86 GANGES VALLEY. Chap. III. 



been quick at apprehending and supplying the wants of 

 the market, and now there are more demands for licences 

 to grow opium than can be granted. All the opium eaten 

 in India is given out with a permit to licensed dealers, and 

 the drug is so adulterated before it reaches the retailers in 

 the bazaars, that it does not contain one-thirtieth part of 

 the intoxicating power that it did when pure. 



Patna is the stronghold of Mahommedanism, and from 

 its central position, its command of the Ganges, and its 

 proximity to Nepal (which latter has been aptly compared 

 to a drawn dagger, pointed at the heart of India), it is an 

 important place. For this reason there are always a 

 European and several Native Regiments stationed there. 

 In the neighbourhood there is little to be seen, and the 

 highly cultivated flat country is unfavourable to native 

 vegetation. 



The mudar plant (Calotropis) was abundant here, but I 

 found that its properties and nomenclature were far from 

 settled points. On the banks of the Ganges, the larger, 

 white-flowered, sub-arboreous species prevailed ; in the 

 interior, and along my whole previous route, the smaller 

 purple-flowered kind only was seen. Mr. Davis, of Rotas, 

 was in the habit of using the medicine copiously, and 

 vouched for the cure of eighty cases, chiefly of leprosy, 

 by the white mudar, gathered on the Ganges, whilst the 

 purple of Rotas and the neighbourhood was quite inert : 

 Dr. Irvine, again, used the purple only, and found the 

 white inert. The European and native doctors, who knew 

 the two plants, all gave the preference to the white ; except 

 Dr. Irvine, whose experience over various parts of India is 

 entitled to great weight. 



March 29. — Dropped down the river, experiencing a 

 succession of east and north-east winds during the whole 



