THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
157 
Before entering upon any desperate enterprise, it is custo- 
mary with the Malays to take opium, or, as they term it, to 
bang themselves. This plant, the bang, which is used among 
the natives of India as an instrument of intoxication, is 
found over all that continent as well as in Ceylon. It is a 
• small shrub, with a leaf in shape and texture resembling that 
of the tobacco, but not larger than the leaf of the sage. 
From this plant a species of opium is extracted* and being 
made into balls, is taken internally, and operates in the 
same manner as a dram of spirits among the European 
nations. The leaf of the bang is also dried and smoked like 
tobacco, with a still stronger intoxicating effect than the 
opium. After employing this method of rendering themselves 
insensible to danger, they are prepared for the most sangui- 
nary atchievements, and rush blindfold into every atrocity. 
The horrid barbarities, however, which they commit on such 
occasions, are not so much to be attributed to their intoxica- 
tion as to the natural savage cruelty of their dispositions. 
It is true, indeed, that before any bloody enterprise is under- 
taken, they first throw themselves into a state of temporary 
madness by means of bang; but the resolution to commit 
the crime preceded this state; they first in cold blood resolve 
to perpetrate their atrocities, and then use means to throw 
themselves into a phreuzy, that no sentiment either of hu- 
manity or fear may turn them aside from their bloody pur- 
pose. Some, who are anxious to clear human nature from 
such stains, without considering that they arise from situation 
