Chapter XLVII: Section VI (1)

PLANTS YIELDING DRUGS, INCLUDING NARCOTICS AND OTHER COMMON MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES.

The chief plants furnishing the drugs of commerce, and which enter largely into tropical agriculture, are the narcotic plants, especially tobacco, the poppy for opium, and the betel nut and leaf; as masticatories--but there are very many others to which the attention of the cultivator may profitably be directed. I have already trenched so largely upon my space, that I cannot do that justice to the plants coming under this section I could have wished. There are very many, however, of which I must make incidental mention. Some few medicinal plants have been already alluded to in former sections, particularly in that on dye-stuffs, &c.

THE COCA PLANT grows about four or five feet high, with pale bright green leaves, somewhat resembling in shape those of the orange tree. The leaves are picked from the trees three or four times a year, and carefully dried in the shade; they are then packed in small baskets. The greatest quantity is grown about 30 leagues from Cicacica, among the Yunnos on the frontiers of the Yunghos. Some is also cultivated near to Huacaibamba.

The natives in several parts of Peru chew these leaves as Europeans do tobacco, particularly in the mining districts, when at work in the mines or travelling; and such is the sustenance that they derive from them, that they frequently take no food for four or five days. I have often (observes Mr. Stevenson) been assured by them, that whilst they have a good supply of coca they feel neither hunger, thirst, nor fatigue, and that without impairing their health they can remain eight to ten days and nights without sleep. The leaves are almost insipid, but when a small quantity of lime is mixed with them, they have a very agreeable sweet taste. The natives generally carry with them a leather pouch containing coca, and a small calabash holding lime or the ashes of the molle to mix with them.

_Cocculus indicus_, or Indian berries.--This is the commercial name for the berries or fruit of the _Menispermum Cocculus_ of Linnæus, _M. heteroclitum_ of Roxburgh, _Animerta paniculata_ of Colebrooke, _A. Cocculus_ of Wright and Arnot, and _Cocculus suberosus_ of Decandolle. It is a strong climbing shrub or tree, native of Malabar, Ceylon, and the Eastern Islands. The seeds or drupes contain a bitter poisonous acid, and are used for the purpose of stupefying fish, and, in the form of a black extract, for fraudulently increasing the intoxicating power of malt liquors; one pound of the berries, it is said, will go as far in brewing as a sack of malt. The berry is kidney-shaped, with a white kernel. Whilst the imports in 1846 were but 246 bags, in 1850 they had increased to 2,359 bags of about 1 cwt. each. The price is 19s. to 24s. the cwt.

A crystalline, poisonous, narcotic principle called picrotoxin, has been detected in these seeds, and occasionally employed externally in some cutaneous diseases. _Cocculus crispus_ is used in intermittent fevers and liver complaints.

The annual imports now average 250 tons, and nearly the whole is consumed for illegal purposes by brewers. Though the practice is nominally discountenanced by the Legislature under the penalty of £200 upon the brewer and £500 upon the seller, yet under the recent tariff great encouragement is given to the introduction of these berries, the duty having been reduced from 7s. 6d. to 5s. the cwt.

The capsules and seeds of _Xanthoxylum hostile_ are also employed for the same purpose as cocculus indicus. The bark of _Walseria piscidia_, a native of the Circar mountains, also intoxicates fish.

About 250 tons of _Nux vomica_, another species of dried flat seed possessing intoxicating properties, are also imported annually for the same purposes, and they fetch about 6s. to 8s. the cwt.

BETEL LEAF.--_Piper Betel_, a scandent species of the shrubby evergreen tribe of plants belonging to the pepper family, furnishes the celebrated betel leaf of the Southern Asiatics, in which they enclose a few slices of the areca nut and a little shell lime; this they chew to sweeten the breath, and to keep off the pangs of hunger, and it acts also as a narcotic.

Such is the immense consumption of this masticatory, termed Pan, in the East, that it forms nearly as extensive an article of commerce as that of tobacco in the West. The tax on the leaf forms a considerable portion of the local revenue of Pinang; in 1805, the tax yielded as much as 5,400 dollars.

Rumphius describes six species of this vine, besides several wild and cultivated varieties. It is very easily reared in the Indian islands, but in the countries of the Deccan requires manuring, frequent watering and great care, and in the northern parts of Hindostan it becomes an exotic very difficult to rear. The vine affords leaves fit for use in the second year, and continues to yield for more than thirty, the quantity diminishing as the plants grow older.

ARECA PALM (_Acacia Catechu_).--This is a fine, slender, graceful tree, rising from 20 to 30 feet high, which, being a native of the East, is found abundant in many of the forests of India, from 16 to 30 degs. of latitude. The principal places of its growth are the Burmese territories, a large province on the Malabar coast called the _Concan_, and the forests skirting the northern parts of Bengal, under the hills which divide it from Nepaul, the south and west coasts of Ceylon, the south of China, &c., the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and the Eastern islands, it produces fruit at five years old, and continues bearing till about its twenty-fifth year, when it withers and dies. It thrives at a greater distance from the sea, and in more elevated regions than the coco-nut palm. In Prince of Wales Island some hundreds of thousands of these palms are cultivated.

The seeds or nuts form a chief ingredient in the celebrated eastern masticatory called Pan and which seems to owe its stimulating properties to the leaves of the _Piper Betel_. When prepared for use, the nut is cut into slices and wrapped in the fresh leaves of the betel pepper vine, together with a quantity of quicklime (_Chunam_) to give it a flavor. The flavor is peculiar, between an herbaceous and an aromatic taste.

