84 
Sharon : but it requires many gallons of rose-water to furnish only 
a few drops of this delicious essence. 
The Hindoos, as well as the Mahometans, are forbidden the 
use of wine and spirituous liquors; and I believe most of the 
higher classes attend strictly to the prohibition; the lower classes 
are less abstemious: but rich and poor, especially officers in the 
army, and soldiers, are addicted to the use of opium, which they 
take in large quantities, and enjoy the pleasing delirium it occa- 
sions. In battle it inspires a false courage, and sometimes pro- 
duces a phrenzy, which lasts only for a short time; leaving those 
who swallow this pernicious drug in a state of languor and imbe- 
cility, until a renewal of the dose revives the spirits: but its fre- 
quent use enfeebles the constitution, and shortens the lives of its 
deluded votaries. 
Opium is used to a better purpose by the halcarras, who are a 
set of people employed as messengers, spies, and letter carriers. 
An halcarra takes a letter, wraps it up in some secret fold of his 
shabby garment, and with a little opium, some rice, and a small 
pot to draw water from the wells of the charitable, he undertakes 
a journey of several hundred miles, and receives his reward on 
delivering the letter. 
