wood were frequently used, but when tobacco was to be had, they