16 KE^V GARDEN MUSEUM. 



Of the dry cake remaining after tlie extraction of the oil, a coarse de- 

 scription of unleavened bread is sometimes prepared by the veiy indi- 

 gent, or it is given to cattle, or used medicinally for poultices. 



" The capsules, deprived of their seeds, are still available for pre- 

 paring emollient and anodjTie decoctions, which the natives use both 

 internally in coughs, and externally as fomentations. The stems and 

 leaves are left standing until they have become perfectly dry, under the 

 influence of the hot winds of April and May, when they are removed, 

 and crushed and broken up into a coarse powder, known in the depart- 

 ment under the name of ' Poppy trash,* and which is employed in 

 packing the Opium cakes. The juice, when brought home by the cul- 

 tivator, is placed in a shallow earthen vessel, which is tilted to such a 

 degree that all the pussewah can drain off, and this plan is persevered in 

 so long as anything fluid will separate. The pussewah obtained by this 

 means is set aside in a covered vessel, and receives no further attention 

 until taken for weighment to the Ghazeepore sudder factory. 



" The Opium now requires frequent attendance on the part of the cul- 

 tivator. It is daily exposed to the air, though never to the sun, and 

 is regularly turned over every few days, in order io ensure a uniform 



r 



dryage in the whole mass j and this process is persevered in for the 

 space of three weeks or a month, or, in fact, until such time as the 

 drug may have reached within a few degrees of standard consistence. 

 Standard Opium, according to the Benares regulations, is Opium 

 which, on being subjected to a temperature of 300° Fahr. until every- 

 thing volatile is driven o£F, shall leave a residue of 70 per cent. 



" The Opium, on its ariival at the Ghazeepore factory, is turned out of 

 the confined earthen pots in which it is received, and is weighed in 

 wide tin vessels called tagan^ care being taken that no larger quantity 

 tlian 10 seers (20 lbs.) is ever brought to the scale at a time. This 

 weighment is made under the eye of the gomashta (or of his accredited 

 agent) of the kotee to which the Opium belongs ; and in the case of the 

 neighbouring or ' home' kotees, the cultivators attend in person with 

 their produce. 



" The native Opium examiner, ox purMtea, now plunges his hand into 

 the centre and to the bottom of the drug, stirs it about, and grasps it 

 in various directions to feel for impurities, and then withdraws a hand- 

 ful, which he manipidates between his fingers, revealing its colour, tex- 

 ture, and mode of fracture, and finally ascertains its aroma. He then 



