588 



DRUGS, j?AECOTICS, ETC. 



wound being inflicted, in the shape of a thick gummy milk, which is thickly 

 covered with a browaish pellicle. The exudation is greatest over night, when 

 the incisions are washed and kept open by the dew. The opium thus derived 

 is scraped off next morning, with a blunt ii'on tool resembling a cleaver in 

 miniature. Here the work of adulteration begins — the scraper being passed 

 heavily over the seed-pod, so as to carry with it a considerable portion of the 

 beard, or pubescence, which contaminates the drug and increases its apparent 

 quantity. The work of scraping begins at dawn, and must be continued till 

 ten o'clock ; during this time a workman will collect seven or eight ounces of 

 what is called " chick." The di'ug is next thi'own into an earthen vessel, and 

 covered over or drowned in linseed oil, at the rate of two parts of oil to one 

 of chick, so as to prevent evaporation. This is the second process of adul- 

 teration — the ryot desiring to sell the drug as much drenched with oil as possi- 

 ble, the retailers at the same time refusing to purchase that which is thinner 

 than haK dried glue. One acre of well cultivated ground will yield from 

 70 to 100 pounds of chick. The price of chick varies from three to six 

 rupees a pound, so that an acre will yield from 200 to 600 rupees worth of 

 opium at one crop. Three pounds of chick will produce about two pounds of 

 opium, from a third to a fifth of the weight being lost in evaporation. It now 

 passes into the hands of the Bunniah, who prepares it and brings it to market. 

 From twenty-five to fifty pounds having been collected, is tied up in parcels in 

 double bags of sheeting cloth, which are suspended from the ceilings so as to 

 avoid air and light, while the spare linseed oil is allowed to drop through. 

 This operation is completed in a week or ten days, but the bags are allowed to 

 remain for a month or six weeks, during which period the last of the oil that 

 can be separated comes away ; the rest probably absorbs oxygen and becomes 

 thicker, as in paint. This process occupies from April to June or July, when 

 the rain begins. The bags are next taken down and their contents carefully 

 emptied into large vats from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and six or eight 

 inches thick. Here it is mixed together and worked up with the hands five or 

 six hours, until it has acquired an uniform color and consistence throughout, 

 become tough and capable of being formed into masses. This process is 

 peculiar to Malwa. It is now made up into balls of from eight to ten ounces 

 each, these being thrown, as formed, into a basket full of the chafi" of the seeds 

 pod. It is next spread out on ground previously covered with leaves and stalks 

 of the poppy ; here it remains for a week or so, when it is turned over and left 

 further to consolidate, until hard enough to bear packing. It is ready for 

 weighing in October or November, and is then sent to market. It is next 

 packed in chests of loO cakes, the total cost of the drug at the place of pro- 

 duction being about fourteen rupees per chest, including all expenses. About 

 20,000 chests are annually sent from Malwa, at a prime cost charge of two 

 lacs and 80,000 mpees. It may easily be supposed that manipulations so 

 numerous, complex, and tedious, as those described, give the most ample 

 opportunities for the adulteration to which the nature of the drug tempts the 

 fraudulent dealer. 



In order to enable the cultivator to carry on his agricultural operations, he 

 receives from time to time certain advances, the amount of which reaches 

 in the aggregate to about one-half of the value of the estimated out-turn of pro- 

 duce. If the land has been under cultivation in previous seasons, its average 

 produce is known ; if it be new land, and considered by the Sub- Deputy Agent 

 as eligible, then the cultivator, in addition to the usual advances, receives 

 an advance of so much per biggah to enable him to bestow a certain 

 amount of extra care in tilling and dressing the soil. The first advance is 

 made on the completion of the agreement or bundobust, and this takes place 

 in September and October. The second advance is made on the conpletion of 

 the sowings in Xovember, and the final or Chook payment is made imme- 

 diately after the delivery and weighing of the produce. Xothing therefore 

 can be fairer to the cultivator than this system of advances ; he is subject to no 

 sort of exacdon, in the shape of interest or commission on the money which he 

 receives, and it puts within his power the certain means of making a fair profit 

 by the exercise of common care and honesty. It is an established rule in the 



