l60 THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. 



of butter, to which is added some water, and they are boiled 

 together until the water becomes entirely absorbed. Whilst 

 warm, it is pressed through a loosely woven linen, into 

 a vessel filled with cold water ; and this butter, which is 

 of a green colour, may be washed again, either with pure 

 water or rose-water. They sometimes boil a certain quan- 

 tity of cleaned hemp herb in half water and half milk, 

 till half of it is evaporated ; it is then strained and curdled. 

 The butter is afterwards, in the usual manner, separated 

 from the coagulation, and contains the effective ( i. e., the 

 resinous ) part of the herb. Five to ten grains of this com- 

 position is a sufficient dose. It can be flavoured with spices, 

 such as pepper, cinnamon, saffron, ginger, &c., and sv/eeten- 

 ed with sugar ; and by means of isinglass or gum tragacanth^ 

 it can also be converted into lozenges, which I used as bon- 

 bons at Lahore. It is true, I could administer them only to 

 Musselmen ; the Sikhs and Hindoos being unwilling to take 

 any medicines prepared with liquids by European hands, 

 but invariably obtaining them from us in a dry state, 

 mixing them in their own vessels, and using water pro- 

 cured by themselves. This difficulty, however, was after- 

 wards removed, when the hospital was established ; for as 

 patients of every nation met with a liberal reception, the 

 Sikh government, aware of the religious restrictions in that 

 country, appointed a certain number of Hindoo attendants 

 by whom the remedies were prepared, and took care also 

 to provide me with some water from the river Ganges for 

 the preparation of the medicines. The intoxicating drug 

 called churrus, used for smoking, is prepared as follows : — 

 the fresh and ripe hemp plant is held over a mild fire to 

 soften it, and afterwards bruised in a mortar till it becomes 

 a compact mass. Another very curious method of obtaining 

 it is, by persons wearing leather breeches passing through 

 the hemp-fields, so that they come in contact with the hemp 

 plant, by which a quantity of the resinous substance attaches 

 itself to the leather garments and other parts of the body, 

 which they afterwards scrape off and collect. But the best 

 way is to gather the resinous parts by rubbing the plant in 