All classes, male and female, chew it; they say it sweetens the breath, strengthens the stomach, and preserves the teeth, to which it gives a reddish hue; there is probably less objection to its use than tobacco or opium, and its taste is more pleasant; but, if taken to excess, it will produce stupor like other narcotics, and even intoxication. The nuts grow in large bunches at the top, and when ripe are red and have a beautiful appearance; they resemble the nutmeg in shape and color, but are larger and harder. When gathered they are laid in heaps until the shell be somewhat rotted, and then dried in the sun, after which the process of shelling commences. The trees vary in their yield from 300 to 1,000 nuts, averaging about 14 lbs.; which the cultivators sell at about half a dollar (2s.) a picul of 133 lbs. As these palms are planted usually at the distance of 7½ feet, it follows that the produce of an acre is about 10,841 lbs. The tree bears but once in a year generally, but there are green nuts enough to eat all the year long. Betel nut is a staple article of import into China; 25,000 piculs annually is the amount returned, but there is an immense quantity imported in Chinese junks from Hainan, of which there is no account kept. In the single port of Canton alone, 15,565 piculs were imported in 1844, and about 400 to Ningpo. 3,005 piculs of betel nuts, valued at 8,700 dollars, were imported into Canton in 1850, and as much as 4,000 tons of areca nuts are shipped annually from Ceylon.

The astringent extract obtained from the seeds of the Areca-palm constitutes two (or perhaps more) kinds of the catechu of the shops. According to Dr. Heyne ("Tracts Hist. and Statist. on India"), it is largely procured in Mysore, about Sirah, in the following manner:--

The nuts are taken as they come from the tree and boiled for some
hours in an iron vessel. They are then taken out, and the remaining
water is inspissated by continual boiling. This process furnishes
Kassu, or most astringent terra japonica, which is black and mixed
with paddy criu, husks, and other impurities. After the nuts are
dried, they are put into a fresh quantity of water, boiled again;
and this water being inspissated, like the former, yields the best
or dearest kind of catechu, called Coony. It is yellowish brown, has
an earthy fracture, and is free from the admixture of foreign
bodies.

Most of the betel nuts imported into China come from Java, Singapore, and Pinang. Betel nut is not so generally used in the South of China as among the Southern Islands, and in the north of China it is a luxury, as the pepper does not grow freely there. Formerly there was a considerable trade in betel nuts with the Coromandel coast, from whence the natives brought back manufactured goods and other necessaries in return, but this has ceased for some time. The common price was 20,000 for a dollar. These nuts are seldom imported into England, though they might be of use as a dye in some manufactures.

The natives of the East chew the fruit of _Elate sylvestris_, (which is something like a wild plum), in the same manner as the areca nut, with the leaf of the betel pepper and quick lime.

The inner wood furnishes a kind of _Catechu_ or _Cutch_, which contains much tannin and is a powerful astringent. It is obtained by the simple process of boiling the heart of the wood for a few hours, when it assumes the appearance and consistency of tar. It hardens by cooling, and when formed into small squares and dried in the sun is fit for the market.

The produce of Bombay is of uniform texture and of a dark red color. That of Concan and other parts of India is of chocolate color, and marked inside with red streaks.

The analysis of Sir H. Davy gave the following result:--

Bombay. Concan.
Tannin 54.5 48.5
Extractive 34.0 36.5
Mucilage 6.5 8.0
Insoluble matters, sand, lime, &c. 5.0 7.0
----- -----
100. 100.

Catechu is in extensive use in India for tanning purposes, and of late years it has entirely superseded madder in the calico works of Europe for dyeing a golden coffee-brown, one pound of catechu being found equivalent to six pounds of madder.

Value of the areca nuts exported from Ceylon to the British Colonies and foreign States in the years named:--

£.
1839 22,956
1840 23,096
1841 22,428
1842 29,222
1843 27,028
1844 20,978
1845 31,836
1846 34,209
1847 35,723
1848 42,482
1849 31,746
1850 42,907
1851 54,846
1852 52,230

THE POPPY.

OPIUM is the concrete inspissated juice of the white poppy, _Papaver somniferum_ and its varieties, obtained by scratching the capsules and collecting the exuding juice. The plant has been long known, and is perhaps one of the earliest described. It is a native of Western Asia and probably also of the South of Europe, but it has been distributed over various countries.

In 1826 the imports of opium into the United Kingdom were 79,829 lbs., of which 28,329 lbs. were consumed in this country. The imports and consumption in subsequent years are shown by the following figures:--

Imports. Consumption.
lbs. lbs.
1827 113,140 17,322
1830 209,076 22,668
1833 106,846 35,407
1836 130,794 38,943
1839 196,247 41,682
1842 72,373 47,432
1845 259,644 38,229
1848 200,019 61,055
1819 105,724 44,177
1850 126,318 42,324
1851 118,024 50,682
1852 205,780 62,521

Few who have not looked into the statistics of this trade, are aware of the enormous consumption of opium all over the world, but chiefly in China and India.

In 1845, 18,792 chests of opium were sent from Calcutta to China, and nearly the same number of the Malwa opium from Bombay and Damaun. The total production of India exported to China, in 1844, was 21,526 chests from Bengal, and 18,321 from Bombay, in all 39,847 chests. The number of persons in China given to the consumption of opium was estimated, in 1837, at three millions, and the average quantity smoked by each individual is about 17½ grains a day. The consumption of Indian opium (independent of Turkey opium) in China has gradually increased from 3,210 chests in 1817, to 9,969 chests in 1827, and about 40,000 chests in 1837, valued at 25,000,000 dollars. Now it has reached 50,000 to 60,000 chests. Notwithstanding severe penalties, imprisonment, temporary banishment, and even death, the number of those who smoke opium has multiplied exceedingly, and the contraband trade in the drug is carried on to so large an extent, that it is to be feared the practice will become general throughout the empire.

