SINGAPORE. 427 



Among other sources of revenue is the vending of opium : the shops 

 are licensed by the government, and the revenue is said to exceed 

 eight thousand dollars from this source alone. 



These opium shops are among the most extraordinary sights in 

 Singapore; it is inconceivable with what avidity the smokers seek 

 this noxious drug at the shop windows. They then retire to the . 

 interior, where a number of sickly-looking persons, in the last stage of 

 consumption, haggard, and worn down with care, are seen smoking. 

 The drug is sold in very small pieces, and for ten cents enough to fill 

 a pipe once is obtained. "With it are furnished a pipe, a lamp, and a 

 couch to lie on, if such it may be called. The pipe is of a peculiar 

 construction, and is in part of metal, having an interior or cup just 

 large enough to contain a piece of the size of a pea. The opium is 

 difficult to ignite, and it requires much management in the smoker to 

 obtain the necessary number of whiffs to produce intoxication in one 

 habituated to its use. The couch is sometimes a rude bench, but 

 more often a mat on the floor, with a small raised bench. Each of 

 these mats in the frequented shops is generally occupied by a pair of 

 smokers, who have a lamp between them. 



These shops with their inmates formed one of the most disgusting 

 spectacles I saw during our extended cruise ; although, to one who 

 could be amused with human degradation, this sight could not have 

 failed to afford pastime. 



It was not difficult even for a stranger to distinguish those who have 

 long indulged in this pernicious practice, from those to whom it is yet 

 new. The eagerness with which the former sought the mat, seized 

 the pipe, and inhaled the smoke, showed a nervous anxiety to reach 

 that point where forgetfulness should come. This in the novitiate 

 was but the work of a few minutes, while those whose organs had 

 become accustomed would draw long whiffs and puff away until the 

 weakened state of their lungs would betray them, and cause them to 

 stop to renew their breath before they were enabled to accomplish 

 their wishes. I learned that many of the old smokers found so great 

 a difficulty in inducing the action of the smoke that they were accus- 

 tomed to have recourse to swallowing- the drug itself. The Chinese 

 only are addicted to this practice : the Gentoos and those of the 

 Moslem faith look upon it with great horror and disgust. 



The individuals whom I have described above are the wealthy, who 

 can afford to smoke the drug as it is found in commerce. From the 

 difficulty with which it burns there is a large residuum left, which is 



