THE PRESENT EVOLUTION OF MAN — MENTAL 363 



and exaggerated statements iu respect of this vice, it is 

 only right to record that no China resident believes in 

 the terrible frequency of the dull, sodden-witted, debili- 

 tated opium-smoker met with in print, nor have I found 

 many Europeans who believe that they ever get the 

 better of their opium-smoking compradores in matters 

 of business." — Ihicl. p. 139. 



It is clear then that while most of the Chinese — at 

 any rate the Chinese of the coast, who have been 

 familiar with the poison for some two centuries — do not 

 as a rule indulge in opium to excess, yet an appreciable 

 number of them do take it in such amounts as to place 

 themselves at a disadvantage in the struggle for exist- 

 ence. Probably in inland districts, to which ojDium 

 has more recently penetrated, excessive indulgence is 

 much more common. 



Lastly, there is a consensus of opinion that indulgence 

 in opium is extremely harmful to the Burmese, who 

 have only recently acquired a knowledge of its use. 



In reply to the question — 



" Can you give us the reasons which, in your judgment, 

 actuated the Burmese authorities and led to the decision 

 to prohibit the use of opium ? " 



the Eev. J. S. Adams, a missionary, said — 



" From conversations that I had repeatedly with Bur- 

 mese elders, with the Governor of Bhamo, and with the 

 Buddhist Archbishop, I learned that the principal reason 

 was that the people themselves were so weak in the face 

 of such temptations as those offered by opium and 

 liquor, and also that the Buddhist law prohibited the 

 use of intoxicants to the people of the Buddhist faith ; 

 and there were also ancient laws of the kingdom of Ava 

 which forbade the same thing." — Ihid. p. 24. 