According to Mr. E. Thornton's statistics, the production of opium in Bengal has increased cent. per cent. in the last ten years:--

Chests.
1840-41 17,858
1841-42 18,827
1842-43 18,362
1843-44 15,104
1844-45 18,350
1845-46 21,437
1846-47 21,648
1847-48 30,515
1848-49 36,000

The chest is about 140 lbs., so that the production in 1849 was 5,040,000 lbs.

According to the statements annexed to the statistical papers relating to India, the income from the opium monopoly is obtained by two principal means, namely, by a system of allowing the cultivation of the poppy by the natives of British India on account of Government, and by the impost of a heavy duty on opium grown and manufactured in foreign states, but brought in transit to a British port for exportation. The former system obtains in Bengal, the latter in Bombay. According to the statements published, Bengal opium yields a profit of 7s. 6d. per lb., whilst the duty derived in the Bombay presidency is only equal to a surplus of 5s. 8d. per lb. By these means the total revenue realised by the opium monopoly, in Bengal and Bombay, in the year 1849-50 yielded £3,309,637.

Lest objection should be taken to this large annual revenue derived from the cultivation of a drug, the unnatural consumption of which would be suppressed under any other European government, the Court of Directors is very anxious to show the benefit which the country derives from this monopoly; they say "that as the price of opium is almost wholly paid by foreign consumers, and the largest return is obtained with the smallest outlay, the best interests of India would, appear to be consulted." Nobody at all acquainted with the financial resources and the capabilities of any country, would hazard such an assertion. By paying cultivators for the restricted growth of the poppy a price hardly yielding more than the average rate of wages to the common laborer, I do not see in what way the best interests of India are consulted, nor is it clear that the population derives any benefit by being prohibited altogether from manufacturing a drug, which may be brought from another country _in transitu_ on the payment of a heavy duty; unless indeed the Court of Directors are of opinion that in the event of the abolition of the monopoly, the people of the country would have to make up for the loss of the revenue by submitting to some other mode of direct or indirect taxation. There is an inconsistency in the statements of the Court of Directors, which is absolutely amusing. "The free cultivation of the poppy," say the Directors, "would doubtless lead to the larger outlay of capital, and to greater economy in production; but the poppy requires the richest description of land, and its extended cultivation must therefore displace other products." How very considerate on the part of the Directors, but how strongly at variance with facts, since all the fear of displacing other products, and all this appropriation of the richest description of land for other purposes has not prevented the Indian Government, within less than ten years, from more than doubling the cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium. The Directors tell us that the heavy transit duty charged at Bombay is to discourage production, but they do not say whether that discouragement applies, as one would imagine, to those foreign districts which have to pay the transit duty for their production. If so, the assertion is again at variance with facts, because in a subsequent statement they say, "It is stated that neither the price of opium, nor the extent of cultivation in Malwa, has been affected by the great enhancement of the pass duty, which has taken place since 1845."

The following will show that the Company loses no opportunity of applying the screw:--

The subjugation of Scinde afforded opportunity for the levy of a
higher rate. Down to the period of that event, a large portion of
the opium of Malwa had been conveyed through Scinde to Kurrachee,
and thence onward to the Portuguese ports of Diu and Demaun. That
route is now closed, and it was reasonably expected that an advance
might be made in the charge of passes without the risk of loss to
the revenue from a diminished demand for them. The rate was
accordingly increased in October, 1843, from 125 to 200 rupees per
chest. Upon the principle that it was desirable to fix the price at
the highest amount that could be levied, without forcing the trade
into other channels, a further increase was made in 1845. when it
was determined that the charge should be 300 rupees per chest. Under
the like views it was, in 1847, raised to 400 rupees per chest.

The company was perfectly correct, for though the quantity of opium did not increase, the revenue did; and whilst in 1840-41 16,773 chests yielded an income of only 22,046,452 rupees--16,500 chests brought in 1849-50 actually 72,094,835 rupees into the coffers of the Government of Bombay. But the people of India earned not a pice by it, and those richest descriptions of land, which it was so desirable to reserve for other produce than the poppy, remained barren.

The white variety of the poppy is that which is exclusively brought under cultivation for the production of the drug in India and Egypt. For the successful culture of opium a mild climate, plentiful irrigation, a rich soil, and diligent husbandry are indispensable. One acre of well cultivated ground will yield from 70 lbs. to 100 lbs. of "chick," or inspissated juice, the price of which varies from 6s. to 12s. a pound, so that an acre will yield from £20 to £60 worth of opium at one crop. Three pounds of chick will produce one pound of opium, from a third to a fifth of the weight being lost in evaporation. A chief chemical feature, which distinguishes Bengal opium from that of Turkey and Egypt, is the large proportion which the narcotine in the former bears to the morphia, and this proportion is constant in all seasons. It is a matter of importance to ascertain whether the treatment which the juice receives after its collection can influence in any way the amount of alkaloids, or of the other principles in opium. In Turkey it is the custom to beat up the juice with saliva, in Malwa it is immersed as collected in linseed oil, whilst in Bengal it is brought to the required consistence by mere exposure to the air in the shade, though, at the same time, all the watery particles of the juice that will separate are drained off, and used in making _Lewah_, or inferior opium.

