CiiAi>. XVIII. 
OPIUM-SMOKING. 
277 
standing, and, being now converted into a kind of 
custom-house and used for public purposes, I went there 
to look for quarters during my stay. Here I found an 
old mandarin, who received me poHtely, and offered me 
a room upstairs next to his own. 
This old man was an inveterate opium-smoker. In 
the evening, when my servant was spreading out my 
bed, he happened to lay it by the wall next to the old 
man's room. "You had better not put your master's 
bed there," said one of the people connected with the 
office ; " the Loi-ya smokes opium, and makes a dis- 
agreeable noise in his sleep." I found this was too 
true. 
About nine o'clock in the evening the old man lay 
down in his bed, lighted his little lamp, and began to 
inhale the fumes of the intoxicating drug. He was 
smoking, at intervals, until I went to bed, and for some 
time afterwards. Between one and two o'clock in the 
morning I was awakened out of a sound sleep by a 
strange and unusual noise. It was some seconds before 
I could call to mind where I was or who was my neigh- 
bour. At last I remembered the warning which my 
servant had received. The drug had done its work ; 
the old opium-smoker was evidently asleep and in the 
land of dreams. His nasal organs were producing most 
discordant sounds, and it was these and a harsh moaning 
noise which awoke me. 
At daybreak I rose and passed through his room, on 
my way out of the building. He was now sleeping 
soundly and quietly. The opium-pipe was placed on a 
