BOTANY. 333 



which henceforth became the seat of extensive trade. From these ves- 

 sels it was taken in Chinese junks and smugglers' boats, and retailed 

 at various ports along the shore. In 1847, ifc is said about fifty vessels 

 were engaged exclusively in this trade, besides a greater or less number 

 which were only partially freighted with the drug. It is stated that 

 two and a half millions of dollars' worth of opium is annually imported 

 into Foo-chow, from whence it finds its Avay into the interior. In that 

 city alone there were, in 1848, one hundred houses devoted to the 

 smoking of the drug, while as many retailed the poison in small quan- 

 tities. 



As respects the progress and present extent of the trade, it is said 

 that from 1794 to 1820, the amount exported to China varied from 

 3,000 to 7,000 chests per year. In 1837, it amounted to between 

 39,000 and 40,000 chests, valued at $25,000,000. From 1838 to 1842 

 the trade was almost entirely interrupted by the war, which grew out 

 of the attempts on the part of the Chinese government to suppress it. 

 At the conclusion of the war, the trade was resumed with renewed 

 vigor. For the year 1848, the amount imported into China from Bom- 

 bay was 19,111 chests, and from Calcutta 38,000 chests, which, at an 

 average of $550 per chest, would amount to $32,000,000 expended for 

 this single article of trade. Then the Chinese pay an advance on the 

 sum of several millions more, which goes into the hands of the mer- 

 chants as the fruits of their investment and labors in the trade. All 

 this sum has to be paid in specie, or Chinese sycee, which is the 

 purest of silver. 



The principal use made of opium by the Chinese is in the form of 

 smoking ; a practice to which they become most passionately addicted. 

 The wealthier orders do their smoking in their own dwellings, but for 

 the poorer classes there are thousands of shops fitted, in many of the 

 Chinese cities, with accommodations expressly for smoking. Many of 

 these shops are represented to be the most miserable and wretched 

 places imaginable. Rev. Mr. Squire says of them ; " Never, perhaps, 

 was there a nearer approach to hell upon earth than within the pre- 

 cincts of these vile hovels, where gaming is likewise carried on to a 

 great extent." It is stated that there are one thousand of these opium 

 shops in the city of Arnoy. All classes in the community are addicted 

 to the practice. The effects of this drug upon the consumer are thus 

 described by a distinguished Chinese scholar : " It exhausts the ani- 

 inal spirits, impedes the regular performance of business, wastes the 

 flesh and blood, dissipates every kind of property, renders the person 

 ill-favored, promotes obscenity, discloses secrets, violates the laws, 

 attacks the vitals, and destroys life." This statement is confirmed by 

 other natives, and also by foreign residents ; and it is asserted that, 

 as a general rule, a person does not live more than ten years after 

 becoming addicted to the use of this drug. The Chinese government 

 have made strong efforts to cut off or restrict the traffic in this drug. 

 Public attention was directed to its injurious effects in 1799, and in 

 1809 an edict was issued requiring all ships discharging their cargoes 

 at "Whampoa, to give bonds that they had no opium on board. Still 

 more stringent laws were adopted in 1820. In 1834, an edict was 



