284 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Oh. XVII. 



opium smoker. This amount, multiplied by 365 (days), 

 makes 182"5 kandareens, or 18'25 taels (ounces) per annum. 



In round numbers, therefore, an ordinary smoker con- 

 sumes 20 ounces per annum. And since a chest of opium 

 contains 133 lbs., it will require 106 persons smoking at 

 this rate to consume one chest in a year. Now the annual 

 consumption of imported opium is 100,000 chests, and it is 

 believed that about the same quantity is also manufactured 

 in China. This will make a total of 200,000 chests 

 demanded annually by opium-smokers of all classes and 

 degrees. 



The extreme value of imported opium one year with 

 another is 700 dollars per chest, and Chinese opium is 

 very much cheaper. At the steady rate of consumption 

 indicated above, viz., of 106 persons to one chest of opium, 

 it would cost the consumers 6| doUars (about 30s.) per head 

 per annum. Supposing, however, that this consumption 

 and expense were spread over the whole population of 

 300 millions, it would amount to less than a quarter of a 

 doUar, or about one shilling per head per annum. But 

 this estimate must be stiU further lowered by the fol- 

 lowing considerations — viz., 1st, that Chinese opium is 

 produced at only one-fifth of the price of the Indian drug ; 

 2nd, that of the Indian opium 6,000 chests are annually 

 diverted to the Straits settlements, Borneo and the neigh- 

 bourhood, while an unknown quantity goes to Australia, 

 California, &c. ; and 3rd, that of the raw opium a consider- 

 able per centage is lost in the preparation of the drug for 

 consumption. Thus of Malwa opium, 30 per cent. ; of 

 Patna, 35; of Benares, 35; of Persian, 20; of Chinese, 20; 

 and of Turkey no less than 42 per cent, is waste, the 

 remainder forming the real extract for the. smoker. 



