The beginnings of history—Ancestor worship—Man’s instinctive craving for narcotics and stimulants—Ancient historic allusions to smoking or burning of vegetable substances—Lieut. Walpole’s account of an Arabic MS. which came into his hands at Mosul—Nimrod a tobacco-smoker—Assyrian cylinders in the British Museum—Noah a smoker, a Greek Church tradition—The Moslem sage and the origin of the tobacco plant—Eulia Effendi’s story of a tobacco pipe found in an old wall—Tobacco unknown in Turkey before 1610—Dr. Yates mistakes an Egyptian painting representing glass-blowers for a smoking party—Both Greeks and Romans inhaled fumes of tussilago through a reed or pipe for the cure of coughs and difficult breathing—Abbé Cocket and Dr. Bruce on old clay pipes found in Normandy and among ruins in Britain—Clay pipes found in Scotland and Ireland—Legendary lore respecting their origin and use—The weed and the Portuguese in India and Java—Palias and Meyen on the plant in India and China—The Lazarists, Gabet and Huc, in Tartary and Thibet—The cultivation and use of tobacco in China—The supposed antiquity of the habit among the Chinese, who in their prehistoric migrations may have carried seeds of the plant to America. CHAPTER VII 117 A GLIMPSE OF SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN, AS DISCLOSED BY THE WEED The Japanese—Marco Polo’s mention of Japan and its people—Pinto, Portugal’s pioneer in eastern seas—Lands at Nagasaki in 1545—Friendly reception—News of the event reaches Manila and Goa—Spanish merchant vessels with Francis Xavier speedily arrived at Bungo—Warm welcome—Tobacco and smoking, a new revelation to these primitive people—Good work done by Xavier and his coadjutors among the sick and needy—The Shogun, Iyeyasu, permits free intercourse and unrestricted trade—Spaniards and Portuguese accused of overreaching practices, and of draining the country of its gold—Jesuits and Friars swarm in Japan and bring upon themselves disgrace and ultimate expulsion—William Adams the first Englishman to set foot in Japan—His rapid rise in favour and fortune—The arrival of Dutch merchantmen—Helped by Adams to secure a trade basis at Firando—Adams desires to return home, but is put off from time to time—He writes letters to England telling of himself, and inviting London merchants to trade with Japan—They do so, and vessels laden with merchandise are despatched under the command of Captain Saris, who bears a letter from King James to the Emperor of Japan, resulting in England’s first commercial treaty with that country—Adams dies in Japan after twenty years’ residence, loved and honoured by all.