THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. l6r 



Its growing state v^ith the hands. In the bazaars of India, 

 the differen-t sorts of churrus are sold under various names, 

 as Bokharian, Jarkandian and Cashmerian ; but the best is 

 called churrus mumiai, i. c, wax-like churrus. 



Churrus is never used as an interior remedy. I have 

 made different trials with it, and refer for a further descrip- 

 tion of its qualities to the second volume of this work. 



The general use of churrus consists in mixing it with 

 tobacco, and smoking it in the hooka ( water pipe ), and the 

 natives sometimes place themselves in a circle around the 

 hooka, each taking a few inhalations, and then passing the 

 tube to another. The inebriating power of churrus mani- 

 fests itself immediately, but also ceases very speedily. Its 

 immoderate use frequently produces mental derangement. 



The Sikhs are forbidden smoking tobacco, and con- 

 sequently from smoking churrus also, inasmuch as it is 

 always mixed with tobacco. As a compensation for this 

 deprivation they are permitted to use opium and spirituous 

 liquors to any extent, whence the great number of opium- 

 eaters among those people, both males and females, in all 

 classes of society. 



The cannabis indica, has a similar appearance to our 

 cannabis sativa, but they are very different in their proper- 

 ties, and it is remarkable that the former loses its effective 

 virtue when transmitted to Europe. It is asserted that even 

 the resinous extract which was prepared at Calcutta, was 

 less energetic at London than in India. If that be the case, 

 I ascribe the circumstance to the difference of the climate, 

 or its conveyance over the sea, having myself experienced 

 that several medicaments, which I had brought with me 

 from those countries, lost their virtue during my six months' 

 voyage down the Ganges and across the ocean. It 

 has yet to be ascertained whether our cannabis sativa would 

 be of the same effective nature in India as in Europe. The 

 apparent difference between those two plants consists only 

 in the size of their seeds, those of the cannabis indica being 

 smaller than those of the European plant. 



Opium, as I have already mentioned, is also extensively 



