198 



to provide himself with proper clothing 1 and com- 

 fortable lodging, the evil effects of the drug- are not 

 so speedily seen as in the case of his poorer brother, 

 who, to obtain the means of indulging- the vicious 

 habit, is obliged to stint himself in wholesome food 

 and to go badly provided as to lodging and clothes ; 

 but even in the more comfortable class, the evil day 

 is only put off. At length, under the use of opium, 

 the s} 7 stem gives way ; the bowels become torpid ; 

 the liver and kidneys congested ; the circulation of 

 the blood sluggish, and the brain unfitted for the 

 healthy performance of its functions; torpor of mind 

 and body becomes established and goes on increasing-, 

 till dropsy or some other disease comes to close the 



scene." 



" The offspring- of such a race is a degenerate one, 

 weak and sickly." 



" It is manifest/' wrote Sir John Peter Grant 

 late Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal regarding this 

 rich Province, on the 20th January 1860, "that 

 the great want is a sufficiency of labour for the 

 proper cultivation of land already obtained for, and 

 in part planted with Tea, and for the proper gather- 

 ing and manufacture of the leaves. This is work in 

 which the men, women and grown children of a 

 whole family can be employed ; and it is therefore 

 most favourable for the importation of labour at a 

 moderate charge, and the fixing of a new labouring 

 population in the neighbourhood of the Tea planta- 

 tions. It is also found that the profit of Tea cultiva- 