The lands selected for poppy cultivation are generally situated in the vicinity of villages, where the facilities for manuring and irrigation are greatest. In such situations and when the soil is rich, it is frequently the practice with the cultivators to take a crop of Indian corn, maize, or vegetables off the ground during the rainy season, and after the removal of this in September, to dress and manure the ground for the subsequent poppy sowings. In other situations, however, and when the soil is not rich, the poppy crop is the only one taken off the ground during the year, and from the commencement of the rains in June or July, until October, the ground is dressed and cleaned by successive ploughings and weedings, and manured to the extent which the means of the cultivator will permit. In the final preparation of the land in October and November, the soil, after being well loosened and turned up by the plough, is crushed and broken down by the passage of a heavy log of wood over its surface, and it is in this state ready for sowing.

The amount of produce from various lands differs considerably. Under very favorable circumstances of soil and season, as much as twelve or even thirteen seers (26 lbs.) of standard opium may be, obtained from each biggah of 27,225 square feet. "Under less favorable conditions the turn-out may not exceed three or four seers, but the usual amount of produce varies from six to eight seers per biggah.

The chemical examination of different soils in connection with their opium-producing powers, presents a field for profitable and interesting inquiry; nor is the least important part of the investigation that which has reference to variations in the proportions of the alkaloids (especially the morphia and narcotine), which occur in opium produced in various localities. That atmospheric causes exert a certain influence in determining these variations is probable; that they influence the amount of produce, and cause alterations in the physical appearance of the drug, are facts well known to every cultivator: thus the effect of dew is to facilitate the flow of the juice from the wounded capsule, rendering it abundant in quantity, but causing it at the same time to be dark and liquid. An easterly wind (which in India is usually concomitant with a damp state of atmosphere), retards the flow of juice, and renders it dark and liquid. A moderate westerly wind, with dew at night, form the atmospheric conditions most favorable for collection, both as regards the quantity and quality of the exudation. If, however, the westerly wind (which is an extremely dry wind) blow violently, the exudation from the capsules is sparing. Whilst the effect of meteorological phenomena in producing the above results are well marked, their action in altering the relative proportions of the chemical constituents of the juice of the poppy plant is more obscure, and it is highly probable that the chemical composition of the soil plays a most important part in this respect. Dr. O'Shaughnessy is certainly the most accomplished chemist who had ever, in India, turned his attention to the subject, and he has published the results of his analyses of specimens of opium from the different divisions of the Behar Agency, which are worthy of much attention. In the opium from eight divisions of the agency, he found the quantity of morphia to range from 1¾ grains to 3½ grains per cent., and the amount of the narcotine to vary from ¾ grain to 3½ grains per cent., the consistence of the various specimens being between 75 and 79 per cent. In the opium from the Hazareebaugh district (the consistence of the drug being 77), he found 4½ per cent, of morphia, and 4 per cent, narcotine; whilst from a specimen of Patna-garden opium he extracted no less than 10¾ per cent. of morphia, and 6 per cent. of narcotine, the consistence of the drug being 87. With respect to the last specimen, Dr. O'Shaughnessy mentions that the poppies which produced it were irrigated three times during the season, and that no manure was employed upon the soil. It is much to be regretted that these interesting results were not coupled with an analysis of the soils from which the specimens were produced, for to chemical variations in it must be attributed the widely different results recorded above.

Opium as a medicine has been used from the earliest ages; but when it was first resorted to as a luxury, it is impossible to state, though it is not at all improbable that this was coeval with its employment in medicine, for how often do we find that, from having been first administered as a sedative for pain, it has been continued until it has taken the place of the evil. Such must have happened from the earliest ages, as it happens daily in the present; but as a national vice it was not known until the spread of Islamism, when, by the tenets of the Prophet, wine and fermented liquors being prohibited, it came in their stead along with the bang or hasch-schash (made from hemp), coffee, and tobacco. From the Arabs the inhabitants of the Eastern Archipelago most probably imbibed their predilection for opium, although their particular manner of using it has evidently been derived from the Chinese. China, where at present it is so extensively used, cannot be said to have indulged long in the vice. Previous to 1767 the number of chests imported did not exceed 200 yearly; now the average is 50,000 to 60,000. In 1773 the East India Company made their first venture in opium, and in 1796 it was declared a crime to smoke opium.

In different countries we find opium consumed in different ways. In England it is either used in a solid state, made into pills, or a tincture in the shape of laudanum. Insidiously it is given to children under a variety of quack forms, such as "Godfrey's cordial," &c. In India the pure opium is either dissolved in water and so used, or rolled into pills. It is there a common practice to give it to children when very young, by mothers, who require to work and cannot at the same time nurse their offspring. In China it is either smoked or swallowed in the shape of _Tye_. In Bally it is first adulterated with China paper, and then rolled up with the fibres of a particular kind of plantain. It is then inserted into a hole made at the end of a small bamboo, and smoked. In Java and Sumatra it is often mixed with sugar and the ripe fruit of the plantain. In Turkey it is usually taken in pills, and those who do so, avoid drinking any water after swallowing them, as this is said to produce violent colics; but to make it more palatable, it is sometimes mixed with syrups or thickened juices; in this form, however, it is less intoxicating, and resembles mead. It is then taken with a spoon, or is dried in small cakes, with the words "Mash Allah," or "Word of God," imprinted on them. When the dose of two or three drachms a day no longer produces the beatific intoxication, so eagerly sought by the opiophagi, they mix the opium with corrosive sublimate, increasing the quantity of the latter till it reaches ten grains a day. It then acts as a stimulant. In addition to its being used in the shape of pills, it is frequently mixed with hellebore and hemp, and forms a mixture known by the name of majoon, whose properties are different from that of opium, and may account in a great measure for the want of similitude in the effect of the drug on the Turk and the Chinese.

