ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 75 



and examined the beast, which we found cut and slashed with 

 swords in all directions, and altogether presenting a very 

 gruesome spectacle. 



On turning into the courtyard of the chiefs house, we 

 found him and his merry men just rousing themselves from 

 the dose which overtakes habitual opium-eaters ; for they 

 cannot be said to enjoy what other men call sleep. I never 

 saw such a wretched-looking parcel of vagabonds. Generally 

 I had seen them rather smart and dandified in their attire, 

 but they now, one and all, looked more dissipated and untidy 

 than I can describe. Their beards were tangled, and I could 

 not help laughing as they tried to open their gooseberry eyes 

 and wish us good morning. They had not had their morning 

 dram of opium ; and till it was ready for them they squatted 

 round the verandah of the courtyard, with looks of the most 

 hopeless imbecility. Soon a woman of the establishment 

 appeared, and, taking a piece of cotton wool, spread it out 

 about the breadth of a saucer. She then took a lump of 

 opium, which she scraped and rolled up in the cotton. The 

 whole was then saturated with water, which she squeezed and 

 sopped into the palm of her hand till she succeeded in pro- 

 ducing a strong brown liquid. She then went to the chief, 

 and, holding her hand to his lips, poured the opium into his 

 mouth, after which the cotton was again saturated with water, 

 and the operation repeated, till every gentleman had had his 

 "morning." The effect was wonderful ; in ten minutes they 

 all began to brighten up ; and when they had washed 

 their faces and bound on their turbans, it would have been 

 difficult to recognise the seedy-looking fellows of the pre- 

 vious half-hour. This custom of eating opium is almost 

 universal among the Eajpoots of Guzerat and Central India. 

 Every man carries it, and on two chiefs meeting they 



