Chinese Ceremonies on preparing Chandu. 157 



sometimes prayers in Chinese, sometimes all kinds of draw- 

 ings, intended to express the wishes of those making the 

 offering, and which ordinarily represent in very sketchy out- 

 line those objects which they pray their deities to bestow on 

 them. In thus burning, in a copper vessel specially prepared 

 for the purpose, not unlike the baptismal font in a Christian 

 church, these small slij)s of paper, the Chinese operative be- 

 lieves that his petition ascends to heaven as smoke, and so 

 comes under the cognizance of his protecting gods. Simi- 

 larly in all temples and pagodas, large quantities may be 

 found stored away of these paper intercessors with the 

 Chinese gods, intended for the use of believers, or rather of 

 those who make profession of faith. 



The workmen of the oj^ium farm have a part of their 

 wages paid in opium. The greater number are themselves 

 opium-smokers, and thus are all the more surely attached to 

 the manufactm-e. We saw a number of these fellows lying 

 stretched out on straw mats, in wretched filthy-looking dens 

 of rooms, with blue curtains barely concealing them from 

 view, and the spirit-lamp placed conveniently near to enable 

 them from time to time to heat the chandu^ the smoke of 

 which they inhale through a peculiarly constructed pipe 

 (^Yeu-tsiang). The quantity of opium taken up at each dip by 

 the instrument used, a three-cornered, flat-headed sort of 

 needle specially adapted for the purpose, is about the size of 

 a pea. The practised opium-smoker holds his breath for a 

 considerable time, and passes the smoke through the nostrils. 



