Statistics of Opium-smoJcing. 139 



effects of the use of opiuiii, without any of its more agreeable 

 sensations. Tiie state of intoxication and drowsiness usually 

 lasts from forty to sixty minutes, when consciousness gradu- 

 ally returns, without any ill effects being experienced at the 

 moment from the inhalation of the poison. 



In Singapore, where comparatively high wages are paid, 

 and the Chinese population is the most numerous, the annual 

 consumption of opium amounts to about 330 grains per head. 

 In the Island of Java, where, in consequence of certain limits 

 prescribed by government, the Chinese element amounts to 

 but iToth of the entire population, the consumption is hardly 

 forty grains per head. Even in China, where this perilous 

 narcotic is consumed in such enormous quantities, the amount 

 sold only indicates 140 grains for each smoker, which how- 

 ever is chiefly attributable to the poverty of the populace, by 

 whom this luxury is unattainable. Unfortunately we coidd 

 get no reliable information as to the number of opium- 

 smokers, and the quantity of opium consumed, in Singapore. 

 Mr. Allen, a North American missionary, estimates the 

 number of persons who surrender themselves to this practice 

 throughout the Chinese Empire, at from 4—5,000,000, who 

 annually consume about 50,000 chests of opium. The 

 quantity consumed by each smoker daily varies in an ex- 

 traordinary degree. At first the beginner cannot inhale 

 above two or three grains at a time, but gradually, as he be- 

 comes habituated, the dose increases, till the confirmed smokers 



