CHAPTER XXIV 



RUBBER, HEMP, AND OPIUM 



Effects of opium— The poppy-plant and its latex — Work of the opium- 

 gatherer — Where the opium poppy is grown — Haschisch of the Count 

 of Monte Cristo — Heckling, scotching, and retting— Hempseed and 

 bhang — Users of haschisch — Use of india-rubber — Why plants pro- 

 duce rubber — With the Indians in Nicaragua — The Congo Free State 

 —Scarcity of rubber— Columbus and Torquemada— Macintosh— 

 Gutta-percha. 



SUPPOSING that in China or Japan you meet a native 

 who shows the following symptoms : — 

 (1) Eyes hollow and surrounded by a bluish margin; 

 (2) pupils much dilated; (3) with a stupid appearance; 

 (4) with an emaciated body ; (5) of unsteady and stagger- 

 ing walk ; (6) with a dreamy disposition ; — then, you may 

 be sure that he is an opium-smoker. In some of the Chinese 

 provinces every man smokes '03 to '07 oimce of opium daily, 

 but those who indulge to excess consume '3 or even '6 

 ounce. It is an excellent medicine when employed in a lawful 

 and justifiable manner, for it calms the spirits and makes 

 one sleep. But its use is always dangerous, even when em- 

 ployed in very small quantity, as in laudanum and morphia. 

 In the Fen country in England there used to be a very 

 large sale of laudanum pills which keep off asthma and 

 rheumatism, but even there it is a dangerous remedy, for it is 

 only too easy to fall under the control of this drug either by 



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