Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Narcotics, Race, Travel, Exploration, Cultural Geography, Physiology, Human Development

    Declaring to Mr Punch his aversion to smokers, the narrator notes that according to an account of the Wahabites of Arabia given by William G Palgrave at the Royal Geographical Society, this 'sect' consider tobacco smoking to be 'the most deadly and abominable of all sins'. Thinks that smokers should be regarded in the same way as murderers, and argues that owing to their abstinence from smoking, the Wahabites 'display more taste in their street-architecture than Londoners can boast of', and show greater tolerance towards 'travellers who visit them' and 'those who differ from them in religion'. He suggests that this is because 'As men become dyspeptic, they grow dogmatic and churlish'.