AX OriUM-SMOKER. 



281 



consistency of thick tar. WLile it is boiling, tobao 

 ct) and siri are sometimes added. A lamp ia then 

 lighted, and a small quantity is taken up on a piece 

 of wire as large as a knitting-needle. This is held in 

 the flame of the lamp until it melts and swells up as 

 a piece of spruce-gum would do under similar cir- 

 cumstances. During this process it is frequently 

 taken out of the flame and rolled between the thumb 

 and forefinger. It is then placed in a small hole in 

 the large bowl of the pipe, and the wire being with- 

 drawn, a hole is left for inhaling the air. Tlie bowl 

 of the pipe is now placed against the lamp and the 

 smoke inhaled mth two or three long breaths, which 

 cany the fames down deep into the lungs. By this 

 time the small quantity of opium in the bowl of the 

 pipe is consumed. It is then filled as before, and 

 this process is repeated until the eyelids become 

 heavy and an iiTesistible desire to sleep possesses the 

 whole body. Its immediate effect is to produce a 

 passive, dreamy state. This ia followed by a loss of 

 appetite, severe constipation, and -kindred ills. When 

 a man has once contracted the habit of using it, it is 

 impossible to retbrm. Greater and greater doses are 

 required to produce the desireil lethargic effect. The 

 evil results of this vice are well shown in the accom- 

 panying photograph of a Malay, where the victim, 

 although only in middle life, has already become so 

 emaciated that he is little more than a living skele- 

 ton. The nide platfoiin of planks covered with a 

 straw mat, on i^ hich he is sittuig, is his bed, while 

 stupified with his favoiite dmg. A pipe, of the cus- 

 tomary form, is seen in his right hand. Being too 



