Another calculation shows, that if all the tobacco which the British people have consumed during the last three years were worked up into pig-tail half an inch thick, it would form a line 99,470 miles long; or enough to go nearly four times round the world;[15] or if the tobacco consumed by the same people in the same period were to be placed in one scale, and St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in the other, the ecclesiastical buildings would kick the beam. “Oh, the nasty creatures!” some lady exclaims. “Who could suppose that they would do such a thing, and to such an extent too, as to burn and chew and smoke in three years enough tobacco to reach round the world four times!” It is astonishing, my dear Mrs. Partington, we must confess; but let us compare therewith the tea consumption[16] for the same period, and we shall find that during the past three years, we have consumed about 205,500,000 of pounds of tea, which, if done up in packages containing one quarter of a pound each—such packages being 4½ inches in length and 2½ inches in diameter—these placed end to end, would reach 59,428 miles; or, upon the same principles as those adopted for the pig-tail, would girdle the earth twice with a belt of tea 2½ inches in diameter, or twenty-five times that of the aforesaid pig-tail. Enough to make rivers of tea strong enough for any old lady in the kingdom to enjoy, and deep enough for all the old ladies in the kingdom to bathe in. All this, we are free to confess, does not make the habit of quidding either more justifiable or respectable, although indulged in by some of the members of the gentler sex. In Paraguay, for instance, an American traveller informs us that everybody smokes, and nearly every woman and girl more than thirteen years old chews tobacco. A magnificent Hebe, arrayed in satin and flashing in diamonds, puts you back with one delicate hand, while with the fair taper fingers of the other she takes the tobacco out of her mouth previous to your saluting her. An over delicate foreigner turns away with a shudder of loathing under such circumstances, and gets the epithet of “the savage” applied to him by the offended beauty for his sensitive squeamishness. However, one soon gets used to these things in Paraguay, where one is, per force of custom, obliged to kiss every lady one is introduced to, and one half of those you meet are really tempting enough to render you reckless of consequences.