In Singapore and China the refuse of the chandu, the prepared extract of opium, is all used by the lower classes. This extract, when consumed, leaves a refuse, consisting of charcoal, empyreumatic oil, some of the salts of opium, and a part of the chandu not consumed. Now one ounce of chandu gives nearly half an ounce of this refuse, called Tye, or Tinco. This is smoked and swallowed by the poorer classes, who only pay half the price of chandu for it. When smoked it yields a further refuse called samshing, and this is even used by the still poorer, although it contains a very small quantity of the narcotic principle. Samshing, however, is never smoked, as it cannot furnish any smoke, but is swallowed, and that not unfrequently mixed with arrack.

_Preparation_.--In Asia Minor, men, women, and children, a few days
after the flower falls from the poppies, proceed to the fields, and
with a shell scratch the capsules, wait twenty-four hours, and
collect the tears, which amount to two or three grains in weight
from each capsule. These being collected and mixed with the
scrapings of the shells, worked up with saliva and surrounded by
dried leaves, it is then sold, but, generally speaking, not without
being still more adulterated with cow's dung, sand, gravel, the
petals of flowers, &c. Different kinds of opium are known in the
markets of Europe and Asia.

The first in point of quality is the _Smyrna_, known in commerce as
the _Turkey_ or _Levant_. It occurs in irregular, rounded, flattened
masses, seldom exceeding two pounds in weight, and surrounded by
leaves of a kind of sorrel; the quantity of morphia said to be
derived from average specimens is eight per cent.

Second, _Constantinople Opium_, two kinds of which are found in the
market, one in very voluminous irregular cakes, which are flattened
like the Smyrna; this is a good quality. The other kind is in small,
flattened, regular cakes, from two to two and a half inches in
diameter, and covered with the leaves of the poppy; the quantity of
morphia is very uncertain in this description of opium, sometimes
mounting as high as 15 per cent., and sometimes descending so low as
six, showing the great variety in the quality of the drug.

Third, _Egyptian Opium_, occurs in round flattened cakes, about 3
inches in diameter, and covered externally with the vestiges of
some leaf. It is distinguished from the others by its reddish color,
resembling "Socotrine Aloes." The quantity of morphia in this is
inferior to the preceding. It has one quality which, when
adulterated, ought to be known, that is a musty smell. By keeping it
does not blacken like the other kinds.

Fourth, _English Opium_, is in flat cakes or balls enveloped in
leaves. It resembles fine Egyptian opium more than any other kind.
Its color is that of hepatic aloes, and in the quantity of morphia
it is inferior to the preceding, but in the strength of the mass it
is said by one of its most extensive cultivators to be superior.

Fifth, _French_, and sixth _German Opium_, require no particular
remarks. By a recent notice I find the French are cultivating the
poppy in Algeria, from which they get opium giving a small per
centage of morphia.

Seventh, _Trebizond_ or _Persian Opium_, is sometimes met with of a
very inferior quality in the form of cylindrical sticks, which by
pressure have become angular.

Eighth, _Indian Opium_, divided into four kinds, Cutch, Malwa, Patna
and Benares. Of these Cutch is but little known or cultivated. It
occurs in small cakes covered with leaves, and its color is much
inferior to Smyrna. Malwa opium is to be met with of two kinds. The
inferior is in flattened cakes, without any external covering, dull,
opaque, blackish brown externally, internally somewhat darker, and
soft. Its color is somewhat like the Smyrna, but less powerful, and
with a slight smoky smell. Superior Malwa is in square cakes, about
three inches in length and one inch thick. It has the appearance of
a well prepared, shining, dry, pharmaceutical extract; its color is
blackish brown, its odor less powerful than Smyrna; it is not
covered by petals as the following kinds are, but smeared with oil;
it is then rubbed with pounded petals.

The Behar, Patna, and Benares Opium, being strictly in the hands of
Government, no adulteration can take place, without a most extensive
system of fraud; but it will not be uninteresting to trace the
progress of the opium from the hands of the natives, to the
condition in which it is delivered to the public by the Government.

From the commencement of the hot season to the middle of the rains
the Government is ready to receive opium, which is brought by the
natives every morning, in batches, varying in quantities from twenty
seers to a maund. The examining officer into each jar thrusts his
examining rod, which consists of a slit bamboo, and, by experience,
he can so judge of the qualities of the specimens before him, which
are sorted into lots of No. 1 to No. 4 quality. Opium of the first
quality is of a fine chesnut color, aromatic smell, and dense
consistence. It is moderately ductile, and, when the mass is torn,
breaks with a deeply notched fracture, with sharp needle-like
fibres, translucent and ruby red at the edges. It is readily broken
down under water, and the solution at first filters of a sherry
color, which darkens as the process proceeds. One hundred grains of
this yield an extract to cold distilled water of from 35 to 45, and
at the temperature of 212 degs., leaves from 20 to 28 per cent.,
having a consistency of 70 to 72, the consistence of the factory.

The second quality is inferior to the first, and the third quality
is possessed of the following properties, black paste, of a very
heavy smell, drops from the examining rod, gives off from 40 to 50
per cent, of moisture, and contains a large quantity of "Pasewa;"
while the fourth or last number embraces all the kinds which are too
bad to be used in the composition of the balls, comprising specimens
of all varieties of color and consistence. This number is mixed with
water, and only used as a paste to cement the covering of the balls.

The three first qualities are emptied from their jars into large
tanks, in which they are kept until the supply of the season has
been obtained. The opium is then removed and exposed to the air on
shallow wooden frames, until it becomes of the consistency of from
69 to 70, when it is given to the cake maker, who guesses to a
drachm the exact weight, and envelops the opium in its covering of
petals, cemented by a covering of quality number 4. The balls are
then weighed and stored, to undergo a thorough ventilation and
drying. Formerly the covering of the balls was composed of the
leaves of tobacco; but the late Mr. Flemming introduced the
practice of using the petals of the poppy, which was such an
improvement that the Court of Directors presented him with 50,000
rupees. The balls, forty in number, are packed in a mango wood case,
which consists of two stories with twenty pigeon holes in each,
lined with lath and surrounded by the dried leaves of the poppy.
Sometimes these balls are so soft as to burst their skins, and much
of the liquid opium running out, is lost. In 1823, many of the
chests of Patna lost five catties from this cause, and to this day
we have the same thing continuing to occur. Patna chests are covered
with bullock hides, Benares with gunnies.

Dr. Impey, staff surgeon at Poona, who resided in Malwa from 1843 to 1846, published at Bombay, in 1848, a valuable treatise on the cultivation, preparation, and adulteration of Malwa opium. It was some time before he obtained the permission of the East India Company to publish the result of the experience he had acquired in Malwa, and as Government inspector of opium at Bombay. It is the most practical treatise I have yet met with, although a very elaborate, useful paper, by Mr. Little, surgeon, of Singapore, appears in the 2nd vol. of the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," from which I have quoted the preceding remarks.

Mr. Little furnishes a complete history of the drug, and the physical and mental effects resulting from its habitual use. There are also some able remarks in Dr. O'Shaughnessy's Bengal Dispensatory:--

For the successful cultivation of opium, a mild climate, plentiful
irrigation, a rich soil, and diligent husbandry, are indispensable.
In reference to the first of these, Malwa is placed most favorably.
The country is in general from 1,300 to 2,000 feet above the level
of the sea: the mean temperature is moderate, and range of the
thermometer small. Opium is always cultivated in ground near a tank
or running stream, so as to be insured at all times of an abundant
supply of water. The rich black loam, supposed to be produced by the
decomposition of trap, and known by the name of cotton soil, is that
prepared for opium. Though fertile and rich enough to produce thirty
successive crops of wheat without fallowing, it is not sufficiently
rich for the growth of the poppy until largely supplied with manure.
There is, in fact, no crop known to the agriculturist, unless sugar
cane, that requires so much care and labor as the poppy. The ground
is first four times ploughed on four successive days, then carefully
harrowed; when manure, at the rate of from eight to ten cart loads
an acre, is applied to it; this is scarcely half what is allowed a
turnip crop at home. The crop is after this watered once every eight
or ten days, the total number of waterings never exceeding nine in
all. One beegah takes two days to soak thoroughly in the cold
weather, and four as the hot season approaches. Water applied after
the petals drop from the flower, causes the whole to wither and
decay. When the plants are six inches high, they are weeded and
thinned, leaving about a foot and a-half betwixt each plant; in
three months they reach maturity, and are then about four feet in
height if well cultivated. The full-grown seed-pod measures three
and a-half inches vertically, and two and a-half in horizontal
diameter. Early in February and March the bleeding process
commences. Three small lancet-shaped pieces of iron are bound
together with cotton, about one-twelfth of an inch of the blade
alone protruding, so that no discretion as to the depth of the wound
to be inflicted shall be left to the operator; and this is drawn
sharply up from the top of the stalk at the base, to the summit of
the pod. The sets of people are so arranged that each plant is bled
all over once every three or four days, the bleedings being three or
four times repeated on each plant. This operation always begins to
be performed about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the
hottest part of the day. The juice appears almost immediately on the
wound being inflicted, in the shape of a thick gummy milk, which is
thickly covered with a brownish pellicle. The exudation is greatest
over night, when the incisions are washed and kept open by the dew.
The opium thus derived is scraped off next morning, with a blunt
iron tool resembling a cleaver in miniature. Here the work of
adulteration begins--the scraper being passed heavily over the
seed-pod, so as to carry with it a considerable portion of the
beard, or pubescence, which contaminates the drug and increases its
apparent quantity. The work of scraping begins at dawn, and must be
continued till ten o'clock; during this time a workman will collect
seven or eight ounces of what is called "chick." The drug is next
thrown into an earthen vessel, and covered over or drowned in
linseed oil, at the rate of two parts of oil to one of chick, so as
to prevent evaporation. This is the second process of
adulteration--the ryot desiring to sell the drug as much drenched
with oil as possible, the retailers at the same time refusing to
purchase that which is thinner than half dried glue. One acre of
well cultivated ground will yield from 70 to 100 pounds of chick.
The price of chick varies from three to six rupees a pound, so that
an acre will yield from 200 to 600 rupees worth of opium at one
crop. Three pounds of chick will produce about two pounds of opium,
from a third to a fifth of the weight being lost in evaporation. It
now passes into the hands of the Bunniah, who prepares it and brings
it to market. From twenty-five to fifty pounds having been
collected, is tied up in parcels in double bags of sheeting cloth,
which are suspended from the ceilings so as to avoid air and light,
while the spare linseed oil is allowed to drop through. This
operation is completed in a week or ten days, but the bags are
allowed to remain for a month or six weeks, during which period the
last of the oil that can be separated comes away; the rest probably
absorbs oxygen and becomes thicker, as in paint. This process
occupies from April to June or July, when the rain begins. The bags
are next taken down and their contents carefully emptied into large
vats from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and six or eight inches
thick. Here it is mixed together and worked up with the hands five
or six hours, until it has acquired an uniform color and consistence
throughout, become tough and capable of being formed into masses.
This process is peculiar to Malwa. It is now made up into balls of
from eight to ten ounces each, these being thrown, as formed, into a
basket full of the chaff of the seeds pod. It is next spread out on
ground previously covered with leaves and stalks of the poppy; here
it remains for a week or so, when it is turned over and left further
to consolidate, until hard enough to bear packing. It is ready for
weighing in October or November, and is then sent to market. It is
next packed in chests of 150 cakes, the total cost of the drug at
the place of production being about fourteen rupees per chest,
including all expenses. About 20,000 chests are annually sent from
Malwa, at a prime cost charge of two lacs and 80,000 rupees. It may
easily be supposed that manipulations so numerous, complex, and
tedious, as those described, give the most ample opportunities for
the adulteration to which the nature of the drug tempts the
fraudulent dealer.

In order to enable the cultivator to carry on his agricultural
operations, he receives from time to time certain advances, the
amount of which reaches in the aggregate to about one-half of the
value of the estimated out-turn of produce. If the land has been
under cultivation in previous seasons, its average produce is known;
if it be new land, and considered by the Sub-Deputy Agent as
eligible, then the cultivator, in addition to the usual advances,
receives an advance of so much per biggah to enable him to bestow a
certain amount of extra care in tilling and dressing the soil. The
first advance is made on the completion of the agreement or
bundobust, and this takes place in September and October. The second
advance is made on the completion of the sowings in November, and
the final or Chook payment is made immediately after the delivery
and weighing of the produce. Nothing therefore can be fairer to the
cultivator than this system of advances; he is subject to no sort of
exaction, in the shape of interest or commission on the money which
he receives, and it puts within his power the certain means of
making a fair profit by the exercise of common care and honesty. It
is an established rule in the Agency that the cultivator's accounts
of one season shall be definitively settled before the commencement
of the next, and that no outstanding balances shall remain over.
When a cultivator has from fraud neglected to bring produce to cover
his advances, the balances due by him are at once recovered, if
necessary by legal means; whereas, if he can satisfactorily show
that he has become a defaulter from calamity and uncontrollable
circumstances, and that the liquidation of his debt is placed
entirely beyond his power, his case is then made the subject of
report to the Government by the Agent, with the request that the
debt may be written off to profit and loss. These provisions are
most wise, for outstanding balances may be made the means of
oppression, and to their operation may be traced a considerable
amount of litigation and agrarian crime in the indigo districts of
lower Bengal. It is clear that when such balances become so large
that the cultivator cannot discharge them, he is no longer a free
agent, but is perfectly subservient to the will of his creditor, for
whom he must cultivate whether he desire it or not. Such burdens may
even be handed down from father to son. The fairness of the Agency
system, and the justice with which the cultivators are treated, are
best evidenced by the readiness with which they come forward to
cultivate, and also by the comparative rarity of agrarian crime,
arising out of matters connected with the poppy cultivation.

Opium is grown to some extent in Egypt; 39,875 lbs. were produced in 1831, and sold at two dollars a pound.

At the end of October, after the withdrawal of the Nile waters the seed, mixed with a portion of pulverised earth, is sown in a strong soil, in furrows; after fifteen days the plant springs up, and in two months has the thickness of a Turkish pipe, and a height of four feet; the stalk is covered with long, oval leaves, and the fruit, which is greenish, resembles a small orange. Every morning before sunrise, in its progress to maturity, small incisions are made in the sides of the fruit, from which a white liquor distils almost immediately, which is collected in a vessel; it soon becomes black and thickish, and is rolled into balls, which are covered with the washed leaves of the plant; in this state it is sold. The seeds are crushed for lamp oil, and the plant is used for fuel.

A plant known in Jamaica under the name of bull hoof yields a narcotic which has been administered successfully in the shape of tincture and a syrup, instead of opium. This is the _Muracuja ocellata_, or _Passiflora muracuja_, of Swartz, an elegant climber, bearing bright scarlet blossoms. There is another species, _M. orbiculata_, found in Hayti and other islands, which may be expected to partake more or less of the properties of the former. The flowers are the parts most commonly employed.

THE TOBACCO PLANT.

Several species of _Nicotium_ furnish tobacco; that chiefly used in Europe is procured from _N. Tabacum_ and its numerous varieties, a plant naturally inhabiting the hotter parts of North and South America. The popular narcotic furnished by tobacco is probably in more extensive use than any other, and its only rivals are opium and the betel-nut and leaf of the East. The herb for smoking was brought to England from Tobago, in the West Indies, or from Tobasco, in Mexico (whence the name), by Sir Ralph Lane, in 1586. Seeds were shortly after introduced from the same quarter.

"Tobacco, as used by man," says Du Tour, "gives pleasure to the savage and the philosopher, to the inhabitant of the burning desert and the frozen zone; in short, its use, either in powder, to chew, or to smoke, is universal; and for no other reason than a sort of convulsive motion (sneezing) produced by the first, and a degree of intoxication by the two last modes of use."

Tobacco is an annual plant, attaining a height of six feet, having dingy red, funnel-shaped flowers, and viscid leaves. The leaves are the officinal part, and their active properties depend on a peculiar, oily-like alkaloid, called Nicotin. The flavor and strength of tobacco depend on climate, cultivation, and the mode of manufacture. That most esteemed by the smoker is Havanna tobacco, but the Virginian is the strongest. The small Havanna cigars are prepared from the leaves of _Nicotium repanda_, Syrian and Turkish tobacco from _N. rustica_, and fine Shiraz tobacco from _N. persica_. With the exception of the Macuba tobacco, which is cultivated in Martinique in a peculiar soil, the tobacco of Cuba is considered the finest in the world. That grown in the island of Trinidad is, however, fully equal to it in quality, but all raised in the colony is generally consumed there, and is little known in the English market. This ought not to be the case, for no article would pay better.

The Maryland is a very light tobacco, in thin, yellow leaves; that of Virginia is in large brown leaves, unctuous or somewhat gluey on the surface, having a smell very like the figs of Malaga; that of Havanna is in brownish light leaves, of an agreeable and rather spicy smell,--it forms, as I have already stated, the best cigars. The Carolina tobacco is less unctuous than the Virginian, but in the United States it ranks next to the Maryland. The shag tobacco is dried to the proper point upon sheets of copper, and is cut up by knife-edged chopping stamps. There are said to be four kinds of tobacco reared in Virginia, viz., the sweet-scented, which is considered the best; the _big and little_, which follows next; then the Frederick; and, lastly, the _one and all_, the largest kind, and producing most in point of quantity.

According to Loudon ("Encyclo. of Plants"), there are fourteen species of this genus, besides a few varieties. Lindley, however, enumerates 31, but many of these are mere showy species, adapted to flower gardens. I shall therefore follow chiefly London's classification--

1. _N. Tabacum_, a native of several parts of America, but
principally known as Virginian tobacco, having a stem rising from
four to six feet or more in height, bearing pink flowers. Of this
there are three chief varieties known in America by the popular
names of Orinoco, Broad-leaved and Narrow-leaved. Lindley enumerates
eight varieties of _N. Tabacum_.

2. _N. macrophylla_, or large-leaved tobacco, an ornamental annual,
also with pink flowers, native of America, which rises to the height
of six feet.

3. _N. fruticosa_, or shrubby tobacco, an ornamental evergreen
shrub, native of China, with pink blossoms, which grows to about
three feet.

4. _N. undulata_, or _suaveolens_, sweet-scented or New Holland
tobacco, a green house perennial, native of New South Wales, with
white flowers, which is only two feet high.

5. _N. rustica_.--The common green or English tobacco, an annual
plant, native of America, producing white flowers, which seldom
grows higher than three feet.

6. _N. paniculata_, or panicled tobacco, an annual plant bearing
greenish yellow flowers, native of Peru, rises to the height of
three feet.

7. _N. glutinosa_, or clammy-leaved tobacco, also an annual plant,
native of Peru, growing to the height of four feet, with bright
scarlet flowers.

8. _N. plumbaginifolia_, or curled-leaved tobacco, an ornamental
deciduous annual, native of America, with white blossoms, rising to
the height of two feet.

9. _N. pusilla_, or primrose-leaved tobacco, an ornamental deciduous
biennial, with white flowers, native of Vera Cruz, rising to three
feet.

10. _N. quadrivalvis_, four-valved, or Missouri tobacco, an
ornamental annual, native of North America, with white flowers,
seldom growing higher than two feet.

11. _N. nana_, or rocky mount tobacco, a curious greenhouse annual,
native of North America, with white blossoms, rising only three
inches high.

12. _N. Langsdorffii_, or Langsdorff's tobacco, an ornamental
annual, with greenish yellow flowers, native of Chili, reaching five
feet high.

13. _N. cerinthoides_, or honey-wort tobacco, an ornamental annual,
with greenish yellow flowers, native country unknown.

14. _N. repanda_, or Havanna tobacco, an annual with white flowers,
native of Cuba, rising two feet high.

There are a few species, natives of the Province of Buenos Ayres,
which may be particularised. _N. bonariensis_, having white flowers;
_N. glauca_, yellowish green flowers; _N. longiflora_, white
flowers; and _N. viscosa_, pink flowers.

The important mineral substances presented in Havanna tobacco, examined by Hertung, are in 100 parts of ashes,

Salts of potash 34.15
Salts of lime 51.38
Magnesia 4.09
Phosphates 9.04

These substances were for the most part insoluble in earth, and must have been dissolved during the growth of the crop.

ANALYSIS OF FIVE SAMPLES OF TOBACCO.
No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
Grown on argillaceous soil Grown in calcareous soil.
Potash 29.08 30.67 9.68 9.36 10.37
Soda 2.26 -- -- -- .36
Lime 27.67 24.79 49.28 49.44 39.58
Magnesia 7.22 8.57 14.58 15.59 15.04
Chloride of sodium .91 5.95 4.61 3.20 6.39
Chloride of potassium -- -- 4.44 3.27 2.99
Phosphate of iron 8.78 6.03 5.19 6.72 7.56
Sulphate of lime 6.43 5.60 6.68 6.14 9.42
Silica 17.65 18.39 5.54 6.28 8.34
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

From the above it will be seen that on the argillaceous soil the tobacco contained a large quantity of alkalies and silica, while on the other hand, the lime, magnesia and chlorides were high in proportion, in the tobacco grown on calcareous soil.

There is no doubt that the manure which contains the largest proportion of alkaline carbonate, magnesia, lime and gypsum, is that best adapted for tobacco.

I give an analysis taken from Prof. Johnston's "Lectures," (2nd edition) of the ash of the tobacco leaf and the composition of a special manure for tobacco:--