168 On the preparation of Opium for the China market. [March, 



the consequence of which is that they are subjected to a penalty, called 

 battd upon pasewd, and regulated by the estimate of the opium ex- 

 aminer, of the quantity of pasewd contained. This penalty is the only 

 efficient check upon this most pernicious practice of the koe'ris : for 

 on the generality of the gomashtas, it is difficult to impress the neces- 

 sity of their looking after the koe'ris during the collecting season. 

 Were gomashtas in general fit for their offices, the name of pesiwd 

 might be banished from the Bengal agencies ; all that is required for 

 that purpose being that they should instruct all their mahtds and 

 koe'ris, to exclude dew as much as possible from the opium at collec- 

 tion — never to add water to their opium, then or at any other period ; 

 but at the end of their day's collection, to rub it together in a mortar 

 or similar vessel, breaking down the grain of it above-mentioned, so as 

 reduce the whole to a homogeneous semi-fluid mass, which should be 

 dried as quickly as possible in the shade, in a current of air free from 

 dust, by spreading it on any clean flat surface, and turning it over ten 

 or twenty times. With this management, one afternoon in the dry 

 collecting season would suffice for bringing to the spissitude of 70 per 

 cent, the collection of each day, which could then be secured, along 

 with the rest of the koe'ris' opium, in a vessel of any form, safe from 

 deterioration by internal change. It is a common belief, that all new 

 opium must ferment* : but that is a fallacy occasioned by the low de- 

 gree of spissitude at which opium is generally received at the Bengal 

 agencies, and by the consequent fermentation and swelling up which 

 almost constantly occur, when such opium is allowed to stand for some 

 hours in large vessels. 



10. So very large was formerly the admixture of pasewd in the 

 opium brought to the Benares agency, that it was thought necessary, 

 for the sake of its appearance, to draw off as much as possible of the 

 black fluid, by storing it, for weeks, in earthen vessels, perforated with 

 a hole. Of late years, there has been a great amendment in this re- 

 spect, and the draining system has therefore become unnecessary ; an 

 event which ought to be followed by the abolition of the inconvenient 

 receptacles in which it was carried on, and by the general substitution 

 of movable wooden cases and drawers in their stead. 



11. Pase'wd, in a pure and concentrated state, is a viscid, dark 

 reddish-brown fluid, transparent in thin plates. Its homogeneous phy- 

 sical constitution prevents its assuming to the eye that appearance of 

 consistency which is presented by ordinary opium. In the former, all 



* Dr. Abel believed that fermentation was necessary for the development of 

 the narcotic principles, and considered the fermentation as of a panary species, 

 n which the gluten played a principal part. 



