diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/61362-h/61362-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/61362-h/61362-h.htm | 3984 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 3984 deletions
diff --git a/old/61362-h/61362-h.htm b/old/61362-h/61362-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 555146d..0000000 --- a/old/61362-h/61362-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3984 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Drug Smuggling and Taking in India and Burma, by Roy. K. Anderson. - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - -<style type="text/css"> - -a { - text-decoration: none; -} - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -hr { - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - clear: both; - width: 65%; - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; -} - -p { - margin-top: 0.5em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; - text-indent: 1em; -} - -table { - margin: 1em auto 1em auto; - max-width: 40em; - border-collapse: collapse; -} - -td { - padding-left: 2.25em; - padding-right: 0.25em; - vertical-align: top; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.tdr { - text-align: right; -} - -.tdpg { - vertical-align: bottom; - text-align: right; -} - -.blockquote { - margin: 1.5em 10%; -} - -.caption { - text-align: center; - margin-bottom: 1em; - font-size: 90%; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.center { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.footnotes { - margin-top: 1em; - border: dashed 1px; -} - -.footnote { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - font-size: 0.9em; -} - -.footnote .label { - position: absolute; - right: 84%; - text-align: right; -} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: none; -} - -.hanging { - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.larger { - font-size: 150%; -} - -.mt3 { - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - right: 4%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; -} - -.poetry-container { - text-align: center; - margin: 1em; -} - -.poetry { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; -} - -.poetry .stanza { - margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; -} - -.poetry .verse { - text-indent: -3em; - padding-left: 3em; -} - -.right { - text-align: right; -} - -.smaller { - font-size: 80%; -} - -.smcap { - font-variant: small-caps; - font-style: normal; -} - -.titlepage { - text-align: center; - margin-top: 3em; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -@media handheld { - -img { - max-width: 100%; - width: auto; - height: auto; -} - -.poetry { - display: block; - margin-left: 1.5em; -} - -.blockquote { - margin: 1.5em 5%; -} -} - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Drug Smuggling and Taking in India and Burma, by -Roy K. Anderson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Drug Smuggling and Taking in India and Burma - -Author: Roy K. Anderson - -Release Date: February 9, 2020 [EBook #61362] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUG SMUGGLING AND TAKING *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus1"> -<img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" /> -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Group of Opium Smokers</span></p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> - -<h1><span class="smcap">DRUG<br /> -SMUGGLING and TAKING<br /> -IN INDIA AND BURMA</span></h1> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br /> -<span class="larger">ROY. K. ANDERSON, F.R.S.A.</span><br /> -<i>Superintendent, Burma Excise Department</i></p> - -<div class="poetry-container mt3"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“<i>So deep the power of these ingredients pierced</i></div> -<div class="verse"><i>Even to the inmost seat of mental sight</i>”—<span class="smcap">Paradise Lost</span></div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="titlepage"><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smcap">CALCUTTA and SIMLA</span><br /> -THACKER, SPINK & CO.<br /> -1922</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> - -<p class="titlepage smaller">PRINTED BY<br /> -THACKER, SPINK & CO.<br /> -CALCUTTA</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2> - -<p>At a time when the drug-evil, as it is called, -is attracting so much attention all over the -world, it does not seem out of place to tell the -public something about how conditions in regard -to it obtain in India and Burma. As far as I -have been able to ascertain there is no literature -on this subject outside “blue books,” and those -admirable compilations are notoriously dry -reading. A novel called “<cite>Dope</cite>” by Sax -Rohmer professes to deal with the drug-evil -and the traffic in drugs in the West; but it is a -novel; has a hero, a heroine, a forbidding type -of detective, and some degenerates, and a few -impossible Chinamen in it, to give verisimilitude -to the title and all that it implies.</p> - -<p>I do not profess to write as an authority on -the subjects I have taken up. I realise that -there are scores of others more experienced, -and infinitely better able to make a book on -these subjects than I am; but there seems to -be little hope of their ever getting the better of -their modesty and appearing in print. I write<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span> -of what I have seen for myself, and ventilate -opinions I have formed which I expect no one to -subscribe to who differs from them. My readers -may rest assured, however, that what I relate is -true. I have not consciously exaggerated, nor -have I suppressed facts. I write on a subject -in which I am interested; and, if the -attention that has at different times been given -to my verbal accounts is an indication of something -more than the polite toleration of the -raconteur, then there are others also who are -interested, and I need offer no apologies for my -attempt to supply a deficiency in the bookshelves -of those who want more information.</p> - -<p>A preface often affords the writer an opportunity -of performing a pleasant duty. That -which I have to perform is to record my thanks -to Mr. F. W. Dillon, Barrister, and author of -“<cite>From an Indian Bar Room</cite>,” for the trouble -he took in reading the manuscript, and his many -helpful suggestions.</p> - -<p class="right">R. K. ANDERSON.</p> - -<p class="smaller hanging"><span class="smcap">Redfern</span>,<br /> -<i>26th March, 1921</i>.</p> - -<hr /> - -<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> - -<table summary="Contents"> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdpg smaller"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"></td> - <td><span class="smcap">Preface</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#PREFACE">iii</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">I.</td> - <td>Smuggling and Smugglers</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">II.</td> - <td>Bribery and Corruption</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">III.</td> - <td>Informers and Information</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">14</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IV.</td> - <td>Some Anecdotes of Smugglers and Smuggling</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">20</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">V.</td> - <td>More Anecdotes</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">28</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VI.</td> - <td>Observations on Smugglers and Smuggling</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">33</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VII.</td> - <td>Opium</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">35</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VIII.</td> - <td>Opium Smoking and Opium Eating</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">44</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IX.</td> - <td>Some Observations on the Opium Habit</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">51</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">X.</td> - <td>Morphia</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">57</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XI.</td> - <td>Cocaine</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">65</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XII.</td> - <td>Hemp Drugs</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">75</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="smcap">Appendix.</span></td> - <td>An Historical Note on Opium in India and Burma</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#APPENDIX">82</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> - -<table summary="Illustrations"> - <tr> - <td>Group of Opium Smokers</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus1">Frontispiece</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdpg smaller">Facing<br />page</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>An Excessive Opium Smoker</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus2">40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Opium Smokers’ Appliances</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus3">46</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Preparing to Smoke Opium</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus4">48</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Chinaman Smoking Opium</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus5">50</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Group of Morphia Injectors</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus6">58</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>An Indian Morphinist</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus7">62</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>A Burman Cocaine Eater</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus8">72</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<h2>SMUGGLING.</h2> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Smuggling and Smugglers.</span></h3> - -<p>Everybody is a smuggler at heart!</p> - -<p>Our innate free-trade instincts and love of liberty -revolt against what we look upon as uncalled for interference -with our rights when we are called upon to -declare and pay duty on a box of cigars or a bottle of -whisky when we disembark at a Customs port; and -we look upon evasions of these obligations, not as -evidences of moral obliquity, but as a very proper -exercise of the exemption which we claim as our right. -On the whole, this point of view is to be sympathized -with, and in the case of such innocuous articles as laces, -scent, and feathers, it is to be excused; the mysteries -of the revenue law, and the underlying principles of -taxation, are unfamiliar to most of us. But a greater -degree of culpability must be attached to those who -seek to evade the law by the illicit importation of -articles whose unrestricted use produces nothing but -harm; and while the former class of delicts may be -classed as mere revenue offences, the latter must be -treated as crimes and severely punished as such.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> - -<p>It is in the nature of things that articles which have -come to be looked upon as necessaries of life, such as -tea, tobacco, wine and spirits, should be taxed -moderately; and indeed, were any attempt made to -render them less easily obtained by raising the taxes -on them, unless this course was vital in the interests of -the country, there would be just reasons for profound -popular dissatisfaction and disgust; but in the matter -of noxious intoxicating drugs the case is reversed, and -authoritative opinion inclines to the highest taxation, -or even to total prohibition. Opium is taxed to -a point little short of prohibition; morphia and -cocaine are entirely prohibited to the public except -for medical purposes; and hemp drugs are highly taxed -in India, and totally prohibited in Burma. Those -who quarrel with this state of things are such as have -become habituated to these drugs, and of this class -there is, unhappily, a large number, so large a -number indeed, that their demand for a regular and -sufficient supply constitutes a rich market, a market -which is supplied by the smuggler who reaps abundant -profits.</p> - -<p>As in the case of other articles of commerce—and -smuggling is as much a branch of commerce as the -traffic in rice or jute—the scarcity or abundance of -supply of drugs is what regulates their price in the -illicit market. Normally, opium is sold from Government -Opium Shops at from Rs. 100 to Rs. 123 a seer. -Illicitly, it costs from Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 a seer, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> -when scarce, from Rs. 350 to Rs. 400 a seer. Illicitly, -cocaine and morphia are sold at from five to six times -the chemist’s price. It is true that the smuggler has -to pay and maintain a large staff of assistants, and has -to bear other heavy expenses, but the net profit he -eventually gets is a very substantial one.</p> - -<p>It is impossible to entirely prevent smuggling: the -interested motives of mankind will always prompt -them to attempt it. All that the Government can do -is to compromise with an offence which, whatever the -criminal law on the subject may say, appears to the -mind of the smuggler, and of the drug habitué he -supplies, as not at all equalling in turpitude those acts -which are clear breaches of the elementary principles of -ethics.</p> - -<p>To the generality of people the smuggler is a bold, -bad man with a fierce, heavily-whiskered face, and -armed to the teeth with knives, pistols, and other -lethal accoutrements. His surroundings are a rugged -cliff, with a roaring surf at its feet; while a dimly lit -cave, stocked with barrels of spirit and bales of tobacco, -completes the mental picture. In reality the smuggler—the -Indian smuggler at any rate—is nothing of the sort. -To all appearances he is a respectable, well-to-do, easy-going -merchant with a flourishing business in piece-goods, -rice, or timber. But he is a thorough-paced -smuggler for all that, and his business is merely a -blind to his real occupation which is the importation -and traffic in opium, cocaine, morphia, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -hemp-drugs. It is this business which is the real source -of his wealth; it is his mind that directs and accomplishes -great ventures in smuggling.</p> - -<p>To be successful as a smuggler, a man needs to have -more than ordinary ability. His powers of organization, -and the ability to rapidly appreciate a situation, must -be of the first order, and in addition, he must be endowed -with an unusually large measure of low cunning and -deceit. It is true that the smuggler’s plans sometimes -miscarry, but this is usually owing to treachery on -the part of one of his assistants. The possibility of -such treachery exemplifies the need the smuggler has -for a strong personality and ability to judge character, -and appraise men at their true worth; its infrequency -testifies to the possession by smugglers of these qualities -in an unusual degree.</p> - -<p>It must not be supposed that the smuggler takes a -very active part in his nefarious traffic; it is doubtful -whether he ever sees the drugs for the importation of -which he is responsible. His assistants look to all -minor details, he only supplying the necessary money, -and directing operations as a general directs an army -in the field. His host of underlings realise only too -well how relentless would be the fate that would overtake -them were they to “give away” their employer, -for those who have proved faithless to their trust have -not survived long enough to enjoy the fruits of their -perfidy! The faithful ones know they have nothing -to lose or fear. Fines are paid by their employer, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -jail has no terrors for them, because their families are -provided for by the smuggler while they are away, and -they return to their employment and the society of their -companions after release from a course of hard, healthful, -muscle-forming labour.</p> - -<p>So far I have dealt exclusively with the man who -smuggles in a large and extended way. He might be -likened to the big importer of ordinary business. But, -as in ordinary business, there are the retailers: those -who take the goods to the consumer. These men -operate up-country, in the sense that they work in the -interior of the country. They may be agents of the -big men, or they may be merely his customers; but -except that their activities are confined, sometimes -within the limits of a single district, they are otherwise -similar to the big men who live in the cities. More -often than not these men take an active and personal -part in disseminating drugs, and consequently coming -frequently into contact with the authorities, are -more often brought to book for their misdemeanours. -But they do not have much at stake, and rarely -risk more than they can afford to lose if plans go -wrong. Of course, there are these men in big cities -also; as a matter of fact there are a host of them in -every big city. To the square mile, there are many -more consumers in a city than in the interior, and as -the big smuggler cannot be troubled with retailing -minute quantities of drugs, there is plenty to do for -the lesser lights.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - -<p>Why is it that these importers are never brought to -book, is a question that might reasonably be asked. -The answer is simple. It is because they never by -chance handle the goods; they never allow it into their -houses. That a certain man is a smuggler is well -known to the authorities. In fact, the suspect will -cheerfully admit it; he will even go as far as telling -them how it was that they failed to seize his last consignment -of contraband, and defy them to seize the next -one he expects to import! But he is perfectly acquainted -with the law, and he knows that he cannot be -touched unless the contraband is found in his actual -possession, or, under such circumstances, within his -house or its precincts, that possession of it cannot be -ascribed to anyone but himself. The law prescribes a -punishment for any person who, according to general -repute, earns his living, wholly or in part, by opium or -morphia trafficking. The smuggler evades the first part -of this provision by keeping a mercantile business going; -and relies upon his personality, and the dread he inspires -in those who might otherwise seek to interfere with him, -for avoiding the second. The instinctive reluctance of -respectable people to make themselves party to judicial -proceedings, and a very understandable fear of extremely -unpleasant consequences to themselves, deters them -from coming forward to give evidence against the -smuggler, and this is a great handicap to this very -excellent piece of legislation. All that the executive -can hope to do is to seize as much of his contraband as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> -possible, and so, gradually, deprive him of the means -to carry on his trade.</p> - -<p>Smugglers have been reduced to impotence in this -way, by repeated seizure of their wares, but their -number is not numerous. The weak link in the chain -that can be wound round the smuggler is, indubitably, -the corrupt preventive officer. It is regrettable, but -nevertheless true, that a proportion of the preventive -staff is corrupt and amenable to bribes. The smuggler -pays them handsomely to keep their eyes closed, -and their mouths shut, and being poorly paid by -Government the temptation to bribery, which swells -their monthly incomes to four or five times what -they legitimately earn, is too great to resist. Besides -this, many of the men recruited are not of the type -most suitable. Their ideals of honesty are nebulous, -self-respect to them consists merely in wearing clean -clothes. It is a fact that a certain official once appointed -his man-servant to the subordinate grade of a preventive -department. Rumour had it that this servant was -brother to the woman this official was keeping as his -mistress, but that was mere scandal, and probably -untrue. At the same time, one cannot expect much -from a staff which can be recruited in so haphazard a -manner. In other walks of life, the need for cautious -recruitment is not so vital, and the need to pay for -honesty is not so great as in departments whose duty -it is to safeguard the revenue, and ensure the moral -welfare of the people. It should be made a principle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -that for every ten rupees paid for actual work, -fifty rupees will be paid for its honest performance. -The need for this is accentuated in departments -in which cupidity, which exists to a greater or less -extent in every man, is excited and tempted to the -utmost.