"And we may as well include tobacco," said Frank, "and leave it to rest at the side of betel. I certainly don't like the process of chewing betel, and it is no worse than that of chewing the favorite weed of America."
Fred agreed with his cousin, and the two concluded that they would not adopt the habit of many of their countrymen. Just then it occurred to them that they had not seen any other people than their own using tobacco in this form, and so they asked the Doctor if the habit was exclusively an American one.
THE TOBACCO-PLANT.
"Practically so," was the Doctor's answer. "In no other country than ours is the habit of chewing tobacco at all prevalent; a few sailors and others who have lived or been in the United States have adopted and carried it home, and these are virtually the only people not Americans who indulge in it. Other nations are far greater smokers than ourselves, but we have very nearly a monopoly of chewing the leaf of the famous plant of Virginia."
SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND HIS PIPE.
One of the boys asked if tobacco was not first found in America; he thought he had read that it was used by the Indians at the time of the discovery of the Western Continent by Columbus, and was introduced to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh.