NEAR AND FAR
their settlement at Hughly that the Portuguese introduced tobacco to the notice of the Emperor Akbar, and that the Indian pipe, the hookah, was invented. Mr. H. G. Keene, in his delightful "Handbook to Agra," has quoted an account of life at the court of Akbar, from an imaginative sketch by' Mr. J. W. Sherer, C.S.I., which was published in 1852, from which the following extract regarding the introduction of tobacco may be taken. The emperor is supposed to have noticed during the day two Portuguese priests standing amongst the crowd to see him pass by, and to have commanded their attendance in the evening, when the emperor being seated surrounded by his courtiers, the priests also being present,—
"conversation was going on in desultory way, when the younger priest remarked that he had something very singular to show the emperor, if it was his pleasure to see it. Curiosity was excited; Akbar said certainly, that he wished to see everything novel and rare, and begged the priest to exhibit. The young man, feeling in a pocket under his cassock, said that he required a light. This was immediately ordered, and then he, retiring a little, applied the fire to something which he held concealed in his hand, after which smoke was seen issuing out of his mouth.
"At this Akbar laughed contemptuously, and
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