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Bribery and Corruption.</span></h3> - -<p>No matter how powerful and reckless of consequences -a smuggler may be, there is, nevertheless, a lurking -respect in his bosom for the myrmidons of the Law. -It is to his interest to have the authorities on his side, -and, as he cannot have them on other terms, he must -pay them handsomely. An excise or police officer, -especially if he be of the lower ranks, can make it -uncommonly uncomfortable for a smuggler; and it -may be taken for granted that a smuggler is not completely -satisfied until he has a large proportion of the -preventive staff in his pay. To some, however, he will -pay nothing because he has nothing to fear from incapables; -some who occasionally come in his way he will -tip with the economy of the uncle who tips his nephew; -but to the able ones, the ones that can make it very -warm for him, he will pay handsome monthly salaries, -and he will look upon the outlay as money well -invested. It is in this way that the smuggler keeps -his traffic going; it is thus that he makes it possible -to smuggle with profit.</p> - -<p>Now, the preventive can only prevent by seizing -contraband articles; so that it stands to reason that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -its efficiency, and the ability of the individuals who -compose it, must be judged largely by results; by the -number of arrests made, and the quantity of contraband -seized. An able officer who makes no hauls may be -not unjustly put down as a bribe-taker, and a chief -who knows that there is lots of contraband to be seized -for the trying, will come down heavily on such a -subordinate.</p> - -<p>What does the smuggler do when the well-paid -watchdog of the Law comes to him and tells him that -he will be obliged to seize some, if not all, of the -smuggler’s next consignment of opium, because the -game is, to all intents and purposes, up? Does he -wring his hands and roundly curse his ill luck? No; -he merely smiles and advises the watchdog to stand at -the corner of such-and-such a street, near so-and-so’s -shop between certain hours next morning, and search -the man who passes him with a spotted bandanna -round his neck, and a bundle under his right arm. -The watchdog acts on the advice, searches the man -with the spotted bandanna, finds two cakes of opium, -and walks the culprit off to the police station. -For this he is commended and paid a reward; the -smuggler gets off with the loss of two cakes of opium -instead of the hundred he stood to lose; and -the man with the spotted bandanna who is ultimately -sent to prison for six months, merely fulfils -the duty for which he is paid a regular monthly -salary.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> - -<p>The foregoing is an example of the methods of -smugglers, and of the cupidity of some of the staff -employed by Government to guard its revenues. But -it is only one. It would weary the reader to be told -of the scores of other means employed. The smuggler, -knowing that a certain officer is financially embarrassed, -will approach him with the offer of a loan, and accept -a note of hand for the accommodation. That note of -hand releases the smuggler from all further obligation -to pay the officer in question. He is well aware that -certain dismissal of the latter must result if he shows -the scrap of paper in the proper quarter. He has -the unfortunate man completely in his hands. But -it is obvious that there can be little to fear from -a man who provides such damning evidence against -himself.</p> - -<p>People might well ask how it is that so much corruption -can go on and yet no one be caught and punished. -Now, it is a well-known principle of evidence that -one man’s word is as good as another’s, and in law, no -matter how convincing the truth of a man’s story -might be, it must usually be corroborated before a -magistrate will convict. The giving and receiving of -bribes are, by their very nature, secret transactions—transactions -to which there are no independent witnesses, -so that it is very rarely that the charge can be -brought home; and it is usually only those cases in -which a confirmed bribe-taker has been lured into a -trap, skilfully laid with the aid of marked notes or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -coins, which have a satisfactory conclusion. It must, -moreover, be borne in mind that the giver or offerer of a -bribe is just as much liable in law as the receiver or -solicitor of it; so that it is seldom that a complaint -to a magistrate is made.</p> - -<p>The two anecdotes I give here will afford the reader -food for thought:</p> - -<p>X was a responsible officer. He had the control -of a district, and was widely respected. One afternoon, -when at office, he had occasion to leave his room, and -on his return to it, found ten one-hundred rupee notes -under a paperweight on his table. He well knew -who had placed them there. He took three of these -notes to his superior officer, and with much apparent -indignation, handed them to him, and asked that -the sum be credited to Government. The guileless -superior, ever after thought highly of X’s honesty, -and reported on him in flattering terms. X became a -richer man by seven hundred rupees!</p> - -<p>Now for the second story:</p> - -<p>Y was one night visited by a smuggler who produced -a bag containing five hundred rupees, and offered the -money as a bribe. Y stormed at him, and calling in -his men, had the smuggler arrested, and sent up for trial -on a charge of offering a bribe. The money was -produced and counted in court. “How many rupees -are there there?” enquired the smuggler. “Five -hundred rupees,” replied the magistrate. “Oh!” -said the rascal, “The bag had a thousand rupees in it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -when I gave it to the sahib!” And Y was generally -regarded as a taker of bribes for the rest of his official -life. So does fate sometimes serve the virtuous!</p> - -<p>I have given the seamy side of things here. There -are, however, many excellent and deserving men in -preventive departments—men who would rather stay -poor than sell their honour.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Informers and Information.</span></h3> - -<p>Of all those who threaten the smuggler with arrest -and loss, the informer is the one he fears most, and -accordingly regards with bitter hatred as his greatest -foe.</p> - -<p>Without information, the hands of the executive -are tied; without informers, they would be wholly -ineffective; and except for a chance seizure now and -then, there would be little for them to do. As things -are, the organization of a detective department is so -linked up with informers and information that one -finds it difficult to conceive of its existing with these -eliminated. Detectives of the Sherlock Holmes type -exist only in fiction, and although it goes without -saying that powers of observation above the ordinary, -and an intimate knowledge of men are indispensable -in a detective, it is equally indispensable that a detective, -as things are, must rely upon information if he -wishes successfully to solve any problem of crime.</p> - -<p>In writing about informers, I deal mainly with the -professional blackguards who make a regular living -out of giving information. I do not include those -who, to work off a grudge, or who, having seen a crime<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> -committed, lodge information in the proper quarter.—I -do not look upon these as <em>informers</em>. The first is a -mean-minded person; the second, one who has a very -proper conception of his duty towards society. But -the man I deal with is essentially a blackguard, and a -very despicable blackguard at that. He has only one -object in view when he gives information, and that -object is money. He is not burdened with notions of -his duty as a citizen. If there was no money to be -made out of giving information, he would be the last -to go a step out of his way to give any; but he recognizes -his value as an important factor in detection, places -a price on it, and is paid generously.</p> - -<p>I have often been asked by magistrates whether -my informers were respectable men. I have felt no -hesitation in answering the question emphatically in the -negative, and I have no doubt I often set them wondering. -But one has only to give the matter a moment’s -consideration to see how diametrically opposed to all -one’s notions of fair-play and honour must be the -nature and calling of an informer. He must for a -time pose as the friend and confidant of his victim, and -then turn traitor; and he must bribe, coerce, and -wheedle from their allegiance scores of subordinates -who would otherwise serve their masters with unswerving -loyalty. He is the tempter <i>in excelsis</i>; he is -unscrupulous in the extreme; he is utterly bad. But -for all this, he is, as I have already said, a very necessary -link in the chain of detection, and we may, like the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -pharisee, take comfort in the thought that we are not -as other men are—even as these informers! The “<i>unco -gude</i>” would find a monotonous sameness in their -existence if there were none to set-off their unco gudeness!</p> - -<p>Nowhere is the need for sharp-witted informers so -keenly felt as in departments whose duty it is to prevent -smuggling, and it may be taken for granted that the -greater the blackguard the fellow is, the more useful -he will be, and the more useful an informer -is to the executive, the greater danger he goes in of -losing his life (because the smuggler does not hesitate -as to the means he employs in removing obstacles from -his path). The authorities have therefore to consider -these things when they come to pay the informer. -The legislature also protects him by providing that no -officer shall be compelled in a law court to disclose -the name of his informer. That advantage is duly -taken of this provision there need be no doubt. The -officer who gives up the name of his informer has little -further information to expect, as the informer very -naturally values his life, and will give no information -to an indiscreet and injudicious officer.</p> - -<p>That the authorities are often imposed upon by -informers is a matter of course. There are lots of men -in this world who would like to pay off an old score -against another, and an easy way to do this is to lodge -an information against him. A search of the premises -occupied by the suspect results, and although nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -may be found, the attention of the neighbourhood is -attracted, and for some time the search is a topic of -conversation, which is by no means pleasant for the -man whose house is searched. The disgrace attending -such an occurrence is intensified if the householder -happens to be a man who is respected as upright and -honest. Severe punishment is provided by the law for -givers of false information, but such cases are happily -not numerous.</p> - -<p>To take action against an informer for giving false -information usually results in deterring genuine informers -from giving genuine information; for there are -factors which operate against the success of the genuine -informer. For instance, the object searched for may be -removed just before the search is made, or even during -the search, and a blank is drawn. To prosecute the -informer for giving false information in such -circumstances would be manifestly unjust. If he were -prosecuted, other informers would not run the risk of -giving information and work would come to a standstill. -Where, then, is the line to run? This is a question -which confronts the executive with ever-increasing -perplexity. It seems to be better to disregard the stray -cases of false informing, than to jeopardise the entire -preventive department’s being. A certain officer, -suspecting that a search had been made on false -information, issued an order, <i>ex cathedra</i>, that all -informations should be verified before search was -made. As the only way in which information can be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -verified is by making a search, it is not clear to what -extent this order was conceived in a spirit of -bumptiousness, and how much of it in ignorance.</p> - -<p>“Planting,” or the fabrication of false evidence, -is a favourite and much practised trick of the informer. -By means best known to himself he introduces something -incriminating into the house of a person against whom -he has a spite, and lays an information. A search -is made, the stuff is found, and very often an innocent -man is fined or sent to jail. Against this there seems -to be no remedy, except the employment of well-known, -reliable informers, and also a sort of intuition which -develops with experience in officers themselves.</p> - -<p>In olden days, when coastguards did not exist, -Cornwall was a hot-bed of smuggling, and the temper -of the Cornishmen towards informers can be gauged -by the following story which has much in it that is -apropos:—</p> - -<p>The Rev. R. S. Hawker, of the parish of Morwenstowe, -relates how on one occasion a predecessor of his presided, -as the custom was, at a parish feast, in cassock and -bands, and presented, with his white hair and venerable -countenance, quite an apostolic aspect and mien. On a -sudden, a busy whisper among the farmers at the lower -end of the table attracted his notice, interspersed as it -was with sundry nods and glances towards himself. -At last one bolder than the rest addressed him, and said -that they had a great wish to ask his reverence a question, -if he would kindly grant them a reply; it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -on a religious subject that they had dispute, he said. -The bland old gentleman assured them of his readiness -to yield them any information in his power, but what -was the point in dispute? “Why, sir, we wish to be -informed if there are not sins which God Almighty will -never forgive?” Surprised, and somewhat shocked, -he told them that he trusted there were no transgressions -common to themselves, but if repented of and -abjured, they might clearly hope to be forgiven. But -with natural curiosity, he inquired what sorts of iniquities -they contemplated as too vile for pardon. “Why, -sir,” replied the spokesman, “we thought that if a -man should find out where run-goods was deposited, -and should inform the Gauger, that such a villain was -too bad for mercy!”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Some Anecdotes of Smugglers and Smuggling.</span></h3> - -<p>As an inducement to seize contraband, Government -pays its preventive staff money-rewards which bear a -ratio to the value of the stuff seized, and the ability -displayed in seizing it; and an officer who is active -and conscientious very often can earn in this way -from three to four times the amount of his monthly -salary. But the seizing of contraband is by no means -easy, as the smuggler has brought concealment to a fine -art, and there seems to be no end to the ingenuity -which may be exercised by him in getting his consignments -through safely to their destination. A few -examples will serve to demonstrate this.</p> - -<p>Vigorous search had failed to bring to light the -cocaine which was reported to be on board the S.S. -“<i>Contrebandier</i>” from Marseilles, and the search party -were about to reluctantly abandon their quest when -attention was directed to a pile of bundles of planks, -each bundle consisting of from four to six half-inch -planks, bound together at each end with iron bands. -More from curiosity than with any idea of discovering -cocaine, one of these bundles was pulled apart. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -top plank was found to be intact, and so was the bottom -one, but the intervening planks had had spaces cut -through them which were packed with one-ounce -packets of cocaine. A large quantity of the alkaloid, -valued at several thousands of rupees, was found. An -illustration to make the method clear is shown.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/diagram1.jpg" width="500" height="350" alt="" /> -<p class="caption">Top plank removed.</p> -<p class="caption">Bundle of planks.</p> -</div> - -<p>Another example: The weekly steamer from India -had come into a Burma port, and the deck-passengers -had been lined up on the pier for inspection by the -Customs officers. An excise officer on the pier was -made curious by four natives of India, whose only -effects consisted of earthen pots of water containing -small fishes. Knowing that the place to which these -men had come abounded with fish of the best kinds, -he was not convinced when they explained that they -had brought these small fry to stock the local tanks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -with. A closer scrutiny disclosed the fact that whereas -by percolation the outsides of the pots ought to have -been wet, these were quite dry. Measurements taken -with his walking stick inside a pot and outside it disagreed -too greatly to leave any doubt of the existence -of a false bottom, and on breaking a pot, he found -that it not only had a false bottom, but that the inter-space -was packed with segments of opium. The remaining -pots, needless to say, were treated in the same way, -and a rich haul was made. An illustration of this -method, also, is given. Considering there was no seam, -the workmanship of these pots was uncommonly clever.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/diagram2.jpg" width="300" height="375" alt="" /> -<p class="caption">Space packed with opium.</p> -<p class="caption">Section</p> -</div> - -<p>There are doubtless hundreds of other methods -as yet undiscovered by which smugglers get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -their goods through safely. There is the heavy -wooden bedstead, whose every leg is hollowed out to -receive stuff, whose frame is but a shell to receive -morphia phials. It is likely that the Chinaman who -walks in front of you wearing a pith hat has cut-out -spaces under the padded cover, in the pith, which -are occupied by segments of opium; there is the Holy -Bible that comes by post, with a square cut in the -pages, containing opium or some other drug. The -ways in which concealment is practised are legion. The -wonder is that so many of these tricks are discovered!</p> - -<p>But there are a number of cases in which the methods -come to light only after the coup has been completed. -A European, Hobson by name, ostensibly a coffee -planter, whose plantation was on the frontier which -separates an opium-producing country from British -India, took to smuggling opium down to city smugglers, -and in time accumulated great wealth. His methods -were simple, but on one occasion a consignment he had -sent down in charge of an assistant of his very nearly -fell into the hands of the authorities, and he became -more cautious. On one occasion after this, he ordered -a consignment of fifty one-pound tins of tea from an -oilmanstore merchant in the city, and on its arrival, -took delivery. Next day, the same package was -returned by rail to the address of the grocer. On arrival -of the package in the city, a European, purporting to -be an assistant of the grocer firm, called at the railway -booking office, and producing the railway receipt, took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -delivery of the case; the grocer being duly paid, never -knew that the package had ever been returned to his -address. The explanation is that Mr. Hobson had -emptied the tea tins when he got them, refilled them -with opium, and sent them back; but the railway -receipt was sent to his assistant who, on arrival of the -package, took delivery of it, and handed it over to the -local smuggler in exchange for hard cash!</p> - -<p>How this same Mr. Hobson once played a trick on a -prominent detective will bear relating, even as inadequately -as I am able to do it. Hobson was once travelling -down to the city by train, when our sleuth, who -happened to be on tour, entered the same compartment -at a small wayside station. Having already seen -Mr. Hobson’s descriptive roll, he had no difficulty in -identifying him as the smuggler whom he had often -dreamt about catching; and having the strongest -reason to believe that H could not possibly know who -<em>he</em> was, introduced himself as Mr. Jackson, travelling -for a firm of leather merchants. The two got into -conversation, and our sleuth, being an adept in the art -of worming out details of other people’s affairs, soon -got Hobson to open his heart to him. Facts and figures -were eagerly noted whenever Hobson was not observant -of it, and our sleuth was very pleased indeed with -himself. Next morning, however, as he parted from -his late companion at the city railway station, Hobson -said, “Good-bye, Mr. ——” addressing him -by his real name, “I am very pleased indeed to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -made your acquaintance. Here,” producing it from -his pocket book, “is your latest photograph! Let me -advise you to represent anything but leather another -time. You don’t know a thing about it.” And then, -as an afterthought, “Better tear up those notes you -took. I’ve told you nothing that isn’t a damned -lie!”</p> - -<p>An Indian smuggler once took a rise out of a certain -high police official, whom I shall call Duncan, and -thereby made a mortal enemy for life. F. was the chief -smuggler in this city, and his transactions in illicit -drugs ran into lakhs of rupees. It was most desirable -that this prince of smugglers should be brought to book. -He was also by way of being a desperate character; -for although it could not be proved, it was morally -certain that more than one of the mysterious murders -that had taken place in recent years had been committed -or instigated by him. One day Duncan got information -that F. had a large quantity of drugs, arms, and -ammunition in his house, and that if search were made -at once, F. would, to a certainty, be caught red-handed. -This was luck indeed, and Duncan decided to make the -search personally. Collecting a party of constables, -he set out at once, but meeting the Black Maria (prison -van) on its way back to the prison from the Courts, -a brilliant idea came to him, and halting this grim -conveyance, he and his party entered it, giving -instructions to the driver to stop opposite F.’s -house. Arriving there, some of the party soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -surrounded the house, while Duncan and the rest of -them entered the place. F. was in his “Office,” to -all appearances deeply immersed in piece-goods -transactions.</p> - -<p>“F.,” said Duncan, “I am going to search your -house on information received. I believe you have -contraband drugs, arms, and ammunition concealed -somewhere on these premises, and I mean to find them. -If you wish to search me and my party before we begin, -do so at once.”</p> - -<p>“I am a humble, law-abiding merchant, Sahib, and -have no concern with drugs and firearms. You are -quite at liberty to search anywhere you please.”</p> - -<p>The search began. Duncan, although by no means -a young man, worked with the rest. The place was -ransacked from cellar to attic, but not a trace of what -was sought was to be found. Duncan, covered from -head to foot in grime and cob-web, at last reluctantly -decided to give it up, and slowly descended the stairs -to the lower room, where he was struck speechless with -indignation. There was a table covered with the -whitest of linen cloths, and groaning under an assortment -of fruit and sweetmeats, crowned by a bottle of -Pommery and Greno; while F., with a snowy towel -over his arm, and a silver bowl of water in his hands, -greeted Duncan with an invitation to wash and partake -of refreshment “as your honour looks tired and dusty.”</p> - -<p>“Damn you! I shall have you yet,” said the -infuriated Duncan when he found his tongue; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -strode out of the house with rage and hatred in his -heart!</p> - -<p>It was discovered later that F., in a mischievous -mood, had himself forwarded the information on which -Duncan acted!</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br /> -<span class="smcap">More Anecdotes.</span></h3> - -<p>Bloody encounters with smugglers are rare, but they -do happen sometimes, and as it is always on the cards -that active opposition may be encountered when a -party sets off to intercept a smuggler on his way to -“market,” the work of an exciseman is not entirely -free from danger. Very often when a smuggler goes -on a journey, he travels armed with sword or spear; -sometimes with a musket; sometimes even with a -modern revolver or shot-gun. He is prepared to use -these, and unless the intercepting party gets the “drop” -on him, he will put up a good fight. Unfortunately, the -officer, as a rule, though acquainted to some extent -with the law governing the right of private defence of -public servants acting in an official capacity, does not -take full advantage of it; he has not been bred to kill; -and it is probable that there is a lurking fear in him -that the magistrate, who will hold the enquiry, will not -see quite eye to eye with him, and that he may, perhaps, -be convicted of a rash and negligent act, or grievous -hurt, if he merely wounds his man, or even, perhaps, of -culpable homicide. To some extent he probably is -justified in so thinking. Not long ago, an officer fired<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -off his pistol in a melee following on a seizure, and -wounded one of his assailants in the arm. A complaint -was made, and the unfortunate young officer was -convicted of grievous hurt, and sentenced to three -months rigorous imprisonment and a fine. It is true -he was afterwards retried and acquitted, but he was -in no way compensated for the agony of mind he -suffered, or for the degradation he had undergone in -being tried as an ordinary criminal. This is chiefly to -show that there is justification for an officer thinking -twice or oftener before he proceeds to take risks. But -the general run of magistrates are broad-minded men; -men who combine with a sound knowledge of law, -worldly wisdom, and a knowledge of the special conditions, -and it is extremely rare for a conscientious officer -to be “let down.” I shall now tell a story based on -fact.</p> - -<p>Information was brought to the inspector of ... -that a certain well-known smuggler was on his way to -... and that he had a large quantity of illicit opium -with him. Report had it that he was armed, and, -accordingly, the inspector, providing himself with a -revolver of small calibre—really nothing more than a -toy—and his peon, with a shot-gun loaded with slugs in -both barrels, set off with a small party to a certain -pass in the hills near by, through which the smuggler -would have to pass. In due time the smuggler, with -a load on his shoulders, and a Tower musket in his -hand, came along.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Halt,” called the inspector, jumping from his -place of concealment, and covering the smuggler with -his toy revolver.</p> - -<p>The only reply was a flash and bang from the -smuggler’s musket, and for a moment, the air was -thick with smoke and nasty whining sounds, as missiles -of all kinds flew past the inspector’s head.</p> - -<p>“Now I will shoot you,” said the inspector, and he -fired a shot over the smuggler. The smuggler poured -some powder down his musket barrel.</p> - -<p>“Put down that gun!” ordered the inspector, and -he fired another shot over the smuggler’s head. Now a -piece of wadding clanged down under the smuggler’s -ramrod.</p> - -<p>“I shall certainly shoot you now,” threatened the -inspector, and another tiny bullet whistled harmlessly -past the smuggler. This time a handful of slugs went -rattling down the long barrel.</p> - -<p>“Can my master be bewitched?” thought the -peon, who had the loaded shot-gun in his hands. “It -must be so; but matters are getting too serious for -further argument,” and levelling the gun at the smuggler -he fired off both barrels at once, almost cutting the -fellow in halves. A large quantity of opium was found -in the smuggler’s bundle and the judicial officer who -held the inquiry, a man who had risen from the bottom -of the ladder, and whose experience was wide, while -admiring the inspector’s humanity, considered that he -had no right to expose himself and his party in the way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -he did. He wanted it to be widely known that smugglers -who went armed with the idea of terrorising the -executive did so at the risk of being shot at sight, and he -undertook to see that officers who did this did not suffer. -The peon was handsomely rewarded and promoted for -his presence of mind and opportune action.</p> - -<p>Here is another story.</p> - -<p>I had received information that a certain smuggler -of repute expected a big consignment of opium, and -that it would reach his house sometime during the night -and be concealed there. It was about nine o’clock -in the evening when I set out, clad in an old grey suit, -cap, and muffler, for the smuggler’s house, intending to -conceal myself somewhere near, and watch proceedings. -As I entered the quarter where the smuggler lived, I -was accosted by two beat constables who suggested -that I was a member of the crew of one of the tramp -steamers then lying in the harbour. After apparently -satisfying them of my identity, I continued on my way, -and was soon ensconced under a large tree, with the -smuggler’s house and compound in full view. I had not -been there an hour, when I heard the sound of approaching -footsteps, and looking round, was not a little annoyed -to find the beat constables again on my track. They -had spotted me in the gloom of the tree, and being -suspicious, had come to see who I was. To me it -seemed that there was nothing to be gained after this -by continuing the watch, and so, roundly abusing the -two inquisitive myrmidons of the law, I went home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -I was later to regret my unkindness to my two preservers, -for that, indeed, they proved to be. Next morning -I was called upon by one of my spies, who handed me a -wicked looking dagger with a blade at least five inches -long.</p> - -<p>“What might this be?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Sahib,” he replied, “if it had not been for the two -policemen that disturbed your watch last night, that -dagger would have taken your life. While you watched, -there was one who watched you with this dagger. When -the two policemen came along, he dropped the weapon -and made off.”</p> - -<p>No name was given, and it would have done no good -to have taken proceedings against my would-be assailant, -even if I had known his name. Such things are -all in the day’s work. But I had the satisfaction the -same day of going down to the smuggler’s house and -unearthing over a maund of his opium. It is true -that he got off at the trial on a technical point, but he -lost a great deal of money, actually and potentially, -and I felt I had called quits to the person who was the -instigator of my attempted murder.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Observations on Smugglers and Smuggling.</span></h3> - -<p>Taken all round, I think it must be admitted that the -smuggler is a sportsman, in the sense that he plays a -hazardous game at great personal risk, at the risk of -his fortune, and against great odds. It is true that he -takes all the care he can to minimize risks, but he -can never hope entirely to eliminate the element of -danger; and if his game be divested of all its peccancy, -and most of its immorality, we discover in it the essentials -of what goes to make horse-racing so popular a -“sport” all over the civilized world. What is it that -attracts millions to a race-course? Money! The desire -to get money coupled with the excitement of the game. -Out of every thousand persons who go to a race-meeting, -nine hundred and ninety-nine go to gain money under -feverishly exciting conditions, and <em>one</em> to see the horses -run. Spanish bull-fighting however it may please the -Spaniard, can never be otherwise than disgusting to an -Englishman. But however shocked an Englishman -might be at the ruin the smuggler causes to thousands -of his fellow-men, he can never feel for the smuggler -the contempt which he feels for the gaudy and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -bespangled Toreador. He recognizes that the smuggler -is playing a dangerous game, sustained by the arts of a -subtle intellect, and that he also possesses the qualities -which go to make a good fighter.</p> - -<p>It may be that the smuggler has little notion of the -havoc he spreads. It may be that he argues thus: -“There is a demand for drugs, and people will be -supplied by some means or other. They are willing to -pay almost any price for the drugs they want; they are -grown up people and well able to judge for themselves; -why should I not make a fortune by supplying them -with their wants at my own price?” This is a form -of reasoning which contains no fallacy for a man -unacquainted with the principles of ethics, and it is -certain that the smuggler has not burdened his mind -with such learning, admirable as it may be.</p> - -<p>His offence against the revenue laws provides the -smuggler with a never-ending source of pure delight. -Every fresh triumph in this direction he looks upon as -another feather in his already innumerably be-feathered -cap.</p> - -<p>But there can be no question about the dreadful -misery for which the smuggler is directly responsible, -and in succeeding chapters I shall endeavour to give as -realistic a picture as I can of the awful results of this -damnable traffic in drugs.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> - -<h2>THE DRUG HABIT.</h2> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Opium.</span><a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h3> - -<p>It may be taken for granted that most people are in -some degree acquainted with the use of opium, having -had it at some time or other administered to them as a -medicine. Dover’s powder, so useful a remedy for a -cold, contains opium; Laudanum is a preparation of it -which is familiar to everybody; and there are scores -of other remedies and proprietary preparations which -contain opium to a greater or less extent. But useful -as opium may be, it must be used with discretion, -and must not be allowed to change its character of -a faithful servant for that of a master. It can become -an exacting and dominating master, and the habit -once formed is well nigh ineradicable.</p> - -<p>For the information of those who have not seen the -pure drug, I may mention that opium is a dark brown, -putty-like substance with an agreeable, sweetish, odour. -It is the dried resin obtained by incising the unripe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -capsules of a certain variety of poppy, and is prepared -in large, well-equipped factories, from which it is issued -in cakes and balls weighing eighty tolas.<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p>The opium industry is a Government monopoly. -The poppy crops are grown under Government supervision, -and the factories where it is prepared belong to -Government and are staffed by Government servants. -The prepared product is sold from Government opium -shops from which consumers who are so privileged can -get their requirements at a certain fixed price.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> But -as is the case with all monopolized commodities, opium -may assume a money value far in excess of its intrinsic -worth and be sold for its weight in silver. In fixing -the price of opium, Government is confronted with a -choice between two courses: either to sell opium cheap, -and so extinguish the smuggler; or to prohibit it entirely -and thereby convert India into a happy hunting ground -for the avaricious and rapacious fortune hunter. It -takes a middle course, therefore, and sells opium at -such a rate that facilities for obtaining it are reasonable, -without, on the one hand, rendering it cheap and easily -obtainable, or, on the other, making it prohibitive. -The policy pursued is one of eventual suppression; the -discouragement of recruits to the opium habit being the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -means employed as best adapted to bring about its -realization.</p> - -<p>The opium habit was an established thing in India -centuries before the British first set foot in the country, -and it is surmised that it was the Arab conquerors, who -invaded India in the 11th century who first introduced -it. The cultivation of the poppy, and the preparation -of opium, were live industries in India in the 16th -century, as Portuguese chroniclers tell us, and when -the British East India Company took over the -administration of Bengal after Clive’s victory at Plassey -in 1757, all that they found themselves able to do was -to adopt a policy of regulation leading to ultimate -suppression. This policy has been followed ever since.</p> - -<p>It is a fundamental weakness of human nature that -we desire most that which it is most difficult to obtain. -It is a perpetuation of the genesiac myth of the forbidden -fruit; and no matter how optimistic some may be -that the opium habit will eventually be stamped out, -it is to be feared that this cannot come about until -human nature ceases to be what it always has been. -This contention applies with special cogency to the -opium habit whose insistence in our midst is not only -owing to the fact that it satisfies the sensuousness and -voluptuousness which forms a part of every man’s -nature, but that it establishes a dominance over its -victims which requires almost super-human power of -will to overthrow. In a letter to his friend and medical -attendant Mr. Gilman, Coleridge, who was for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -twenty-five years a victim to the opium habit, writes -about the giving up of it as a “trivial task” and as -requiring no more than seven days to accomplish; yet -elsewhere he describes it pathetically, and sometimes -with almost frantic pathos, as the scourge, the curse, -the one almighty blight which had desolated his life. -De Quincey very justly calls this a “very shocking -contradiction,” and asks, “Is, indeed, Leviathan <em>so</em> -tamed?”</p> - -<p>It has been more than once suggested that the -dissemination of a healthy propaganda would be the -best means of deterring recruits to the opium habit, and -that reliance upon the efforts of a strong preventive -staff can result only in a diminution of the vice, and -not its extinction. On some, such propaganda might -have the desired effect; but with others, it may have -just that effect which we seek to avoid. There is always -a desire to experience new and strange sensations; -there are always some who want an unfailing panacea -for pain of body or mind; there are always some who -long for oblivion. All these things are to be got from -opium—the sovereign panacea for pain, grief, “for all -human woes”; a weaver of dreams and ecstasies! -And so, with the personal equation always solving -itself, the problem remains to all intents and purposes -unsolvable.