HEMP. 



153 



a peculiar resinous matter from its leaves^ flowers, and the 

 smaller stems. This product, called CJmrmSj is collected in 

 Central India by men clad in leathern aprons, who rush 

 backwards and forwards through the hemp-fields, knocking 

 the plants about violently ; by this means the soft resin ad- 

 heres to the leather, from which it is scraped off. A finer 

 variety, called Momeea, is collected by hand in Nipal ; it is 

 also termed Waxen Churrus, and fetches a very high price. 

 According to Dr. O^Shaughnessy, the Churrus has most 

 remarkable intoxicating effects ; in his work ' On the pre- 

 paration of the Indian Hemp, or Gunjah,^ he says that, in 

 moderation, it produces increase of appetite and great mental 

 cheerfulness ; in excess it causes a peculiar kind of delirium 

 and catalepsy. One of the cases mentioned by him is most 

 remarkable, and would seem to account for some of the won- 

 derful feats of the FaJceers and other religious devotees of 

 India : — At tv/o p.m. a grain of the resin of hemp was given 

 to a rheumatic patient ; at four p.m. he was very talkative, 

 sang, called loudly for an extra supply of food, and declared 

 himself in perfect health ; at six p.m. he was asleep ; at eight 

 P.M. he was found insensible, but breathing with perfect 

 regularity, his pulse and skin natural, and the pupils freely 

 contractile on the approach of light. Happening by chance 



