A RUN THROUGH KATHIAWAR. 251 



It can hardly be, however, that all this drinking 

 of Jiusumba can go 011 without injuring the Kathi 

 chiefs in some way ; and they themselves are aware 

 that it does so, because they are anxious to preserve 

 their sons from the habit. The son of the principal 

 chief at Jaitpore had passed adolescence, but his 

 father would not allow him to take any kitsumba, and 

 said that though the older men could not be expected 

 to give up the ancient custom, efforts were being 

 made to preserve the rising generation from it. One 

 injurious effect of it, which the chiefs admitted, 

 was sterility in their families. Most of even the 

 old chiefs were very strong, hale, large -bodied old 

 men. They did not seem to have suffered in physical 

 strength from this habit ; but one chief the cleverest 

 and most amusing of them all had the appearance 

 of a shrivelled old man of seventy, and I found he 

 was only forty years old, and attributed his decay to 

 excessive use of opium. He had no children, and 

 the chiefs distinctly admitted that the more opium 

 they took the more unlikely they were to have any. 

 They also admitted that their progeny was very 

 limited, and defended this as a good rather than 

 an evil, on grounds which would have pleased the 

 political economists of Europe ; for they argued that 

 by having few children they were able to leave those 

 they had in comfort, and were not compelled to 

 dissipate their possessions by division. 



The progress of medical science is showing abun- 