</p> - -<p>Let us see what the effects of opium are. A writer -on the subject says, “A small dose not unfrequently -acts as a stimulant: there is a feeling of vigour, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> -capability of severe exertion, and an endurance of -labour without fatigue. A large dose often exerts a -calming influence with a dreamy state in which images -and ideas pass rapidly before the mind without fatigue, -and often in disorder, and without apparent sequence. -Time seems to be shortened as one state of consciousness -quickly succeeds another, and there is a pleasant feeling -of grateful rest. This is succeeded by sleep which, -according to the strength of the dose, and the idiosyncrasy -of the person, may be light and dreamy, or like -normal profound sleep, or deep and heavy, passing -into stupor or coma. From this a person may awaken -with a feeling of depression, or langour, or wretchedness, -often associated with sickness, headache, or vomiting.” -I have verified these statements by questioning -numerous consumers of opium, and, in substance, -their descriptions tallied exactly with that I have -quoted.</p> - -<p>How the opium habit is first contracted is a matter -which deserves investigation, but it would seem that -the most fertile cause is its injudicious administration -in its character of an anodyne. De Quincey, in his -“<cite>Confessions of an English Opium-Eater</cite>” tells us -that he first took opium for a severe toothache. The -poet Coleridge, who, like De Quincey, was a confirmed -opium-eater, “began in rheumatic pains”; and if -a census of consumers was taken, it would not be -surprising to find that eighty <i>per cent.</i> of them -were first introduced to this “dread agent of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -unimaginable pleasure and pain” by its being -given them for a stomachache, toothache, or some -such wrecker of the peace of their mind. The other -twenty <i>per cent.</i> are the victims of curiosity. The -Burman is said to get the taste for opium when he is -drugged with it while young, when he is, according -to Burmese custom, tattoed from the waist to above -his knees.</p> - -<p>Nobody needs to be told that a habit is formed by -the frequent repetition of acts or indulgences, and -that some habits are more difficult to break ourselves -of than others. The opium habit falls in this category. -It is formed, of course, in the same way as other habits, -but there are peculiarities connected with it on which -those who are ready to condemn opium-eaters as degenerates -might well ponder. The physiological effects -of opium are such, that the wearing off of the effects -of a dose are attended with the keenest mental and -physical distress. No one who has not been an opium-eater -can describe these adequately. The need, therefore, -for a corrective of this condition becomes what -seems an urgent necessity, and the only immediate -corrective is “a hair from the dog.” A succession of -these “hairs”—and a not very long succession—forms -the habit. Unlike other habits, it is a habit that -cannot be cured without immense strength of will, -and a readiness to undergo great suffering: pains in -the body, diarrhœa, and a general upset of the mental -equilibrium. We see, therefore, that the cause of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -habit lies here: <em>the need for opium to alleviate the pangs -caused by opium</em>.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;" id="illus2"> -<img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="" /> -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">An Excessive Opium Smoker</span></p> -</div> - -<p>Amongst unromantically inclined people of the -type who form the bulk of consumers—cultivators, -coolies, artisans of all kinds, humble folk whose creed is -“pice and rice”—it would be difficult (and ludicrous) -to suppose that their object in taking opium is to go in -their dreams to:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“Woods that wave o’er Delphi steep</div> -<div class="verse">Isles, that crown the Aegian deep,</div> -<div class="verse">Fields that cool Ilissus’ laves</div> -<div class="verse">Or where meander’s amber waves</div> -<div class="verse">In lingering lab’rinths creep.”</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Possibly, they do have pleasant dreams; but the -exertion and hard exercise they must undergo to earn -their daily bread is known to counteract the sedative -effects of opium; and as they take small quantities only, -its effect is to stimulate them rather than to make them -dreamy and sensuous; and I contend that, <i>primâ facie</i>, -it is not to evoke sensuous imaginings that these people -take opium. They take it because they cannot get -away from it, once the pain to ease which it was -given has passed. What strength of will do we -expect to find in an unlettered cooly?</p> - -<p>Without any apology I reproduce here some -verses which appeared in 1894, about the time -when the Royal Opium Commission came to India:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<p class="center">THE OPIUM-EATER’S SOLILOQUY.</p> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">They began by mourning over my degraded moral state,</div> -<div class="verse">Then my physical decadence they would anxiously debate.</div> -<div class="verse">Then they raised a pious eye,</div> -<div class="verse">And they heaved a pitying sigh,</div> -<div class="verse">And they shuddered as they pondered on my melancholy fate.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">Now, I never had reflected on the matter thus, at all,</div> -<div class="verse">For my luxuries were few, and my expenditure was small.</div> -<div class="verse">I was happy as the day,</div> -<div class="verse">In my own abandoned way,</div> -<div class="verse">Till they said they must release me from the bonds that held me thrall.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">I’d been cheered up at my <i>Chandoo</i><a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> shop, for years at least two score,</div> -<div class="verse">To perform my daily labour, and was never sick or sore;</div> -<div class="verse">But they said this must not be;</div> -<div class="verse">So they passed a stern decree,</div> -<div class="verse">And they made my <i>Chandoo</i> seller shut his hospitable door.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">Now they’re sending out Commissions with the philanthropic view</div> -<div class="verse">Of inducing us to part with sev’ral crores of revenue;</div> -<div class="verse">For all opium traffic’s sin,</div> -<div class="verse">And, although it brings in tin,</div> -<div class="verse">Our nefarious trade papaverous, they say we must eschew.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">Who’d have thought that my redemption would have cost so many lakhs</div> -<div class="verse">(For they saddle their expenses on my fellow-subjects’ backs).</div> -<div class="verse">What with deficits to square,</div> -<div class="verse">And Commissions everywhere,</div> -<div class="verse">On the “hoarded wealth of India” I shall prove a heavy tax.</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">If I’d only cultivated, now, a taste for beer or gin,</div> -<div class="verse">Or had learnt at Pool or Baccarat my neighbour’s coin to win,</div> -<div class="verse">I could roam abroad o’ nights,</div> -<div class="verse">And indulge in these delights,</div> -<div class="verse">And my soul would not be stigmatized as being steeped in sin!</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">But as mine’s a heathen weakness for a creature-comfort, far</div> -<div class="verse">Less pernicious than their alcohol, more clean than their cigar,</div> -<div class="verse">They have sent their howlings forth,</div> -<div class="verse">From their platform in the North,</div> -<div class="verse">And ’twixt me and my poor pleasures have imposed a righteous bar!</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Opium Smoking and Opium-Eating.</span></h3> - -<p>There are two modes of taking opium. It is either -eaten in its crude form, or it is clarified with water -and smoked in a pipe of peculiar construction.</p> - -<p>It is generally conceded that opium smoking is less -injurious than opium eating, bulk for bulk, of the -amount consumed, and that the intemperate or immoderate -opium smoker is less liable to the toxic effects of -opium than the man who eats it raw. Why this is -will be clear when it is explained that as a result of the -process of preparation for smoking it, which consists -in boiling opium with water, filtering several times, -and boiling it down again to a treacly consistency, -a considerable portion of the narcotine, caoutchouc, -resin, and other deleterious elements are removed, and -this prolonged boiling and evaporation have the effect -of lessening the amount of alkaloids in the finished -product. The only alkaloids likely to remain in the -prepared opium, and capable of producing marked -physiological effects, are morphia, codeia, and narceia. -Morphia in its unmixed state can be sublimed; but -codeia and narceia are said not to give a sublimate. -But even if not sublimed in the process, morphia -would, in the opinion of Mr. Hugh M’Callum (Government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -Analyst at Hong Kong), be deposited in the bowl -of the pipe before the smoke reached the mouth of -the smoker. The bitter taste of morphia is not -noticeable when smoking opium, and it is therefore -possible that the pleasure derived from smoking opium -is due to some product formed during combustion. -This supposition is rendered probable by the fact -that the opium most prized by smokers is not that -containing the most morphia.</p> - -<p>But what constitutes moderation or the reverse? -The answer is idiosyncrasy, or the degree of toleration. -This is a factor which is lost sight of by most of those -who declaim against the occasional glass or pipe. They -wish to push temperance to the point of total abstinence, -and condemn the man who takes a peg of whisky -without evil results, with the man who becomes maudlin -after taking a single glass of white wine, for it is only by -outward appearances they are able to judge. But -leaving them to rage in their ignorance, we must -recognise the fact that opium is one of those drugs -the effects of which depend largely upon personal idiosyncrasy -and toleration. Dr. Chapman, in his <cite>Elements -of Therapeutics</cite>, gives two instances of remarkable cases -of toleration of opium. In one, a wineglassful of -laudanum was taken by a patient several times in the -twenty-four hours; and in another, a case of cancer, -the quantity of laudanum was gradually increased to -three pints daily, a considerable quantity of crude -opium being also taken in the same period!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> - -<p>The usual dose, as a medicine, is from one to three -grains of opium, but a consumer can take from ten to -twenty, while I have met many able to take from sixty -to eighty grains. The degree of tolerance is increased -by usage and habit, and the tendency is to increase -the dose with habituation. With smokers, it is not -uncommon to find Chinamen, the heaviest consumers -of opium in the world, who can dispose of three tolas<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> of -opium in the day; but they smoke it, and so can stand -far more of it than if they ate it in the crude state.</p> - -<p>The reader who has troubled to come so far with me -will not unreasonably be curious to know how opium is -smoked; so, if he will accompany me farther, I will -take him into a den and satisfy his curiosity. It is a -Chinese den. From the street it has nothing to proclaim -its character; it is like any other entrance in the street. -Ah! Here comes a smoker. Observe his deathly -pallor, his appearance of emaciation, his dazed -expression. He must be a heavy smoker, soaked in -the vice. Let us go in with him! We enter. For a -moment the dimness of the room flanked on three -sides with raised wooden platforms waist-high, and -covered with mats, is accentuated by our sudden -entrance from the sunlit street. We become aware -of a peculiar odour in the atmosphere of the room, -not unpleasant, but peculiar. It is like nothing that -we have ever sniffed before. It is the odour of smoked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -opium. When our eyes, having got used to the light, or -rather darkness, of the room, we look round and see -on the platforms, sleeping forms sprawled round trays -containing their smoking utensils. Let us examine -these: First there is the pipe. It is made of a single -joint of bamboo about a foot and a half long, hollow, -and closed at one end, and about an inch in diameter. -About a quarter of its length up from the closed end, -there is an earthenware protuberance, not unlike a door-knob -in appearance, firmly fixed into the stem; on its -top, and in the centre, is a small orifice. This is the -pipe-bowl.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus3"> -<img src="images/illus3.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" /> -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Opium Smokers’ Appliances</span></p> -</div> - -<p>Next we notice a lamp. This has a base of wood, -and consists of a glass reservoir of oil, with a string wick -leading from it through a small brass cap. Over this -is a glass chimney.</p> - -<p>Then we see the wire, like an ordinary fine knitting -needle; and several horn phials, each containing -prepared opium.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus4"> -<img src="images/illus4.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" /> -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Preparing to Smoke Opium</span></p> -<p class="caption">(The opium on the end of the dipper being roasted over the lamp.)</p> -</div> - -<p>But here is the new-comer whom we followed in. He -has paid the den-keeper the small fee which makes him -the temporary owner of a tray of smoking utensils, and -with these he passes us, and getting on to the platform -between two sleepers, he puts his tray down, and -assumes a recumbent attitude beside it. Lying on his -left side, with his head on a hard lacquered pillow, he -draws the tray towards him and takes the pipe in his -left hand. With the other hand he takes the piece of -wire, and plunges one end of it into the horn phial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -containing treacly prepared opium, withdrawing it -immediately with a drop of the fluid adhering to the -point. This he maintains on the point by rapidly -twirling the instrument between two fingers, and -carrying it over the flame of the lamp, he proceeds to -roast the opium. This is a delicate operation, and -requires practice. The needle is dipped into the phial -again and again, and the opium adhering to the end -roasted over the flame until an appreciable quantity -of the drug has accumulated on the end of the wire. -He rolls this accumulation, still on the end of the dipper, -on the flattened top of the pipe bowl, until it has -acquired the desired shape, and then thrusts the end -into the orifice in the centre of the bowl, and twirling -the wire sharply round, withdraws it, leaving the -opium in the orifice. Now, taking the lower end of -the pipe in his right hand, and the mouth end of the -pipe in his left, he applies the open end to his lips and -holding the bowl almost inverted over the top of the -lamp begins to take long inhalations, the smoke escaping -through his nostrils. The little plug of opium in the -orifice crackles and burns in the heat of the flame, -and we notice that the smoker now and then scrapes -towards the orifice in the bowl, all the particles of -opium which remain unburnt. He finally clears the -orifice by thrusting the wire into it several times, and -disconnects the bowl from the stem. We notice it -contains an appreciable quantity of black, evil-smelling -opium residue. This is the “dross,” carefully preserved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> -by smokers, and later on boiled with raw opium to -which it is believed to add strength. We watch him -smoke a few more pipes, and eventually the pipe falls -from his nerveless hands, and he lies still. What are -the dreams which flock through his mind? We do not -know, but Bayard Taylor in his book <cite>India, China and -Japan</cite> tells us of his personal experience of the effects -of opium smoking. It was his first and last attempt, -and his record is interesting. He says:—“To my -surprise I found the taste of the drug as delicious as its -smell is disagreeable. It leaves a sweet, rich, flavour, -like the finest liquorice, upon the palate, and the gentle -stimulus it conveys to the blood in the lungs fills the -whole body with a sensation of warmth and strength. -The fumes of the opium are no more irritating to the -windpipe or bronchial tubes than common air, while -they seem imbued with a richness of vitality far beyond -our diluted oxygen.</p> - -<p>“Beyond the feeling of warmth, vigour, and -increased vitality, softened by a happy consciousness of -repose, there was no effect until after finishing the -sixth pipe. My spirits then became joyously excited -with a constant disposition to laugh; brilliant colours -floated before my eyes, but in a confused and cloudy -way, sometimes converging into spots like the eyes in -a peacock’s tail, but oftenest melting into and through -each other, like the hues of changeable silk. Had the -physical excitement been greater, they would have -taken form and substance, but after smoking <em>nine</em><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -pipes I desisted, through fear of subjecting myself to -some unpleasant after-effects. Our Chinese host -informed me that he was obliged to take twenty pipes in -order to elevate his mind to the pitch of perfect happiness. -I went home feeling rather giddy, and became -so drowsy, with slight qualms at the stomach, that I -went to bed at an early hour—after a deep and -refreshing sleep, I arose at sunrise, feeling stronger and -brighter than I had done for weeks past.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus5"> -<img src="images/illus5.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" /> -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Chinaman Smoking Opium</span></p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Some Observations on the Opium Habit.</span></h3> - -<p>It is now proper that we should ask the question -“Is opium the very dreadful thing it is made out to -be?” My answer is, yes and no. Anything immoderately -indulged in is bad for one. Over-eating, -excess in smoking and drinking, are all bad. There -is such a thing as too much of even a good thing. I -am prepared to admit that excess in opium is worse -than most things; but as a choice between opium and -drink, I consider drunkenness to be the greater evil. -It may be that it is more common, and therefore -responsible for more distress in the world than opium; -but opium does not, and can never, degrade as drink -does, and a man does not make a beast of himself with -opium. It does not make a nuisance of a man; it does -not lead to violence and to murder as drink does. I do -not ask reformers to subscribe to this view. I express -it as my own opinion, founded as it is upon close -acquaintance with numerous opium consumers, and -many drunkards.</p> - -<p>What is it that reformers have to urge against -opium? They will not admit that opium in moderation -does no great harm; they will not agree that the degree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -of toleration varies in people. Let us take their -contentions <i>seriatim</i>, and see how they will stand -against logical and informed discussion:</p> - -<p>They say: (1) That opium in any degree induces -physical degeneration.