AN oriUM-i^MOKER. 281 



consistency of thick tar. While it is boiling, tobac- 

 co and siri are sometimes added. A lamp is then 

 lighted, and a small quantity is taken up on a piece 

 of wire as large as a knitting-needle. This is held in 

 the flame of the lamp until it melts and swells up as 

 a piece of spruce-gum would do under similar cu*- 

 cumstances. During this process it is fi^equently 

 taken out of the flame and rolled between the thumb 

 and forefinger. It is then placed in a small hole in 

 the large bowl of the pipe, and the wire being with- 

 drawn, a hole is left for inhalino; the air. The bowl 

 of the pipe is now placed against the lamp and the 

 smoke inhaled with two or three long breaths, which 

 carry the fames down deep into the lungs. By this 

 time the small quantity of opium in the bowl of the 

 pipe is consumed. It is tlien filled as before, and 

 this process is repeated until the eyelids become 

 lieavy and an irresistible desire to sleep possesses the 

 ^v'hole body. Its immediate effect is to produce a 

 passive, dreamy state. This is followed by a loss of 

 appetite, severe constipation, and kindred ills. AVhen 

 a man has once contracted the habit of using it, it is 

 impossible to reform. Greater and greater doses are 

 required to j^i'oduce the desired lethargic effect. The 

 evil results of this vice are well shown in the accom- 

 j)anying photograph of a Malay, where the victim, 

 although only in middle life, has already become so 

 emaciated that he is little more than a living skele- 

 ton. The nide platform of planks covered ^v^tll a 

 straw mat, on which he is sitting, is his bed, while 

 stupified with his ftivorite drug. A pipe, of the cus- 

 tomary form, is seen in his right hand. Bemg too 



