348 Opium Smoking among the Celestials . [May, 
quantity of a dark coloured extract, and on either side a long 
wire exactly like the knitting needles of our grandmothers, 
excepting that one extremity ends in a small spoon. The 
pipe is naturally of interest. The most usual style is that 
having a shaft of bamboo, resembling somewhat a flute 
pierced laterally at each extremity, at one of which is fitted 
a small metal cup in which to receive the bowl of the pipe 
proper. This bowl is of earthenware or metal, and is about 
35- inches in diameter, convex on both its upper and lower 
surfaces, the latter ending in a tube of half an inch in dia- 
meter and of similar length; this fits into the metal cup of 
the bamboo shaft. The upper convex surface is pierced in 
the centre with a metal tube, having a funnel-shaped aper- 
ture about one thirty-second of an inch in diameter. The 
cavity of the bowl, as here exhibited, is of a capacity of 
nearly a hundred cubic centimetres. 
The pipe is filled by taking up on the apex of one of the 
knitting needles a small portion of the extract, usually from 
2 to 5 grains, and holding it momentarily in the flame of 
the lamp, rotating the needle dexterously meanwhile, then 
withdrawing it only to repeat the same operation until the 
extract is dried to light brown colour and of just such con- 
sistency that it sticks to the pipe, when, with a dexterous 
twist, the point of the needle is inserted into the apex open- 
ing of the upper convex surface of the bowl, and the needle 
instantly withdrawn by a rotary motion. This manoeuvre 
places the extract in the shape of an inverted pyramid, with 
a central opening communicating with the orifice leading 
into the cavity of the bowl. It is during this evaporation 
of the extract over the lamp that the cultivated smoker 
judges of the quality of the opium. If it bubbles up to that 
delicate shade of light brown, and at the same time gives off 
the peculiar odour so characteristic to the trained olfaCtory 
nerve bulbs of the Mongolian smoker, then is he satisfied of 
the quality of the extract purchased. 
The bowl being filled, it is inverted over the flame of the 
lamp at an angle of about 45°, and the volatilising narcotic 
rapidly drawn by a few strong inspirations into the body of 
the pipe, and so on into the pulmonary cavities. The in- 
spiration thus made is peculiar ; it is not only buccal, but 
more strongly pulmonary. The inspiration is slow and deep 
and prolonged, until the chest is filled with the narcotic 
vapour, and expiration then occurs with the mouth closed, 
and the inspired smoke issuing slowly through the nostrils. 
The quantity smoked varies greatly with different smokers, 
it varying from 30 grains to upwards of 300 or 400 grains at 