</p> - -<p>I say, I have met men of wretched physique who are -opium consumers, and men of wretched physique who -are not opium consumers. Also, I have met giants in -strength who are not opium consumers, and giants in -strength who are confirmed opium consumers. I will -also say this, that among the hard-working class of -Indians and Burmans, such as coolies and porters, the -proportion of consumers to non-consumers is about -equal, but I have been able to observe no inferiority -in capacity in the consumers, and very often have -found them superior. Those who wish to learn what the -powers of bodily endurance of an opium consumer -may be are recommended to read that very readable -book “<cite>An Australian in China</cite>.”</p> - -<p>(2) That the consumer is mentally inferior to his -non-consuming brother.</p> - -<p>This I qualify. It depends on the degree of indulgence, -and unless this is considered, it is not possible to -argue. It is a proved fact that the effect of opium -is to quicken the perceptions, and stimulate the imagination. -Too often this is taken to be evanescent; and it is -assumed that the intellect weakens, and that, eventually, -it is enfeebled beyond chance of recovery. But if -opium were not taken; in such a case, would not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -advancing years bring about a like condition? Charles -Lamb, who drank more than was good for him, and -Coleridge, who was an opium-eater, complained that the -effect of their particular “poisons” was to deprive -them of their capacity for singing when they awoke in -the morning! Lamb complained of this when he was -forty-five, and Coleridge at the age of sixty-three. -Does anyone imagine they would have been able to -“revive the vivacities of thirty-five” if they had been -always temperate men?</p> - -<p>There is no doubt that, taken in large quantities, -opium induces a sluggishness, a lethargy, a stupor; -but does not an unusually heavy meal induce a torpor -which is incompatible with any sort of intellectual -labour? I hold only with moderation.</p> - -<p>(3) That indulgence in opium weakens the character -and morals.</p> - -<p>This applies with equal force to immoderation in -most things. It does not hold good of opium taken in -moderation. To affirm this is a clear indication of -ignorance of the subject. Why, in the name of all -that is extraordinary, should a moderate dose of opium -make a man a thief, or a criminal, or a moral imbecile? -Indians and Burmans, whose religion forbids all manner -of intoxicants, condemn their opium-eating brothers -to a sort of social ostracism, and when asked for a reason, -say, “It is against our religious tenets; and it is -very bad in every way.” Such uninformed statements -are excusable in the unenlightened, but what of those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -who ought to know, and who pride themselves upon -their education and reasoning faculties? They are as -clamorous against opium and other things in a more -censurable ignorance of facts. Some who will not clear -their minds of cant, declaim against a glass of wine -with all the fervour and denunciation of fanatics, -without rhyme, reason, or apprehension of what they -are talking about. In their more fluent and exuberant -way, when pressed for a reason, they tell us in effect -that indulgence in opium is “Against our religious -tenets, and it is very bad in every way.” It is time -reformers recognised that opium is not such a dreadful -thing after all, and confined their attention, and -devoted some of their ample leisure, to winning back -those who have gone over the limit of moderation, -instead of anathematizing them.</p> - -<p>It is a pity that reformers do not pursue their -propaganda along reasonable and obvious lines, because -they would have more supporters and helpers if they -did. To publish fulminatory pamphlets against the -opium evil, without having any experience of it at -first hand beyond an occasional hurried visit to an -opium den, is worse than futile; and they cannot hope -to convince those who are really in a position, and -qualified to help them in their efforts. This is due to a -profound ignorance of facts, and a lot of people in -India are responsible for the dissemination of a lot of -ill-digested nonsense. An enthusiast visits an opium -den and finds half a dozen Chinamen sprawled around,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -with as many opium pipes. He does not know that -these men have come in from a ten-hour day’s work. -He throws up his hands in pious consternation, and -writes home about the dreadful place he has visited, -and of the horrors of intoxication he witnessed there. -The vividness of his description is modified only by the -amount of rhetoric at his command, and no one who -has come into contact with this sort of person will deny -that he always has a vast store!</p> - -<p>I once met a missionary, and in the course of conversation, -we happened upon the opium evil. He was -eloquent, his views on the subject were decided. In -fact he was so decided in his views that I found it -impossible to convince him that what he described as -the effects of opium were really those symptomatic of -an overdose of <i>bhang</i>. And yet, I have little doubt -that this person must have written home lurid accounts -of the opium evil, and the ruin and havoc it was causing. -What reformers ought to do is to cease memorializing -Government to totally prohibit the traffic, and try to -help them more by taking an active part in checking -immoderation. Moderate indulgence in opium is less -harmful in every way than the habit of passing public -resolutions and submitting memorials.</p> - -<p>By the foregoing, I do not wish it to be surmised -that I hold a brief for the opium habit, or that I consider -it a desirable thing. To be a slave in any degree to -anything is bad; the tobacco habit is bad; the over-eating -habit is bad. But opium comes in for too much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -of the attention of religious propagandists, and the -Government is taxed with the charge of reaping revenue -at the expense of the bodies and souls of the people. -This is a view it is the duty of anyone who knows the -subject intimately to correct. The Royal Commission -on Opium in India, which sat under the chairmanship -of Lord Brassey, some thirty years ago, collected a mass -of evidence for and against opium which is unrivalled -in its extent and value. The conclusion come to by a -majority of the Commissioners was that opium in -moderation did no great harm; and to ensure moderation, -they recommended a policy of close control. In -deference to popular opinion, and the religious scruples -of the bulk of Indians, they thought it desirable that -the opium habit should eventually be suppressed, and -trusted that close control would, by attrition, bring -about this result.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Morphia.</span></h3> - -<p>Morphia, which is the active principle of opium, is -interesting in its being the first “alkaloid” to be -discovered. Its basic nature was first noticed by -Serturner in 1816.</p> - -<p>As a medicine, principally as an anodyne, morphia -is to pharmacy what chloroform is to surgery, and, -as a “boon and blessing” to man in that character, -it is second to none. But like all good things in this -world, it has become the object of the grossest abuse at -the hand of man; and its devotees, in an euphonic -sense, number hundreds of thousands.</p> - -<p>Morphia is a narcotic; that is, it “has the power -to produce lethargy or stupor which may pass into a -state of profound coma or unconsciousness, along with -complete paralysis, terminating in death.” The degree -of insensibility depends upon the strength of the dose; -one-sixth of a grain for an adult man, and one-tenth -of a grain for an adult woman, being the largest safe -dose given hypodermically. Two or three grains given -by the stomach is dangerous. But, as with opium, -the dose varies with idiosyncrasy, and some can tolerate -larger doses than others. With habituation, some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -persons can take with impunity an amount of morphia -which would prove fatal to five or six healthy, full-grown -men. To have its full effect as an hypnotic or -anodyne—and its power as the one depends upon its -potency as the other—morphia must be given hypodermically.</p> - -<p>The possession of morphia by people other than -medical men and chemists is prohibited by law; and -the rules governing its sale by chemists are rigid and -exact. They must account for every grain sold, and -all entries in their sales registers must be supported -by prescriptions signed by qualified medical men. -Yet morphia injecting is more prevalent in cities than -the public is aware of; and it does not require a very -penetrating mind to discover that the morphia used -by its unfortunate victims comes from illicit sources—from -the smuggler. There are, of course, unscrupulous -physicians, dentists, and quacks, who pander to the -cravings of some of their “patients” by administering -regular injections; but we are dealing here with the -type of persons who do not call in doctors, accommodating -or otherwise. The ones I write about are catered -for by an organization which, in spite of the greatest -efforts, has been found to be unrepressible.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus6"> -<img src="images/illus6.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="" /> -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Group of Morphia-Injectors</span></p> -</div> - -<p>How do these people get their supplies? Let us go -into a morphia den unofficially, and take a glance at -it in all its sordidity. We draw aside a filthy sheet of -cloth which does service as a curtain, and enter a room -about twenty feet square. It is dim almost to darkness;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -but at the farther end, opposite the entrance -door, we notice a wooden partition which has a locked -door in it, and near it a hole not unlike the window -of a box or ticket office. Through this hole a light is -seen, so we presume that there is someone behind the -locked door in the partitioned-off portion of the room. -Looking round us, we see a row of human figures, clad -in the foulest rags, lying along the two sides of the -room, near the walls. Some are apparently asleep; -actually, they are drugged, overcome by the last -injection of morphia. Others are about to make -themselves comfortable for a sleep, having just had an -injection; while some, too poor to afford the cost of -another dose, are groaning and whimpering with the -combined agonies of some painful disease, and the -wearing off of the effects of the last injection. These -accost everybody that enters the den for the price of -“just one little injection.” They appeal to those who -have endured the same pangs with which these unfortunates -are wracked. The appeal is to a real, live sympathy; -and if it can be spared, the required money is -handed over.</p> - -<p>One of these beings has not appealed in vain to a -fellow votary who has just entered the den in company -with two companions, and the four make their way to -the hole in the partition, and in exchange for the coppers -handed in, a skinny hand passes out four little paper -packets, each one containing a dose of morphia powder. -Let us peep through the hole, and look at the owner of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -the skinny hand before following the four to the place to -which they have retired. It is a Chinaman, characteristically -lean, sitting at a rough table on which is a cigar -box filled with paper packets similar to those we saw -being handed to the late purchasers. The red and -green ones contain morphia, the white cocaine (for he -caters for both classes, the injecters of morphia, and -eaters of cocaine). Looking up at the hole, he sees us, -and thinking we are either excise or police officers, he -hastily gathers up his wares, and rushing to the sanitary -arrangement in the corner of his cubicle, empties them -into the receptacle, and pulling the chain, flushes away -the incriminating evidences of his occupation. Being -assured that they are well on their way to the sea through -the sewer, he turns towards us with a “smile that is -child-like and bland,” and explains that he has “got -nothing—all gone—you can’t do nothing.” We explain -that we had no intention of doing anything, and were -merely curious. Recollecting that he had heard no -call from his ever watchful colleague who stands by -to give timely warning in the event of a raiding -party coming in sight, he admits that he has been -precipitate; but in no way disconcerted, he sends his -colleague off to some place best known to themselves, -for a fresh supply of packets.</p> - -<p>We now return to the four men who provided -themselves with morphia two or three minutes ago. We -find them sitting in a ring round another fellow who we -learn is the operator. He possesses a hypodermic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -syringe. Let us take and examine it. It is not the -sort of thing one would expect to find in a chemist’s -show-case or a medical man’s pocket-case. This is a -weird instrument; the barrel a length of glass tubing; -the plunger a bit of knitting needle, whose plunging -head consists of tightly wound rag, and whose other end -is topped with a conglomerate of sealing wax and -sewing thimble. Both joints are lumps of sealing wax, -through the lower of which an inch and a half of hollow -needle projects. Handing back this septic instrument -to the operator, who, by the way, tells us that he gets a -copper for every injection he gives, he proceeds to -empty the contents of the packets into a small china -egg-cup. Adding a modicum of water, and stirring -the mixture until a clear solution is formed, he takes up -some in the syringe, and one of the expectant waiters -draws nearer him. A search is made by the operator -for a clear spot on the body of the man, where a dirty -needle has not already penetrated and caused a foul -sore, and after some search such a spot is found, <em>on the -palm of the hand</em>, and here the needle is introduced, -and the contents of the syringe discharged, after which -the man operated on limps away to his place, and lying -down, is soon asleep. The next draws near, and having -received his share of the dose with the same needle, -unsterilized and unwashed, he in turn limps off; and -so with the others.</p> - -<p>Let us hope that the fell, loathesome, unnameable -disease, from which one at any rate of the four was too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -apparently suffering, has not been introduced into the -blood of the others by that death-dealing needle! But -it is a hope that we cannot think is justified; the -means of propagation employed are too certain to -admit of any hope!</p> - -<p>The foul and fetid atmosphere of the crowded room -is almost overpowering, in spite of the strong tobacco -we smoke in our well-lit pipes, but we will linger a little -longer and take a glance at those who are lying around -like so many logs. Look at this one of them. What -an object lesson he is to impetuous youth! Thin to -emaciation; his hair fallen off in tufts; his nose almost -eaten away; his body covered with sores and ulcers. -There is nothing to wonder at in this being taking -morphia to ease his pain of mind and body. Since -death will not come, let him have oblivion. It is better -so.</p> - -<p>Here we find a woman; she is a slattern if ever -there was one. Clean-limbed, in the sense that she -has no sores on visible parts of her body, she is nevertheless -almost as certain a disseminator of disease and -misery as the foul needle. She wakes as we watch her, -and in a drowsy way, smiles; probably in a way she -means to be fascinating, but we are not under the -effects of the delusive narcotic, so cannot be expected -to know! Suddenly a look of intelligence comes -into her eyes, and realising who we are, she gets up, and -stumbles towards the door, and out on to the street—on -her way to <em>another</em> den in all probability!</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;" id="illus7"> -<img src="images/illus7.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="" /> -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">An Indian Morphinist</span></p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - -<p>Here is another. An old, or rather, an old-looking -man, shrivelled and feeble. He is just awaking from -his stupor. We ask him to get up, but he is unable -to do more than humbly indicate the reason for his -inability to do so. A glance, as the sheet which covers -him is withdrawn from his body, sends a thrill of horror -through us, and we turn away sickened at the sight; -and the man—is he a man?—draws his cloth over -his tattered body, and tries to woo sleep again. This -last sight is enough to send us headlong into the fresh -air and sunlight. If these are the results of morphia, -then God have mercy upon its votaries, for they stand -sorely in need of it!</p> - -<p>Morphia is imported into the country in large -quantities by smugglers, the drug being brought from -the British Isles, Japan, and the Continent by members -of the crews of steamers plying from these countries. -As many as 500 ounces of morphia have been seized in -one consignment, and, as it is generally admitted by -those who are in position to know that for every ounce -seized, a pound passes through undetected, it only -requires a simple calculation to arrive at the -approximate total quantity which is hawked about -unrestricted.</p> - -<p>Morphia, being more portable and concentrated, is -more easily concealed than opium, which is comparatively -bulky. Of the aggregate seizures in any one -year, seventy-five per cent. is made up of numerous -small seizures. To seize four or five ounces of the drug<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -in one lot is rather the exception than the rule; and -seizure in larger quantities is a comparatively rare -event.</p> - -<p>But it is comforting, in a way, to know that morphia, -by the time it reaches the consumer, is very often freely -adulterated, starch being the adulterant used; and -when it is considered that morphia sold illicitly fetches -from five to six times its price when sold licitly, the -increase in its bulk which results after adulteration -represents a handsome additional profit to the vendor. -The big smuggler imports the drug; his lesser brother -buys some from him and adulterates it; the den-owner -buys the mixture from the lesser light and he in turn -adds a little more starch to it; and finally “the man -in the cubicle” retails the mixture to the consumer.</p> - -<p>There is little to be said in defence of the morphia -habit. It is bad, utterly bad, in itself, while it is a -fertile disseminator of disease when injected as it is. -Morphia ruins a man, body and soul. As is the case with -opium, pain is a frequent originator of the habit, but its -hold upon the individual is, if anything, stronger than -that exerted by opium, and fatal consequences ensue -with great certainty and rapidity.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Cocaine.</span></h3> - -<p>In writing about cocaine, we find that interest lies not -so much in itself as in the plant of which it is the alkaloid, -the “<i>erythroxylon coca</i>.”</p> - -<p>The coca plant is indigenous to Peru, and from the -most ancient times, Peruvian Indians have chewed the -leaves as a habit, as Indians in this country chew the -betel leaf and tobacco. “The local consumption of -coca is immense,” says Dr. Hartwig, “as the Peruvian -Indian reckons its habitual use among the prime necessaries -of life, and is never seen without a leathern pouch -filled with a provision of the leaves, and containing -besides a small box of powdered, unslaked lime. At -least three times a day he rests from his work to chew -his indispensable coca. Carefully taking a few leaves -out of the bag, and removing their midribs, he first -masticates them in the shape of a small ball, which is -called an acullico; then repeatedly inserting a thin -piece of moistened wood like a tooth-pick into the -box of unslaked lime, he introduces the powder which -remains attached to it into the acullico until the latter -has acquired the requisite flavour. The saliva, which is -abundantly secreted while chewing the pungent mixture,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -is mostly swallowed along with the green juice of the -plant.