What unusual purpose does tobacco serve inThe Swiss Family Robinson?

The unusual purpose that tobacco serves in this book is that of
a tranquilizer. The family uses tobacco smoke to calm and tranquilize at least three animals or
groups of animals in the book.

First, Fritz wants to make a pet of
the eagle that they have caught. However, the bird is too wild and Fritz is ready to kill it.
However, Ernest tells him to blow tobacco smoke up around the bird's head. Fritz does so and that
makes the eagle calm down. Later in the book, they will do the same thing to an
ostrich.

In between those two episodes, the father uses the same
technique on a swarm of bees. The family wants to get the bees out of a tree trunk and into a
hive. In order to calm the bees down and make it possible to move them, the father blows smoke
into the tree trunk. This calms the bees.

I do not know if this
would work on eagles or ostriches, but I have worked with bees and I can say that people do use
smoke to calm bees down. Follow the link below to see a picture of a beekeeper with his
smoker.