cann] 



®%t ErcaSurg al 38fltang. 



214 



qualities. The dried plant, or portions of 

 it, are sold in the bazaars of India under 

 the name of Gunjah and Bhang, while the 

 resin itself is known as Churras. This 

 resin is collected during the hot season in 

 the following singular nanner :— Men clad 

 in leathern dresses run through the hemp 

 fields, brushing through the plants with 

 all possible violence ; the soft resin adheres 

 to the leather, and is subsequently scraped 

 off and kneaded into balls. In Nepal, ac- 

 cording to Dr. McKinnon, the leathern 

 attire is dispensed with, and 'the resin is 

 gathered on the skin of the naked coolies ! ' 

 Gunjah is smoked like tobacco ; Bhang is 

 not smoked, but pounded with water into 

 a pulp, so as to make a drink : both are 

 stimulant and intoxicating ; but the Chur- 

 rus or resin possesses much more powerful 

 properties. In small quantities it produces 

 pleasant excitement, which passes into 

 delirium and catalepsy if the quantity be 

 increased ; if still continued a peculiar 

 form of insanity is produced. Many of 



Cannabis sativa. 



the Asiatics are passionately addicted to 

 the use of this means of intoxication, as 

 the names given to the hemp show — 'leaf 

 of delusion,' ' increaser of pleasure,' ' ce- 

 menter of friendship,' &c. &c. A recent 

 traveller in East Africa, Capt. Burton, 

 describes this plant as 'growing before 

 every cottage door.' The Arabs smoke the 

 sun-dried leaf with, and the Africans 

 without, tobacco, in huge pipes. ' It pro- 

 duces a violent cough ending in a kind of 

 scream after a few long puffs, when the 

 smoke is inhaled, and if one man sets the 

 example the others are sure to follow it. 

 These grotesque sounds are probably not 

 wholly natural. Even the boys may be 

 heard practising them as an announcement 



to the public that the fast youths are 

 smoking Bhang.' [M. T. MJ 



The Hemp plant is an annual, growing 

 in ordinary situations from four to ten 

 feet high, but in Italy under very favour- 

 able circumstances it sometimes grows as 

 high as twenty feet. The stem is grooved 

 or angular, and, in plants growing singly, 

 frequently much-branched, but when cul- 

 tivated in masses for the sake of the fibre, 

 it is generally straight and unbranched. 

 It consists of a central pith surrounded by | 

 a layer of loose woody and cellular tissue, i 

 and enclosed in a thin bark containing the 

 fibre which renders the plant so valuable. 

 Its leaves have long stalks with minute | 

 awl-shaped stipules at their bases, and are j 

 composed of from five to seven long lance- j 

 shaped sharp-pointed leaflets, radiating j 

 from the top of the stalk, each leaflet j 

 having its margin cut into sharp saw-like , 

 teeth. The Avhole plant has a rough harsh 

 feel from the presence of numerous minute ] 

 asperities. The flowers are of separate 

 sexes on different plants, the males being 

 produced in racemes and generally crowded 

 together towards the top of the plant or 

 ends of the branches, having a five-parted 

 calyx and five stamens ; the females are in 

 short spikes, their calyx consisting merely 

 of a single sepal, rolled round the ovary, 

 but open on one side, and they have two 

 hairy stigmas. The fruit (commonly known 

 as ' hemp seed ') is a small greyish-coloured 

 smooth shining nut, containing a single 

 oily seed. Of whatever country Hemp is 

 a native, it is certain that it was known 

 in Europe in very early times, for Herodo- 

 tus, writing upwards of 2000 years ago, 

 mentions it as being cultivated by the 

 Scythians, who used its fibre for making 

 their garments. At the present day it is 

 cultivated in most parts of Europe; in 

 Arabia, Persia, India, China, and other 

 Asiatic countries ; in Egypt, and various 

 other parts of the African continent ; and 

 in the United States. Russia and Poland, 

 however, are the two great hemp-pro- 

 ducing countries, and it is from them that 

 our supply is mainly derived : but the best 

 quality is produced in Italy; the United 

 States and India likewise send hemp to 

 this country, but the quality is inferior to 

 the Russian. For the production of good 

 fibre the seed is sown close, so as to pro- 

 duce straight stems without branches. 

 The harvesting takes place at two periods ; 

 the male being pulled up as soon as it has 

 done flowering, and the female not until 

 the seeds are ripe. After pulling, the 

 leaves are struck off with a wooden sword ; 

 the stems are then tied in bundles and 

 steeped in water, or water retted as it is 

 technically termed (two other processes, 

 dew-retting and snow-retting, are some- 

 times substituted), the object being to 

 loosen the fibre ; they are then spread out to 

 dry and bleach : this is called ' grassing, 

 after which the fibre is detached, either 

 by pulling it off by manual labour, or by 

 breaking the stems in a machine, and 

 afterwards scutching them in a similar 