</p> - -<p>“When the acullico is exhausted, another is immediately -prepared, for one seldom suffices. The corrosive -sharpness of the unslaked lime requires some caution, -and an unskilled coca chewer runs the risk of burning -his lips, as, for instance, the celebrated traveller Tschudi, -who, by the advice of his muleteer, while crossing the -high mountain-passes of the Andes, attempted to make -an acullico, and instead of strengthening himself as he -expected, merely added excruciating pain to the fatigues -of the journey.”</p> - -<p>The poet Cowley succinctly describes the physical -effects of coca in the following lines:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“Our Varicocha first this coca sent,</div> -<div class="verse">“Endow’d with leaves of wondrous nourishment,</div> -<div class="verse">“Whose juice succ’d in, and to the stomach tak’n</div> -<div class="verse">“Long hunger and long labour can sustain</div> -<div class="verse">“From which our faint and weary bodies find</div> -<div class="verse">“More succour, more they clear the drooping mind,</div> -<div class="verse">“Than can your <i>Bacchus</i> and your <i>Ceres</i> join’d.</div> -<div class="verse">“Three leaves supply for six days’ march afford</div> -<div class="verse">“The Quitoita with this provision stor’d</div> -<div class="verse">“Can pass the vast and cloudy Andes o’er.”</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“It is a remarkable fact,” Dr. Hartwig tells us, -“that the Indians, who regularly use coca, require but -little food, and when the dose is augmented, are able -to undergo the greatest fatigues without tasting almost -anything else.” Professor Pöppig ascribes this astonishing -endurance to a momentary excitement which must -necessarily be succeeded by a corresponding collapse,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -and therefore considers the use of coca absolutely -hurtful. Tschudi, however, is of opinion that its -moderate consumption, far from being injurious, is, on -the contrary, extremely wholesome, and cites the -examples of several Indians who, never allowing a day -to pass without chewing their coca, “attained the -truly patriarchal age of one hundred and thirty years.”</p> - -<p>The effects of excess in coca chewing are given by -Hill in his <cite>Travels in Peru and Mexico</cite>. “The worst -that can be said of the coca is its effects upon the health -of such of the Indians as use it in excess. It then affects -the breath, pales the lips and gums, and leaves a black -mark on either side of the mouth. Moreover, after -some time, the nerves of the consumer become affected, -and a general langour is said to give plain evidence of -the sad consequences of excess.”</p> - -<p>Another writer gives a more depressing picture of -the excessive consumer: “The confirmed coca chewer, -or Coquero, is known at once by his uncertain step, -his sallow complexion, his hollow, lack-lustre black-rimmed -eyes, deeply sunk in the head, his trembling -lips, his incoherent speech, and his stolid apathy. His -character is irresolute, suspicious, and false; in the -prime of life he has all the appearances of senility, and -in later years sinks into complete idiocy. Avoiding -the society of man, he seeks the dark forest, or some -solitary ruin, and there, for days together, indulges in -his pernicious habit. While under the influence of -coca, his excited fancy riots in the strangest visions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -now revelling in pictures of ideal beauty, and then -haunted by dreadful apparitions. Secure from intrusion -he crouches in an obscure corner, his eyes immovably -fixed upon one spot; and the almost automatic motion -of the hand raising the coca to the mouth, and its -mechanical chewing, are the only signs of consciousness -which he exhibits. Sometimes a deep groan escapes -from his breast, most likely when the dismal solitude -around him inspires his imagination with some terrific -vision, which he is as little able to banish, as voluntarily -to dismiss his dreams of ideal felicity. How the Coquero -finally awakens from his trance, Tschudi was never -able to ascertain, though most likely the complete -exhaustion of his supply at length forces him to return -to his miserable hut.”</p> - -<p>The coca plant has from ancient times been the -object of religious veneration by the Peruvian Indians, -and although we have no historical record to tell us -when the use of coca was introduced, or who first -discovered its peculiar properties, we learn that when -Pizarro destroyed Athualpa’s Empire, he found that the -Incas employed coca in their religious ceremonies and -sacrifices “either for fumigation, or as an offering to the -gods. The priests chewed coca while performing their -rites, and the favour of the invisible powers was only -to be obtained by a present of these highly valued -leaves. No work begun without coca could come to a -happy termination, and divine honours were paid to the -shrub itself.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> - -<p>“After a period of more than three centuries, -Christianity has not yet been able to eradicate these -deeply-rooted superstitious feelings, and everywhere -the traveller still meets with traces of the ancient belief -in its mysterious powers. To the present day the -miners of Cerro de Pasco throw chewed coca against -the hard veins of the ore, and affirm that they can then -be more easily worked—a custom transmitted to them -from their forefathers who were fully persuaded that -the Coyas, or subterranean divinities, rendered the -mountains impenetrable, unless previously propitiated -by an offering of coca. Even now the Indians put coca -into the mouths of their dead, to ensure them a welcome -on their passage to another world; and whenever -they find one of their ancestral mummies, they never -fail to offer it some of the leaves.”</p> - -<p>It is believed that the superstitions regarding coca -were looked upon with great disgust by the Spaniards, -and that their efforts to stamp them out did more to -keep alive the enmity borne them by the Indians than -anything else.</p> - -<p>The coca plant was first grown in Ceylon in 1870 -when it was introduced from Kew. It was grown there -as a result of a suggestion made by Mr. Joseph Stevenson -who pointed out the commercial importance of the -plant in view of the separation of the alkaloid cocaine -by Nieman in 1859; but owing to the liability of -the coca leaves to rapid deterioration after picking -in unfavourable climatic conditions, this branch of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> -commerce has not developed, and as yet no attempt -has been made to extract the alkaloid in India, in -commercial quantities at any rate.</p> - -<p>But no matter what might be said about coca-chewing, -there can be no two opinions about the dire -and destructive effects of cocaine the alkaloid, and the -results of indulgence in this drug are truly deplorable. -It may be owing to something else in the coca leaves -which ameliorates the full effect of the alkaloid; in -fact it must be so, because I doubt whether even a -confirmed cocaine consumer could find anything to say -in its favour.</p> - -<p>The first notice of cocaine consuming appears to be -that of Col. J. Watson, who wrote in the <cite>New York -Tribune</cite> about cocaine-sniffing. He writes: “I have -visited some of the Negro bar-rooms in Atlanta, and -the proprietors told me that the cocaine-habit which -had been acquired by the Negroes, was simply driving -them out of business. When the cocaine-habit fixes -itself on a person, the desire for liquor is gone, the -victim finding entire satisfaction in sniffing cocaine. -By sniffing cocaine up the nostrils it reaches the brain -quicker, and the effect is more lasting than if swallowed -or administered by hypodermic injection. Persons -addicted to the habit say they have tried the two -latter ways, and that the effects are not the same, nor -do they afford the same degree of satisfaction and -pleasure as when sniffed. Unquestionably the drug -rapidly affects the brain, and the result has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -that, in the south, the asylums for the insane are overflowing -with the unfortunate victims. After a person -has habitually used the poison for a certain length -of time, he becomes mentally irresponsible. No man -can use it long and retain his normal mental condition. -It is a brain-wrecker of the worst kind.”</p> - -<p>Cocaine is a highly poisonous narcotic, and when -rubbed on the skin, or injected under it, deadens the -surrounding parts, and renders them insensible to -pain. It is therefore much used in minor surgery, -and in ophthalmic and dental operations. As -such, it replaces chloroform to some extent. But, -unfortunately, its highly stimulating effects, and -its power to allay hunger, have been taken advantage -of by many thousands of people who have made a -habit of taking it, and Col. Watson’s description of -the dire results of cocaine-sniffing apply with equal -force to those which supervene on cocaine-injecting and -cocaine-eating, vices that have spread with alarming -rapidity all over the civilized world.</p> - -<p>The cocaine-habit is an unmixed vice. There is no -excuse for it; not even the excuse that the opium and -morphia habits have, <i>viz.</i>, accident; and the person -who takes to it, does so wilfully and deliberately. -Cocaine has a greater power over its votaries than -either opium or morphia; the after distress is keener; -and a slave to it is a slave indeed. And the harm it -does, and the certainty with which it eventually kills, -is truly appalling.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;" id="illus8"> -<img src="images/illus8.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="" /> -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Burman Cocaine Eater</span></p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> - -<p>Extreme poverty is frequently a cause of the habit. -The abject wretch who becomes possessed of a few -coppers, realizing that the amount will be insufficient -for a square meal, buys an innocent looking packet of -cocaine, and mixing it with a small quantity of the -lime-paste used by betel-chewers in their quids, smears -the mixture on his gums, and slowly swallows the saliva. -Gone are the cravings for food; a feeling of pleasant -warmth suffuses his wasted body; he feels equal to any -exertion. Images are distorted to immense proportions; -the stick he holds becomes a club of huge -dimensions, and he takes great pride in his ability to -wield it so easily; an empty jam-tin lying near assumes -the proportions of a five-gallon milk-can; and he -takes great pleasure in showing his agility in jumping -high over the threshold of the door! In all, he considers -himself to be a very fine, powerful, prepossessing fellow -indeed—until the effects wear off, and he once more -sets off to beg or steal the price of another dose of this -elevating narcotic.</p> - -<p>I once knew a European who was addicted to this -drug—he injected it—and a more pitiable object it -would be difficult to conceive. He was a dentist by -profession, and the last I heard of him was that he -had died by his own hand, a frequent termination of this -habit, which produces in its last stages, a sort of morbid, -gloomy, mania or insanity in its victims. This individual -was the victim of all kinds of hallucinations, and -under the influence of the drug, was a fluent, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> -often convincing, liar. He invested himself with -numerous medical degrees; he went in terror of imaginary -assailants; and he had a fixed idea that his meagre -belongings were the envy of murderous burglars. So -much so, that on more than one occasion he fired off -the revolver he carried by day, and placed under his -pillow by night, at imaginary intruders, to the no small -risk of other occupants of the house he lived in. The -tales of personal adventure he related, the accounts -he gave of deadly combats with men twice his puny -size, his stories of his property and wealth at home, -were the wonder of all to whom he told them, and who -were unable to discover in him the characteristic effects -of the fell drug cocaine.</p> - -<p>We are unfortunately without complete information -about cocaine, but we know enough about it to realize -that the habit is spreading with the rapidity and -devastating effects of a conflagration over the world. -As far as India and Burma are concerned, the law is -stringent and severe, and the Dangerous Drugs Bill, -which was lately occupying the attention of the Home -Government, goes far on the road to bringing things -at home into line with India and Burma.</p> - -<p>The Germans discovered a method by which cocaine -can be manufactured synthetically; and bogey hunters -will discover a deep plot to undermine the physique and -morals of Indians when they are told that the synthetic -manufacture of cocaine is, to all intents and purposes, a -state-aided industry. It is classed as an industry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -and as such receives the spirit used in the preparation -of the synthetic drug, duty-free. Ninety per cent. -of the cocaine imported into this country before the -war came from Germany.</p> - -<p>It would probably surprise the Darmstadt firm, -which purveyed almost all the cocaine that came to -Burma, if they knew that their drachm-phials, neatly -capsuled, and labelled “Cocaine Hydrochloride,” ought -really sometimes to have been labelled “Antefebrin,” -for that indeed is what a great number that were seized -by the authorities contained. In appearance, cocaine -and antefebrin are hard to distinguish from one another; -and for a long time the results of analyses led the authorities -to suppose that the manufacturers were defrauding -their eastern constituents; but the discovery of a -complete plant consisting of phials, labels, capsules, -and a large quantity of antefebrin, eventually cleared -the name of the doubtless reputable manufacturers, -and fastened the guilt upon local swindling smugglers.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Hemp Drugs.</span></h3> - -<p>Like the poppy which is cultivated for opium, the -hemp plant, <i>cannabis sativa</i>, is grown for <i>ganja</i>, <i>bhang</i>, -and <i>churrus</i>, all highly intoxicating drugs; and for its -bast fibre which makes such excellent rope.</p> - -<p>The history of the plant is interesting, but no more -than a very brief allusion to it is necessary here. The -first mention of hemp occurs in Chinese literature, about -the twenty-eighth century, B.C., when the hemp-seed is -mentioned as one of the five or nine kinds of grain. -It is mentioned merely as a “sacred grass” in the -<cite>Athavaveda</cite> about 1400 B.C. But the narcotic properties -of the plant, with which we are chiefly concerned, -do not seem to have been known until the beginning of -the fourteenth century A.D. In a Hindu play written -about the sixteenth century A.D., Siva brings down the -<i>bhang</i> plant from the Himalaya, and gives it to the -worshippers of himself. Of more recent evidence, we -have the statement of the Emperor Baber, who tells -in his <cite>Memoirs</cite> (1519 A.D.) of the number of times -he had taken <i>Maajun</i>. John Lindsay, in his <cite>Journal -of Captivity in Mysore</cite> (1781), relates how his soldiers -were made to eat <i>Majum</i>; and lastly, De Quincey, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -his <cite>Confessions of an English Opium-Eater</cite>, speaks of -<i>Madjoon</i>, which he inaccurately states is a Turkish -name for opium.</p> - -<p>The hemp plant belongs to the diœcious order of -plants, of which the Hop is another member. That -is to say, the flowers, male and female, are borne on -separate shrubs. The male hemp plants die early, -or are removed by hand, an operation which requires -expert knowledge of the two plants; but the female -is tended and looked after until the flowering tops are -developed. These are then collected and dried, and are -called <i>ganja</i>. The leaves, stalks and trash are collected, -and this is called <i>bhang</i>; while the resin (which is -collected by hand, like opium, or sometimes, made to -adhere to the clothes, or special leather garments, or -even the skins of men who walk up and down among -the growing plants and is then scraped off and worked -up into a mass by rolling and pressing) is called <i>churrus</i>. -This is really the active principle of the hemp. Its -presence in the flowering tops, leaves and stalks giving -<i>ganja</i> and <i>bhang</i> their narcotic properties; and <i>churrus</i> -is therefore more potent in its intoxicating effects -than either <i>ganja</i> or <i>bhang</i>.</p> - -<p><i>Ganja</i> is a greenish-brown conglomeration of what -looks like half-dried, tightly pressed grass; <i>bhang</i> is -somewhat similar in appearance, but looser in form; -and <i>churrus</i>, the resin itself, is a greenish-brown, moist -mass. When it has been kept some time, it becomes -hard, friable, and of a brownish-grey colour. When it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -assumes this condition and colour, it is inert. All have -a characteristic, faintly pungent, odour, and but slight -taste. It is interesting to note that the word <i>churrus</i> -means a “bag” or “skin.” It is believed that the -name was applied to the drug from the skins or bags -in which it used to be imported in olden times, from -Central Asia.</p> - -<p>Indulgence in hemp in India is as common as betel-chewing -and tobacco smoking. It is, in one or other of -its forms, either smoked, or eaten. (The sweetmeat -<i>Majum</i>, is compounded from <i>bhang</i>, honey, sugar, and -spices. Sometimes it is infused in cold water to which -butter is added. The butter in time takes up the -active principle of the drug, and is eaten.) And it is -computed that the votaries of hemp, in one or other -of its many forms, number three millions! There is -great diversity of opinion as to whether hemp is gravely -harmful to its consumers, or whether it is merely an -undesirable form of indulgence without any evil permanent -effects. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, -which examined the whole question in detail, was of -opinion that it was harmless if indulged in moderately, -but that the gravest results must follow upon intemperance -in its use. As regards its being a fruitful cause -of insanity, the evidence of alienists was taken, and the -statistics of all the large asylums for the insane in India -were examined; but “only 7·3 per cent. of lunatics -admitted to asylums were those in which hemp could -reasonably be regarded as having been a factor of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -importance. Moreover, the form of insanity produced -yields readily to treatment,” and as hemp has not got -the same hold that opium has upon individuals, its -discontinuance is easily effected and immediate -restoration of the mental faculties comes about.</p> - -<p>The moderate use of <i>ganja</i> increases the appetite, -and produces a condition of cheerfulness. In excess, -hallucinations, and a sort of delirium is excited, and it -is in this aggravated state that a man may “run amok.” -This is the outstanding evil of the drug: to temporarily -madden a man. But, for the fatal consequences which -often ensue from running amok, people are apt to put -the whole blame on the drug. May it not, however, -be that a man whose desire it is to become reckless -purposely resorts to the drug to hearten himself? I -think it is very likely. It is often discovered, after a -man has run amok, that he has for some time been -broody or sulky, and suffering under some real or -imagined wrong. That he should get desperate, and -take in excess what he well knows to be is an excitant -infinitely more powerful than alcohol, in order to carry -through what he has been longing for some time to do, -is not altogether unreasonable.