14 KEW GARDEN MUSEUM. 



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formed into circular cakes from ten to fourteen inches in diameter, and 

 about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. 



" The manner in which these leaf-cakes are formed is the following : 

 A circular shallow earthen vessel is heated to the requisite degree, by 

 being placed inverted over a slow fire. A few petals are then spread 

 upon its heated convex surface, and as soon as the glutinous juice which 

 they contain is seen to exude, others are added to the moist surface, 

 and are pressed down by means of a cloth. As soon as these latter be- 

 come moist in turn, they receive a similar addition of petals, and in this 

 manner the cake is extended circidarly by successive and continuous 

 additions, until it has reached the required dimensions. Instead of the 

 earthen vessel, a shallow or nearly flat iron cooking utensil is some- 

 times used. 



F- 



" The cakes of petals (known in the department under the name of 

 * leaves'), w^hen they reach the sudder factory at Ghazeepore, are care- 

 fully sorted and separated into three classes according to their size and 

 colour. The smaller and dark-coloured ' leaves* are used in forming 

 the inner portions of the shells of the Opium cakes, whilst the largest 

 and least discoloured ones are kept for furnishing their outside cover- 

 ings. In a few days after the removal of the petals the capsules have 

 reached their utmost state of development, w^hen the process of collec- 

 tion commences, which extends from about the 20th of Februar}^ to the 

 25th of March. At about three or four o'clock in the afternoon indi- 

 viduals repair to the fields and scarify the Poppy capsules with sharp 

 iron instruments, called nus/durs. 



" The 7iiis7itm' consists of four naiTOW bars of iron, each of which is 

 about six inches in length, and of about the thickness of the blade of a 

 penbdfe. At one extremity, each bar does not exceed a quarter of an 

 inch in breadth ; but it gradually expands, until it has acquired the 

 breadth of about one inch at the opposite end, where it is deeply 

 notched. The sides of the notch are somewhat curved and ground to 

 sharp edges, and the external angles are brought to sharp points. The 

 four little bars, being placed side by side, are bound firmly together by 

 means of strong cotton thread; and the points, at their cutting ex- 

 tremities, are kept separated from each other, to the extent of about 

 one-sixteenth of an inch, by means of the cotton thread which is passed 

 between each pair of contiguous blades. Thus prepared, the instru- 

 ment presents four pair of curved, pointed, diverging blades, somewhat 



