_ 



KKVKNl'K 



PAPAVER 



OPIUM 



he thus KiiiMs up the shul (a strn. tun- half an in h ti , i he cake of 

 opium, brought direct from the scales, is now inserted within, and leaf 

 alt i -r leal moistened in the Inva is inserted until the space around the cake 

 is tilled up. The layers of leaves are now brought up over the opium and 

 compacted together until tin- tini.-he.l rake looks like a Dutch chc--- 

 size and shape. It is now removal irom the cup and rolled in a tin.- p 

 <>! trash." It is then placed in earthen cup.s of the sice to hold it 

 fortablv, and carried out to be dried through exposure to the sun. In 

 :"'-ition it is retained for three days, the cakes, or balls rather. 

 occasionally turned n.und. The weight of an average cake is a! 

 4 Ib. 3$ oz., but of that fully half consists of the shul that surrounds it. 



Kxrise opium (known as Abkari opium) is inspissated by direct exposure 

 to the sun until it attains the standard of 90 per cent., when its consistence 

 resembles wax. It is then moulded into square bricks weighing about 

 2 Ib. These are wrapped in oiled Nepal paper and packed in boxes fur- 

 nished with compartments for the bricks. 



REVENUE AND TRADE IN OPIUM. 



Consumption In India. The excise systems of the local Governments 

 are framed in accordance with the Opium Act of 1878. To review even 

 briefly the various enactments and methods of fiscal administration that 

 prevail in the various provinces of India would, however, occupy many 

 pages. For a concise statement, mention may be made of the Moral and 

 Material Progress and Condition of India (1903, 171-6). Briefly, the con- 

 sumption of opium is highest in the damp malarial tracts of India, where 

 its use is universally believed to be beneficial. It is nowhere consumed 

 to an extent to occasion anxiety ; in fact, the use of opium by the people 

 of India, as a rule, is distinctly moderate, excess being very exceptional 

 and condemned by popular opinion. No physical or moral degradation 

 can be regarded as occasioned by the Indian habit, at all comparable with 

 the use of alcohol in Europe. The mean consumption expressed to head 

 of population in British India (including the high rate prevalent in Assam) 

 comes to 38 grains per head per annum, and if Assam be excluded it is 

 under 30 grains. \Cf. Papers relating to Consumption of Opium in Brit. 

 Burma, Rangoon Press, 1881.] 



In India, opium is eaten, drunk or smoked, opium-smoking being 

 by no means uncommon. Madak is the special Indian preparation 

 smoked by the lower classes. Chandu is a smoking mixture made after 

 the Chinese method, and in India is used mainly by the Chinese. Opium 

 is, as already remarked, almost a necessity of life with certain communi- 

 ties, and so much faith do the people place in the drug that they by no 

 means infrequently give it to their horses when an exceptionally heavy 

 task has to be performed. Moreover, with the people of India the danger 

 of accumulative action or the establishment of a craving does not seem 

 to exist. A very large number of persons take a daily allowance 

 throughout life, and never show any tendency to increase the amount 

 consumed. And some of the strongest and most healthy communities, 

 such as the Sikhs, have to be placed in this category. 



Internal Traffic. The returns of traffic by the railways were, in 1904-5, 

 127,509 cwt. ; in 1905-6, 130,412 cwt. ; and'in 1906-7, 144,255 cwt. The 

 distribution from the provinces of production to those of consumption 

 and to the ports of export were in 1906-7 as follows : United Provinces, 

 69,574 cwt. ; of which 54,057 cwt. went to Calcutta, 13,830 cwt. to Bengal, 



857 



Excise 

 Opium. 



Excise 

 Systems. 



consumption. 



ToHdof 



Daily 



Internal 

 Trade. 