</p> - -<p>To digress from the subject immediately under -discussion; it is common in discussing crime and its -connection with drink, to hear the view expressed that -drink is the cause of crime <i>primâ facie</i>; whereas it often -happens that a person intent on revenge cannot bring -himself to do his neighbour a mischief in cold blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -and requires a little “Dutch courage” to tune himself -up to the pitch of not caring for consequences. Too -often the crime committed is the result of impetuosity; -impetuosity exacerbated by drink. We never hear of -offences against property being attributed to drunkenness; -and yet, from the moral standpoint, the deliberate -commission of theft or robbery is evidential of greater -obliquity than the passionate striking of one’s enemy -with whatever comes to hand at the moment.</p> - -<p>Medical Jurisprudence is crowded with instances -in which hemp has been employed in the commission of -crimes. A single instance, which came within the -writer’s personal experience, will however suffice. The -Civil Surgeon of ... had gone out on tour leaving -behind his wife and family of three small boys. The -bedroom occupied by Mrs. Blank adjoined that usually -occupied by the doctor, which contained a large, -heavy iron safe in which was Mrs. Blank’s jewellery and -a large sum of money. That night, Mrs. Blank and the -children retired to bed at the usual hour; but upon -waking in the morning, she felt unrefreshed and languid. -The children complained of a like feeling. Going -into her husband’s room, Mrs. Blank was shocked to find -that the safe had disappeared, one of its heavy massive -handles lay wrenched off upon the floor, and a twisted -gun barrel near by had too apparently been used -ineffectually as a lever. An alarm was raised, and the -police called in. Mrs. Blank averred that the safe was -too large and heavy for fewer than six powerful men to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -carry down stairs. That she had been drugged there -could be no doubt; she had slept and the children -had slept through the night undisturbed, and it was -impossible to conceive how they could otherwise have -done so, with evidences of such noisy activities -abundant in the next room. The safe was never -found, and the culprits were never brought to book; -but the discovery of a small patch of cultivated hemp, -on some land belonging to a man servant who was -in the Civil Surgeon’s employ at the time of the -burglary, made the case clear, and the servant’s -complicity morally, if not judicially, certain.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> - -<hr /> - -<h2>L’ENVOI.<br /> -<span class="smcap">A Persian Allegory.</span></h2> - -<p>Three men, one under the effects of alcohol, one -under the effects of opium, and the last under the -effects of hemp, arrived one night at the closed gates of -a city. “Let us break down the gates,” said the -alcohol drinker in a fury of rage, “I can do it with my -sword!” “Nay,” said the opium eater, “We can rest -here outside in comfort till the morning, when the gates -will be opened, and we may enter.” “Why all this -foolish talk?” whined the one under the effects of -hemp. “Let us creep in through the key-hole. We -can make ourselves small enough!”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="APPENDIX">APPENDIX.<br /> -<span class="smcap">An Historical Note on Opium in India and Burma.</span></h2> - -<p>It is doubtful whether there is a more valuable drug -in the Materia Medica than opium. Fundamentally, -it is the dried juice of the <i>Papaver Somniferum</i> or white -poppy, and although all varieties of poppy are capable -of producing opium, the best comes from the white, -and it is this variety that is systematically cultivated -for the world’s supply of opium.</p> - -<p>Opium has been the cause of at least one war, -namely, the war between England and China, and a -perusal of the accounts of piracy in the eastern seas -during the sixteenth century affords numerous instances -of pitched battles between traders and pirates whose -one object seems to have been to get possession of -valuable cargoes of opium.</p> - -<p>The cultivation of the poppy, as a garden flower -at any rate, was certainly practised as far back as eight -hundred years before Christ. Homer, who lived between -800 B.C. and 700 B.C.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> mentions it in his Iliad.<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> -Cornelius Nepos also mentions the poppy in Italy; -when Tarquin indicated to the envoy sent to him by -his son Sextus Tarquinius, what he wanted done to the -chief inhabitants of Etruria, by striking down all the -tallest poppies in his garden.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> - -<p>Hippocrates, who lived in the fifth century before -Christ, and who is famous as the founder of Greek -medical literature, is the first to mention poppy juice, -and the virtues of the poppy were undoubtedly known -to him; but the physical effects of opium were not -definitely mentioned until the first century before Christ, -when Vergil, who lived from 70 B.C. to 19 B.C., writes -of the “Poppy pervaded with Lethean sleep,”<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and -the “Sleep-giving poppy.”<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> It may be mentioned -in passing, that in Greek mythology Lethe is a river -that flows through the regions of the dead, the waters -of which, if drunk by anyone, cause oblivion in regard -to their past existence.</p> - -<p>In the first century after Christ, opium was known -as a medicine. Opium is mentioned by this name by -Pliny<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and by Dioscorides<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> both of whom lived in this -century and its soporific effect was well known. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> -poppy was cultivated for opium on the eastern shores -of the Mediterranean, and as the bulk of the trade -between Europe and the Indies passed through these -countries, it is certain that this drug, whose value was -known, must have formed a part of the trade, though -not, perhaps, to such a great extent as to attract -attention.</p> - -<p>Early in the seventh century after Christ, the -religion of Islam was established in Arabia. By the -commandments of this new religion the use of alcohol -was absolutely forbidden, and it is supposed that -those who had been used to alcohol began to use opium -and hemp drugs as substitutes, the fact that these two -drugs were not explicitly mentioned being sufficient -sanction, apparently, for their use. It seems certain -that with the spread of Islamism, the use of opium -as a stimulant became more widely diffused. The Arabs -were at that time, to all intents and purposes, masters -of the eastern seas. They made long voyages, -and carried on a trade with India and China, and -from contemporary literature it has been definitely -established that it was the Arabs that introduced the -poppy, and a knowledge of its properties, into China. -It is probable that opium was used as a stimulant in -India also, at this time, but nothing is definitely known -about this, and the history of the production and use of -the drug before the sixteenth century is obscure. There -are many indications, however, that the opium habit -came into India in the eighth century, when the Arabs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -invaded and conquered Sind; and as the habit spread -with the wanderings of the Arabs, there is much in the -surmise. From this time, up to the end of the eleventh -century, the Mahomedan invaders brought the greater -part of India under their rule or influence, and in -Portuguese Chronicles, written in the sixteenth century, -the cultivation of the poppy, the opium habit, the -production of opium, and its export are talked of as -established things. Authorities on India conclude, -from the inherent reluctance of the Indian to rapidly -adopt new habits or crops, that the opium habit, and -the cultivation of the poppy for opium, must have taken -at least three hundred years or so to develop over -such large areas.</p> - -<p>The Portuguese discovered the Cape route to India -in 1488, but it was not till ten years later that they first -crossed the Indian Ocean and appeared on the west coast -of India. They visited all important places on the -coasts, and the great Islands of the Malay Archipelago, -and established themselves in many places. They were -not welcome, however, and were treated as intruders by -Oriental traders. Many and fierce were the encounters -between the Moors, and Arabs, and the intruders, who -were, in the greater number, buccaneers and pirates -rather than merchants. Numerous references to opium -occur in the literature of those times. Vespucci mentions -“opium, aloes, and many other drugs too numerous -to detail” in a list of the cargo carried by Cabral’s -fleet from India to Lisbon in 1501. In 1511 Giovanni<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -da Empoli mentions the capture of eight Gujarat ships -laden with opium and other merchandize; and in a -letter written in 1513 by Albuquerque to the King of -Portugal, he says “I also send you a man of Aden who -knows how to work afyam (opium) and the manner of -collecting it. If Your Highness would believe me, -I would order poppies of the Açores to be sown in all -the fields of Portugal and command afyam to be made, -which is the best merchandize that obtains in these -places, and by which much money is made; owing to -the thrashing which we gave Aden no afyam has come -to India, and where it once was worth 12 pardoes a -faracolla, there is none to be had at 80. Afyam is -nothing else, Senhor, but the milk of the poppy; from -Cayro (<i>sic</i>) whence it used to come, none comes now -from Aden; therefore, Senhor, I would have you order -them to be sown and cultivated, because a shipload -would be used yearly in India, and the labourers would -gain much also, and the people of India are lost without -it, if they do not eat it; and set this fact in order, -for I do not write to Your Highness an insignificant -thing.”</p> - -<p>Duarte Barbosa<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> (1516) makes several references -to opium:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>Duy (Diu): “They load at this port of the -return voyage cotton ... and opium, both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -that which comes from Aden, and that -which is made in the kingdom of Cambay, -which is not so fine as that of Aden.”</p> - -<p>Peigu (Burma): “Many Moorish ships assemble -at these ports of Peigu, and bring thither -much cloth of Cambay and Palecate, -coloured cottons and silks, which the -Indians call patola, which are worth a -great deal here; they also bring opium, -copper ... and a few drugs from -Cambay.”</p> - -<p>Ava: “The merchants bring here for sale quicksilver, -vermilion, coral, copper ... opium, -scarlet cloth and many other things from -the kingdom of Cambay.” D’Orta described -Cambay opium as yellowish, while -the Aden variety was black and hard, and -apparently the better liked kind.<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>A Dutchman named Linschoten,<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> in an account -of his travels and voyages, in 1596, gives an exaggerated -account of the effects of opium. He says: “Amfion, -so called by the Portingales, is by the Arabians, Mores -(Moors) and Indians called affion, in Latin, opio or -opium. It cometh out of Cairo in Egypt, and out of -Aden upon the coast of Arabia, which is the point of the -land entering into the Red Sea, sometimes belonging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> -to the Portingales, but most part out of Cambaia, and -from Deccan; that of Cairo is whitish and is called -Mecerii; that of Aden and the places bordering upon -the mouth of the Red Sea is blackish and hard; that -which come from Cambaia and Deccan is softer and -reddish. Amfion is made of sleepeballs, or poppie, -and is the gumme which cometh forth of the same, -to ye which end it is cut up and opened. The Indians -use much to eat Amfion, specially the Malabares, and -thither it is brought by those of Cambaia and other -places in great abundance. He that useth to eate it -must eate it daylie, otherwise he dieth and consumeth -himself. When they begin to eate it, and are used -unto it, they eate at the least twenty or thirty grains -in weight everie day, sometimes more; but if for four -or five days he chanceth to leave it, he dieth without -fail. Likewise he that hath never eaten it, and will -venture at the first to eate as much as those that daylie -use it, it will surely kill him, for I certainly believe it is -a kind of poyson. Such as use it goe alwaise as if they -were half asleepe. They eate much of it because they -would not feel any great labour or unquietness when -they are at work, but they use it most for lecherie -... although such as eate much thereof, are in time -altogether unable to company with a woman and whollie -dried up, for it drieth and whollie cooleth man’s nature -that use it, as the Indians themselves do witness. -Wherefore it is not much used by the nobilitie, but only -for the cause aforesaid.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> - -<p>Cæsar Fredericke,<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> a Venetian merchant, who -travelled extensively in the East, writes, about 1581, -an account of his voyages and some of his ventures: -“And for because that at my departure from Pegu -opium was in great request, I went then to Cambay, -to employ a good round summe of money in opium, -and there I bought sixty parcels of opium which cost me -2,000 and 100 duckets, every ducket at 4 shillings 2 -pence....” It is interesting to note that one Ralph -Fitch,<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> who travelled in the East from 1583 to 1591, -visited Burma, or Pegu as it was called by voyagers -then, writes that opium from Cambay and Mecca was in -great demand. These references, and a great many -more could be given, go to show that by the -sixteenth Century opium was not only well known, but -formed an important item of maritime trade in the -East.</p> - -<p>By 1612, the English and Dutch East India Companies -had been formed. The Dutch had established -a trading post or factory at Surat, from which they -were afterwards expelled by the English Company, -and both Companies had factories on the Hughli in -Bengal. They were not friends, and often fought, but -they combined against the Portuguese and Spaniards -who had appeared on the scene a hundred years before, -and who looked upon all trade from India round -the Cape as their monopoly. By the beginning of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -seventeenth century the Portuguese had lost almost all -their possessions in India to the Dutch, and their trade -had weakened and diminished to a point which rendered -them almost negligible as competitors in trade. At this -time, several European nations granted monopolies -of trade to the Indies, and the French and the Danes -now came on the scene. It was found impossible, -however, to keep out private individuals who sought -to set up trading factories on their own account, despite -monopolies, and swarms of these adventurers came in -to trade in all the valuable articles of merchandize, -including opium. They looked upon force as their -only law, and their depredations on the seas perpetrated -against the Indian sailors brought about the -speedy decay of the old native sea-trade.</p> - -<p>Although the English Company established a predominance -over the Dutch in general trade, the latter -maintained a lead in the trade in opium. They exported -it to Ceylon, Malacca and the Straits, and it has been -ascertained from contemporary chronicles that the -Dutch had attempted to arrange with Indian Princes to -monopolize the export trade of opium to China. In -this, however, they failed, for the Portuguese, who had -always had a monopoly of the export of Malwa opium, -still held possession of their ports on the Cambay -Gulf, and so were in a favourable situation for this -trade.</p> - -<p>In those days, as in these, Europeans did not come -out to the East for the sake of their health. They came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -out with only one object, and that was to make money. -Times have not changed since then. It was not -unnatural therefore that they should look about for as -speedy a means of amassing a fortune as possible, and -found opium. Opium was to be got cheap in exchange -for the merchandize with which trading ships came -laden to the East. It was portable and durable, and -as it was in great demand in the countries east of India -it constituted an excellent substitute for money with -which were purchased silks, tea, spices and pepper for -which there was a great demand in Europe. It is -probable that this demand for opium stimulated -production and increased the output of opium in India, -specially since the entry of the Europeans into the -field of commerce in Eastern waters killed the native -sea-trade which used to bring opium from Turkey. -This increase in the output of opium must not be held -to indicate an increase in consumption, as has been -made out by some. On the contrary, it may be -inferred that a decrease was brought about by the -introduction of tobacco in the seventeenth century. -When tobacco was unknown and the use of alcohol -prohibited to Mahomedans, and looked upon as -disgraceful by Hindoos, it is likely that the opium -habit was more widely prevalent.</p> - -<p>There was little change in the condition of affairs -during the greater part of the eighteenth century, -but a gradual increase in the demand from China -about the middle of this century came about from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -substitution of opium smoking for the smoking of -tobacco.</p> - -<p>The next stage in the history of the subject begins -with the occupation of Bengal by the British East -Indies Company in 1758, but it is first necessary to -briefly outline how matters stood prior to it in connection -with the production and sale of opium under -Moghul administration.</p> - -<p>No restrictions were imposed upon the cultivation -of the poppy, and the agriculturist was as free to cultivate -it as any other crop. He could sell his opium to -whom he pleased, though generally he sold it to the -money-lender who advanced him the money with -which to begin cultivation ... a practice which -obtains to this day in places to which the co-operative -movement has not as yet spread. The opium produced -was made over to the money-lender at a fixed price, -but the rate at which the money-lender disposed of this -opium was regulated only by the demand by European -traders, and high prices were obtained. It is very -natural that the native rulers of the day should have -wished to participate to some extent in the huge profits -made by these private traders, and a system was -introduced by which a certain part of the profits on -opium was paid into the State treasuries. This was willingly -paid, as the burden was borne by the cultivator. -As soon as the system came into force, the money-lenders -formed a ring, and regulated the price paid by -them for opium to cultivators, and took care to fix<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -it at such a rate that the State demand did not deplete -their own purses too much. As time went on, the -confusion of the Moghul Empire, which began and ended, -in the quarrels of Suraj-ud-Dowlah, did away to some -extent with these rings, but custom and tradition are -so strong in India, particularly when supported by -men of substance, that when we occupied Bihar, a ring -of wealthy opium dealers were found to be exercising -an unauthorised monopoly in Patna opium which we -were in too insecure a position to break.