OPIUM. 155 
who, in similar manner, wounds the opposite side of 
the head ; the juice issuing from which is afterwards 
similarly collected. The whole is then put into earthen 
vessels, where it is worked by the hand, in the open 
sunshine, until it attains sufficient consistence to be 
formed into balls, cakes, or loaves ; after which it is 
covered over with poppy or tobacco leaves, and further 
dried, till it is in a proper state for exportation. 
Opium is of reddish brown colour, inclining to black ; 
and has a strong and very peculiar smell. It is adul- 
terated in various ways; by an extract of the plant, 
obtained by boiling ; by a powder of the dried leaves 
and stalks, mixed with some kind of gum ; by rice 
flour, and by other substances not quite so agreeable 
as these. 
The cultivation of opium is so extensively pursued 
in the East Indies that nearly 600,000 pounds' weight 
of it are annually exported from the Ganges. But 
there is no necessity for us to import, at a great 
expense from abroad, that which might be advanta- 
geously prepared in our own country. It is true that 
the seed-vessels of the white poppy do not attain so 
large size in this as in warmer climates ; but the opium 
procured from it is of sufficiently excellent quality. 
From the seed-vessels of a single plant more than forty 
grains of this drug have been obtained ; and, under 
very disadvantageous circumstances of w-eather, up- 
wards of twenty-one pounds' weight have been pro- 
cured from plants grown upon five acres of land. It 
has been calculated that, in favourable seasons, the 
produce of a single acre ought to be near fifty pounds. 
It is recommended that the seed be sown in autumn 
rather than in spring. When the seed-vessels have 
attained a sufficient state of maturity, they may be 
wounded, and the opium may be collected by children 
from eight to twelve years of age. The only proper 
time for collecting it is in the morning, and seven 
children and two men have been able to collect ! 
pound in one morning, betwixt five and nine o'clock. 
