48 PAPAVERACE^. 



Upper Egypt near Esneh, Kenneh, and Siout, as much as 10,000 

 feddan (equal to about the same number of English acres) of land 

 cultivated with the poppy from which opium was obtained in March, 

 and seed in April. Hartmanu ^ states that the cultivation is carried 

 on by the government, and solely for the requirement of the sanitary 

 establishments. 



S. Stafford Allen in 1861 witnessed the collection of opiumat 

 Kenneh in Upper Egypt,^ from a white-flowered poppy. An incision 

 is made in the capsule by running a knife twice round it transversely, 

 and the juice scraped off the following day with a sort of scoop-lvnife. 

 I'he gatherings are collected on a leaf and placed in the sun to harden. 

 The produce appeared extremely small and was said to be wholly used 

 in the country 



Gastinel, director of the Experimental Garden at Cairo, and govern- 

 ment inspector of pharmaceutical stores, has shown (1865) that the 

 poppy in Egypt might yield a very good product containing 10 to 1- 

 per cent, of morphine, and that the present bad quality of Egyptian 

 opium is due to an over-moist soil, and a too early scarification ot 

 the capsule, whereby (not to mention wilful adulteration) the propor- 

 tion of morphine is reduced to 3 or 4 per cent. • 



In 1872, 9636 lb. of opium, value £5023, were imported into the 

 United Kingdom from Egypt. 



3. Persian O^num. — Persia, probably the original home of tj^ 

 baneful practice of opium-eating, cultivates the drug chiefly in ' " 

 central provinces where, according to Boissier, the plant growi 

 furnish it is Pajpaver somniferum, var. y album (P. offimmde Om-; 

 having ovate roundish capsules. Poppy heads from Persia which ve 



the 

 to 



white seeds. 



1867 



The strongest opium called in Persia Teriak-e-Arahldani is obtained 

 in the neighbourhood of Dizful and Shuster, east of the Lower Tign^- 

 Good opium is likewise produced about Sari and Balfarush m t'C 



Mazand 



lowest quality which is mixed with starch and other matters, is 



The 



sold 



1 



in light brown sticks; It is made at Shahabdulazim, Kashan, anj^ 

 Kum.3 A large quantity of opium appears to be produced in KhoKa i 

 and Turkestan. 



Persian opium is carried overland to China through Bokbara. 

 Khokan and Kashgar;* but since 1864 it has also been extensive^) 

 conveyed tliither by sea, and it is now quoted in trade reports like tn 

 of Malwa, Patna, and Benares.'* It is exported by way of Trebizond i^^ 

 Constantinople where it used to be worked up to imitate the opi" 



1 NaturgescMchtl medicln. Skizze der Nil- 3 p^lak, Persicn, ii. (1865) ^-^^j^f^'p^. 

 lander, Berlin, 18C6. 353. * Powell Economic Products of m ' 



2 Pharm. Journ. iv. (1863) 199. " ' jab, i. (1868) 294. ^^. 

 5 Tlnis ill the Trade Report for Foocliow, for 1870, addressed to Mr. Hart, Inspec 



General of Customs, Pekin, is the following table : 



T ^ r r. • • Malwa. Patnn. Benares. Terjian- 



Imports of Opium m 1867 . . chests 2327 1673 724 3W 



1868 . . „ 2460 - 1257 377 Jo^ 



1869 . . „ 2201 1340 410 4W 



1870 . . „ 1849 1283 245 6^" 