</p> - -<p>This is how matters stood. But for some time -before, the general confusion of the Moghul Empire, -and its weakened authority, brought about a state of -turmoil and disorder which obliged European merchants -to raise troops, and convert their factories into garrisoned -fortresses. Clive’s victory over Suraj-ud-Dowlah -at Plassey in 1757, however, brought things to a head, -and established the British Company as military masters -in Bengal. Suraj-ud-Dowlah was dethroned, and -Mir Jaffer was set up in his place, the administration -being confided to him under the general control of the -Company. But this form of dual government resulted -only in the oppression of the people, and general maladministration. -The servants of the Company had -always been allowed the privilege of private trade, and -in this state of affairs they had unique opportunities -for trading with the greatest advantage to themselves. -Opium was, of course, exploited to the full, and when, -what was known as the Patna Council, a number of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -Company’s servants, whose business it was to look after -the Company’s interests in Patna, discovered the -existence of the opium ring, they were not long in -appropriating its functions, and the very solid -financial advantages it possessed. It is, perhaps, as -well to explain that all this was done for the benefit of -the several members of the Patna Council, and not on -behalf of their employer. But the Council found that -to avoid trouble it was necessary to admit the Dutch -and French Company’s servants who were naturally -anxious to share in this unauthorized trade, and they -very wisely admitted them, but to a minor share -only.</p> - -<p>In 1773, Warren Hastings was made the first -Governor-General, and one of the first reforms he -undertook was the suppression of private trade among -the Company’s servants, and of all irregular and -unauthorised monopolies. When the Patna opium -monopoly came to be examined, it was found to involve -important considerations, and, after a full discussion -in Council, it was decided not to set it free, but to make -it a source of revenue to the State. It is to be expected -that there were many against this, and various arguments -were offered against the measure, but these -were met satisfactorily; the Moghul monopolies had -existed for years, and there was nothing novel in the -creation of one properly regulated. Besides, the -cultivators would be better treated, and would be less -at the mercy of private traders and interlopers. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> -argument that if left free, more opium would be -produced, was answered by Warren Hastings holding -that increase was undesirable in the case of a pernicious -luxury. Strangely enough, a strong line of opposition -was taken by Francis, who was against all monopolies on -general principles, and by the Board of Directors of the -British East India Company, on the score of its being a -form of oppression. They suggested leaving the trade -free, subject to a Customs duty. His non-compliance -with these instructions was one of the articles of Warren -Hastings’ impeachment later: “That this monopoly -was a despotic interference with the liberty of the ryot, -and that he should have complied with the Directors’ -suggestion.”</p> - -<p>The working of this new monopoly did not differ in -essentials from the old form. The opium was collected -from the cultivators by a contractor, but instead -of its being handed over to the Patna Council, it was -taken to Calcutta, where the bulk of it was sold by -auction to the highest bidder. The balance was divided -between the Dutch, French, and the commercial side -of the British East Indies Companies at average -auction prices.</p> - -<p>The revised conditions under which this new State -monopoly worked ensured the best opium coming into -the Company’s hands. It also did away with “middle-men,” -and all the profits which would have gone to -cultivators if they had been allowed free trade. It is -not unnatural, therefore, that some one should conceive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> -the idea of securing the profits made by the sea-traders -as well. In 1775, the revenue officers of Patna estimated -that if the Dutch and French were kept out of the -trade, 33,000 chests of Bengal and Bihar opium would -be available for export, and suggested that the Company -should export this to China, where it could be sold at an -immense profit. The letter was considered in Council, -but the suggestion was dropped by common consent -without discussion. Warren Hastings, however, -suggested an alternative of direct official agency, to the -exclusion of the contractor, but this motion was lost -by a majority, and the matter was closed. But in -1781 a state of affairs arose in which the Company -found itself sadly short of money. We were at war with -the French, Dutch, and Spaniards, at sea, and with -Hyder Ali and the Maharattas on land. In consequence -our ports were closed to foreign trade, the seas were not -safe for ships flying the British flag, and all available -merchant ships were employed in carrying grain -and other supplies to Madras. Opium was unsaleable -at Calcutta. It was under such conditions that it was -decided to export opium to China, and, accordingly, the -‘<i>Nonsuch</i>’ with 2,000 chests, was sent to the supercargoes -at Canton, and the ‘<i>Betsey</i>’ with 1,450 -chests to the Straits of Malacca. A loan of 10 lakhs -of rupees was raised on the cargo of the ‘<i>Betsey</i>,’ -to be repaid by bills of exchange on the Company -from the Canton supercargoes. Another loan of 10 -lakhs was raised from the public on the cargo of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> -‘<i>Nonsuch</i>’ on similar terms. The ‘<i>Betsey</i>,’ after -disposing of part of her cargo to advantage, was -captured by the French and Dutch. The cargo of -the ‘<i>Nonsuch</i>’ was disposed of at a loss after -much difficulty on account of the prohibition of the -import of opium by the Chinese, and on account -of the “immense quantities” of opium brought to -Macao by Portuguese ships before the arrival of the -‘<i>Nonsuch</i>.’ The loss on this venture was 69,973 -dollars.</p> - -<p>The Board of Directors, on hearing of this venture, -which was undoubtedly an exception to the course of -policy pursued by the East India Company in regard -to the trade, while holding that there was no objection -to the sale of opium in the Straits of Malacca, condemned -the action of its representatives in exporting opium to -China, where the import of opium was prohibited, as -being beneath the dignity of the Company.</p> - -<p>No more opium was exported to China, and the -working of the monopoly remained unchanged until it -was reformed, and the system of direct official agency -was introduced by Lord Cornwallis. This system has -remained in force up to the present.</p> - -<p><i>Malwa Opium.</i>—The first factory established by -the British East Indies Company on the West Coast -of India was at Surat in 1613. The Portuguese and -Dutch had already established themselves here, and all -of them participated in the opium trade to some extent. -The Dutch were eventually expelled by the British who,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -as the Moghul power diminished, and the Maharattas -became the rulers, assumed a commanding political -position. But owing to their having a minor share -in the territories along the coast, the major portion -belonging to native princes and the Portuguese, although -they could participate in the trade in Malwa opium, -they were unable to assume a monopoly.</p> - -<p>By the end of the eighteenth century, the State -monopoly in Bengal had been firmly established, and -good prices were being got for export opium. It was -with a certain amount of apprehension therefore that -they looked upon the trade in Malwa opium from the -West Coast, and in 1803, this apprehension developing -into something stronger, an order was issued prohibiting -the export of Malwa opium from the Bombay ports. -In 1805, the Bombay Government was asked to prohibit -the cultivation of the poppy within the territories, -some of which were newly acquired; but this -order was demurred to, and the Directors concurred, -holding that the cultivation was for opium for local -consumption only, and not for export, and therefore -unobjectionable.</p> - -<p>At this time smuggling was rife. There were many -routes, some very circuitous, by which the opium -could be got to the sea-coast without trespassing upon -the territories of the Company, but after 1818, when the -third Maharatta war resulted in our getting possession -of the whole of the Bombay sea-coast except Sind, how -to get to the sea was a problem which confronted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -smugglers with increased complexity. But even so, -the authorities were always faced with the danger of -smuggled opium competing with Bengal opium and -lowering its price. Treaties were therefore entered -into with some of the States which had most reason -to be grateful to us, by which they undertook to prohibit -the export of the opium produced in their possessions, -to check the cultivation of the poppy, and to sell what -opium was produced to the agents of the Company at a -certain fixed price. The arrangement did not differ -materially from the system adopted in Bengal. But -there were other States, such as Scindia and Jeypore, -which refused to enter into alliances on these terms, -and a time came when those who had signed treaties -began to look upon the conditions they had agreed to -as repressive. Merchants, who had been dispossessed -of their profits by this system, were greatly in its disfavour, -and there was no doubt about the disapproval -of these measures by cultivators who were deprived -of all the advantages of a competitive trade. In 1829 -it was therefore decided to abandon this system in lieu -of another, which required that a certain transit duty -be paid on all opium passing through British territory -to Bombay for export to China. This transit or pass -duty was fixed at Rs. 175 a chest, but it varied, rising -as it did in 1892 to Rs. 600 a chest. This system still -exists in regard to Malwa opium.</p> - -<p>All the details of legislation and regulation which -concern this subject certainly come within the scope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -of this note, but their sketchy treatment is made necessary -by considerations of space. A relation of the -Chinese aspect would fill a volume, and no attempt -is made here to describe it. But I feel that this note -would not be complete without some reference to -Burma.</p> - -<p>That the use of opium was known in Burma long -before British rule was introduced is evident from the -records of Fitch and of Cæsar Fredricke, who visited -Burma in the latter half of the sixteenth century. From -the records of the Dutch East India Company also, -Burma, it is seen, was looked upon as a good market -for opium. It is very probable, therefore, that the -luxury use of opium was practised by the Burmese -people. The Buddhist religion prohibits the use of all -intoxicants, and the edicts, issued by the State from -time to time against their use, and later on, against -opium in particular, appear to have been inspired by -the Buddhist hierarchy. But it does not appear that -the import of opium into Burma was prohibited by any -measure of State prior to its annexation by the British. -In the enquiry of 1891, Mr. Norton, Commissioner of -Irrawaddy, wrote that, before the annexation of Pegu -in 1852, although capital punishment was prescribed -for Burmans found with opium, yet opium was plentiful -and easy to get at a cheaper rate than when he was -writing. Several respectable Burmese gentlemen who -were consulted during 1878 admitted that opium was -freely used always.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> - -<p>Arakan and Tenasserim were annexed in 1826 after -the first Burmese war and were attached to the Bengal -Presidency for the purposes of administration under -the Deputy Governor of Bengal, and it was not until -1862 that they, along with Pegu, were formed into the -province of British Burma under the Chief Commissioner, -Sir Arthur Phayre.</p> - -<p>In 1826, the retail sale of opium in Bengal was -conducted under the farming system. By this system -certain tracts were farmed out to selected persons either -by tender or by auction. These farmers were obliged -to purchase Excise opium from the Government opium -factories at a fixed price, which included the cost price -and duty. This system was extended to Arakan and -Tenasserim. As time went on, this system of opium -farms was found to be bad and was replaced by the -issue of free licenses to respectable persons. As Arakan -was in a favourable position for smuggling, this system -of free licenses was introduced there also, but Tenasserim, -which did not afford the same facilities for smuggling, -was allowed to retain the old system. That the -system was unsatisfactory, chiefly on account of its -tendency to cheapen opium, is apparent from a statement -made by an old inhabitant of Akyab to Colonel -Strover during the inquiry of 1891 that he had seen -Government opium hawked about for sale in the streets -during the early days of British rule. In 1864 Sir -Arthur Phayre strongly condemned this new system, -and in 1865 he drew up a set of rules which were brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> -into effect in 1866. The spirit of these rules is observed -up to the present day in regard to the limit placed upon -the quantity of opium which may be purchased by a -licensee during a year for sale at his shop.</p> - -<p>How things stood in Upper Burma at this time can -be inferred from a report made to the Government of -India by Sir Charles Crosthwaite under date 20th March, -1888. “On our taking over the country, stringent -rules were enacted and somewhat rigorously enforced -against the sale of opium. Many Chinese were flogged -and otherwise punished for engaging in a traffic which, -although it may have been nominally prohibited, was -allowed to go on under the Burmese Government.” -From the statement of an official of the Burmese Government -it would appear that the Burmese Government -never openly recognized the opium traffic in Upper -Burma; those persons only were punished who sold -opium to Burmans. The Burmese Government -admitted the existence of the traffic by levying customs -dues on all opium imported into Upper Burma. In -1872, the British Political Agent reported that large -quantities of Shan and Yünnan opium were being -imported into Upper Burma and also smuggled. A -Mr. Adams, of the American Baptist Mission, who was -at Mandalay from 1874 to 1879, states that the <i>pôngyis</i> -took great pains to suppress the consumption of opium -by Burmans, with the hearty support of King Mindon, -who was a great zealot in religion, much under the -influence of the priesthood, and active in supporting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> -every endeavour to enforce the law of prohibition. -But this law was personal to the Burmans, and not a -territorial law. Other races were under no restrictions -in the matter of opium or liquor, and when our troops -took Mandalay in 1885, enormous stores of opium were -found secreted in the houses of Chinese merchants -who said that they sold it regularly to Burmans. It is -true that under King Thebaw’s rule most of King -Mindon’s edicts became dead letters, and even <i>pôngyis</i> -became addicted to opium.</p> - -<p>The opium question attracted much interest, both -locally and in England. The Anti-Opium Society took -it up and much correspondence took place, which -resulted in the total prohibition of opium to Burmans -in Upper Burma and the rigid restriction of issues to -them in Lower Burma. The reason for this is concisely -put by Sir A. Mackenzie, Chief Commissioner of Burma, -in a Minute: “I do not believe that opium in India or -China does any great harm to the majority of those -who use it, <i>i.e.</i>, to moderate smokers and eaters. But -here, in Burma, we are brought face to face with the -fact that the religion of the people specifically denounces -the use of the drug; that their native kings treated -its use as a heinous offence; that these ideas are so -deeply rooted in the minds of the people that every -consumer feels himself to be, and is, regarded by his -neighbours as a sinner and a criminal; that the people -are by temperament pleasure-loving and idle and -easily led away by vicious indulgences; that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> -have little self-restraint and are always prone to rush -into extremes. When a Burman takes to drink or -opium he wants to get drunk or drugged as fast as he -can, or as often as he can. All this seems to me -to point to the necessity of special treatment.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> For a full account of the history of opium, see the Appendix -at the end of the book.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> One tola is equivalent to 180 grains. Eighty tolas equal -one <i>seer</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Government does not vend opium directly to the people. A -selected “licensee” undertakes this under the supervision of a -Government officer, usually an Excise Inspector.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Chandoo</i>, the Indian name for prepared or clarified opium -used in smoking. The Burmese name for it is <i>Beinsi</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Three tolas is 540 grains, or 1½ oz.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Mahaffy, “History of Classical Greek Literature,” 1-81.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“Down sank his head, as in a garden sinks</div> -<div class="verse">A ripened poppy charg’d with vernal rains;</div> -<div class="verse">So sank his head beneath his helmet’s weight.”</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Iliad. (Lord Derby’s translation, VIII.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> “Huic, nuntio, quia, credo, dubiæ fidei videbatur, nihil voce -responsum est, Rex, velut deliberabundus, in hortum ædium transit, -sequente nuntio filii: ibi inambulans tacitus, sum apapaverum capita -dicitur baculo decussisse.” Livy i., 54.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> “Lethæo perfusa papavera somno.” Georg.: i, 78.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> “Soporiferumque papaver.” Aeneid: iv, 486.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> “Natural History.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> “Materia Medica.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> “The Coasts of East Africa and Malabar,” by Duarte Barbosa. -Translated from the Spanish and edited for the Haklvyt Society by -the Hon’ble H. E. J. Stanley in 1866.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Paper by Dr da Cunha in the transactions of the Medical and -Physical Society of Bombay, 1882.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> “Discourse of voyages unto ye Easte and West Indies.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> “Haklvyt’s voyages,” Volume IX, Asia, Part II.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> “Haklvyt’s voyages,” Volume X, Asia, Part III.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Drug Smuggling and Taking in India and -Burma, by Roy K. Anderson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUG SMUGGLING AND TAKING *** - -***** This file should be named 61362-h.htm or 61362-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/3/6/61362/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> |