OPIUM. 



717 



bedded in a calcareous cement. Sometimes these 

 globules are the size of a pea; hence the term pisi- 

 form. The formation consists of a series of beds 

 of impure yellowish limestone, alternating with 

 beds of clay sandstone and marl, the average 

 depth of which may be about 1200 feet. The 

 colour is usually yellowish, brown, or ochray ; 

 the stone is of a dull earthy nature, rather friable, 

 and unsusceptible as a polish. The Bath and 

 Portland oolites are used as building stones, but 

 they are not very durable. The nature of the 

 globules which give the character to this stone, 

 is not distinctly ascertained, it being doubtful 

 whether they are crystalline minerals, or of ani- 

 mal origin. The organic remains found in the 

 oolite are very numerous, and differ somewhat 

 from the lias below. The different beds of the 

 same series also vary, and have been divided into 

 lower, middle, and upper. The lower beds con- 

 tain numerous species of the ammonile, the nam- 

 blus, belumnite, and other chambered univalve 

 shells, while the unchambered univalves are rare. 

 Numerous bivalve shells, whose inhabitants appear 

 to have existed in shallow seas, are also found in 

 the oolite. Madri pores, multi pores, sponges, and 

 other zoophytes, compose those beds denominated 

 coral rag. The remains of fishes and reptiles, 

 similar to those of the lias, together with sev- 

 eral species of the pterodactyle, or flying lizard, 

 and animals of the crocodile genus, all indicating 

 the proximity of dry land, are abundantly common. 

 The subordinate beds of this series are, 



Bath oolite, containing minute globules, and 

 broken shells cemented by calcareous matter, 

 forming a compact building stone, for which pur- 

 pose it is extensively used. 



Cornbrash, abounding in fossils, and overlying 

 coal beds in Yorkshire and Savoy. 



Oxford clay. Between the lower and middle 

 oolites occurs a stratum of bituminous clay, 200 

 feet tnick, containing septariai, and skeletons of 

 the icathyosaurus, specifically different from those 

 of the lias. 



Middle oolite consists of beds of silicious and 

 calcareous sandstone, with madripores. 



Kimmeridge clay, lies between middle and upper 

 oolite ; it is bituminous, of a grayish colour, and 

 containing bones of saurian reptiles. 



Upper oolite is composed of a calcareous silicious 

 freestone, with beds and nodules of flint. This is 

 the Portland stone, of which Somerset House, and 

 other public buildings in London, are constructed. 

 Stonesfield slate is found in the oolite of Ox- 

 fordshire. Its organic remains consist of the 

 horny covering of insects, bones of the opossum, the 

 miga losaurus, a gigantic lizard, forty feet in length. 

 OPIUM, (a. to article China in Supplement.) 

 The chief. places where the poppy is cultivated in 

 India for the manufacture of opium are at Malwa, 

 Benares, and Behar. One half of the Indian drug 

 is grown at Malwa, and there the cultivation of the 

 plant and the trade in opium are free, as the man- 

 agement of the soil is beyond the authority of the 

 company, although the chiefs are under British pro- 

 tection. Nearly the whole of this portion goes to 

 Bombay, where it is shipped for China. At Be- 

 har and Benares, on the contrary, and indeed 

 throughout the territories under the jurisdiction of 

 the East India Company, the cultivation of the 

 poppy, the preparation of the drug, and the traffic 

 in it until it is brought to Calcutta, are under a 

 strict monopoly. 



In these districts the ryot or farmer is frequently 

 compelled to cultivate the poppy at a fixed rate, 

 and should it be discovered that he does this clan- 

 destinely, without having entered into such an en- 

 gagement with the government, his property would 

 be immediately attached, or he would be obliged to 

 give securities for the faithful delivery of the pro- 

 duct. A system of most oppressive espionage is 

 at the same time established for the purpose of 

 preventing the traffic in the slightest portion of 

 this valuable drug. At certain seasons the Com- 

 pany's godowns are opened at Calcutta, and the 

 sales of opium effected. Great numbers of the 

 residents purchase for the sake of speculation, as 

 the price continually varies in China. Such a 

 wakeful eye is kept over the drug that it is scarcely 

 possible to purchase a single pound at Calcutta 

 from any other than the agents of the govern- 

 ment. 



From Mr Montgomery Martin's " Statistics of 

 the Colonies of the British Empire," a notion can 

 be obtained of the revenue derived by the Indian 

 government from the monopoly in opium. From 

 this it appears that in the season 



Chests. Sicca Rupees. 



ending 1800, they sold 4,054 for 3,142,591 

 1810 4,561 8,070,955 



1820 

 1830 

 1835 

 1837 



4,006 

 8,778 

 12,977 

 16,916 



8,255,603 

 11,255,767 

 13,215,464 

 25,395,300 



Estimating the value of the sicca rupee at 2s. 

 sterling, the opium sold in the season of 1837 

 would amount to 2,539,530. 



Up to the late rupture with China, the trade in 

 opium was conducted as follows. When the sales 

 were effected at Bombay and Calcutta, the opium 

 was shipped on board vessels expressly fitted for 

 the trade, which proceeded immediately to China. 

 They were called clippers, were remarkably hand- 

 some, well-built ships, and possessed superior sail- 

 ing qualities. Arrived on the coast, they delivered 

 their cargo into a class of vessels called receiving 

 ships, anchored at the station of Lintin, or the ad- 

 jacent anchorages of Capsingmoon or Cumsing- 

 moon, situated without the Bocca Tigris, at the 

 mouth of the Canton river. 



As the importation was expressly forbidden by 

 the Chinese government, i't had now to be smuggled 

 clandestinely into the country. For this purpose 

 native smuggling boats were employed, which were 

 well manned and armed. Orders from Canton 

 were given to them, with which they proceeded to 

 the receiving ships, and the opium was delivered to 

 their charge. It was taken out of the chests, ex- 

 amined, and removed after being packed in conve- 

 nient parcels, ready to be easily carried off in case 

 of pursuit. Collision with the authorities rarelyj 

 took place, as fees were regularly paid for conniv- 

 ance to the officers of the imperial preventive 

 squadron. Indeed, it was not unfrequent for the 

 custom house officers themselves to be engaged in 

 the smuggling trade, and government boats have 

 been observed taking in a cargo of opium in the 

 open face of day. This was the usual way in 

 which the importation was effected, but some por- 

 tion was also taken up to Whanpan occasionally, 

 and a certain number of chests was disposed of 

 along the coast to the northward. 



When arrived at the provincial city, the opium 

 passed into the hands of native brokers or melters, 

 who subjected it to a process by which the crude 

 article was reduced to a watery extract. The 

 Chinese designate the varieties of Indian opium by 



