VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 309 



to the bearing of an annual crop of poppy. And he found 

 that probably seven-tenths of the dwellers in towns in 

 Szechuan were habitual opium-smokers, and that more than 

 one-half of the country-people had fallen victims to this 

 seductive and injurious habit. 



Foreign opium has a number of names, the principal of 

 which are ^ tg (Kung-yen), ^ ^ (Kung-kao), ^ j; (Kung- 

 t'u) or ^ jfiE i (Kung-pan-t'u), from the Chinese name for the 

 East India Company, ^ Ijtt (^ (Kung-pan-ya). These terms are 

 also used for Patna opium and for the "first-class" quality. 

 Another name for Patna opium is ^^ j;^ (Ta-t'u), while the 

 Malwa is known as >J^ i (Hsiao-t'u). jt0 ± (Yen-t'u), '^ ± 

 (Yang-t'u), and ^ j; (Kuang-t'u), "Canton-earth," are com- 

 mon names for opium, while M ^ (Hei-t'u), "black-earth," is 

 a slang term for it. The commonest colloquial-term of all, 

 however, is -{^ jiQ (Yang-yen), "foreign-smoke." The foreign 

 drug is still considered the best, and is not noticeably replaced 

 by tiie native article, although this latter is considerably cheaper 

 than the other. The increase in the opium trade is explained 

 by the wider prevalence of the habit and the ever increasing 

 consumption on the part of each indivdual smoker. Hence, 

 although there has been a greatly increased production of the 

 native drug, there has also been a substantial increase in the 

 foreign importations. In the light of this increased consump- 

 tion, it is small wonder that the Chinese government and people 

 are anxious to prohibit the production of the native drug and 

 to get rid of the traffic in the foreign article. The Szechuan 

 opium is called Jl[ j^ (Ch'uan-t'u), and in favorable years can 

 be produced at about half the cost of the Indian drug. It is 

 made to imitate Malwa opium, and Dr. R. A. Jamieson found 

 it to contain 6.94 per cent, of morphia. It is sometimes 

 adulterated with mud, sesamum and hemp seeds, and an 

 extract from the fruit of SopJiora japonica^ but it is probably 

 not tampered with more than is the foreign drug. More extract 

 for smoking is said to be got from Szechuan opium than from 

 the Indian product. Yunnan opium, and that from Kiieichou, 

 are called ]^ j^ (Nan-t'u), while that from Kansu, Shensi, and 

 Shansi is called "g" j: (Hsi-t'n). These all represent a good 

 quality of the native drug. According to Baron Richtofen, a 



