140 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



of the nephews of the Emperor Alumgire. When 

 captured and condemned to imprisonment in the fort 

 of Gwalior, he threw himself at the Emperor's feet 

 and implored that he might be at once put to death 

 rather than be compelled to drink that terrible drug. 



The greatest consumers of these narcotic drugs are 

 said to be the Hindoo fakirs. I have been told that, 

 when by long use other drugs have ceased to stimulate, 

 the fakirs have recourse to arsenic; that in time also 

 loses its power, and then, if they can, they contrive to 

 get a cobra to bite them. So hardened, it is said, has 

 their system become, that the bite of this most 

 poisonous of snakes, which carries death to all other 

 creatures, produces in them only an agreeable drowsi- 

 ness. I have been told this frequently, and by natives 

 of respectability, and who were themselves entirely 

 convinced of the truth of what they asserted. Whether 

 the statement is really correct I am unable to say. 



I will conclude these remarks on narcotics by the 

 mention of a circumstance regarding the cultivation of 

 opium which has always puzzled me. The opium culti- 

 vation and sale is a Government monopoly. Of late 

 years the Government had been desirous of extending 

 the cultivation in these upper provinces. It is a cultiva- 

 tion in itself very profitable, and, in addition, especial 

 advantages were offered by the Government. Never- 

 theless, so strong were the objections to the cultivation 

 on the part of the Hindoos, that it was only with 

 extreme difficulty, and by the exercise of all its im- 

 mense influence, that the Government could succeed 

 in inducing them anywhere to undertake it. 



