IN SINGAPORE, 
5 
raost extensive system of fraud ;* but it will not be uninteresting to 
trace the progress of the Opium from the hands of the natives to 
the condition in which it is delivered to the public by the Govern¬ 
ment. 
From the commencement of the hot season to the middle of the 
rains the Government is ready to receive Opium, which is brought by 
the natives every morning, in batches varying in quantities from twenty 
seers to a maund. The examining officer into each jar thrusts his 
examining rod, which consists of a slit bamboo, and by experience he 
can so judge of the qualities of the specimens before him, which are 
sorted into lots of No. 1 to No. 4 quality . Opium of the first quality 
is of a fine cliesnut color, aromatic smell, and dense consistence. It is 
moderately ductile, and, when the mass is torn, breaks with a deeply 
notched fracture, with sharp needle like fibres, translucent and ruby 
red at the edges. It is readily broken down unde>* water, and the 
solution at first filters of a sherry colour, which darkens as the pro¬ 
cess proceeds. One hundred grains of this yield an extract to cold 
distilled water of from 35 to 45, and at the temperature of 212 J 
leave from 20 to 28 per cent, having a consistence, of 80 to 72, the 
consistence of the factory. 
The second quality is inferior to the first, and the third quality is 
possessed of the following properties, black, pasty, of a very heavy 
smell, drops from the examining rod, gives off from 40 to 50 per 
cent of moisture, and contains a large quantity of “ Pasewa,” while 
the fourth or last number embraces all the kinds which are too bad 
to be used in the composition of the halls, comprising specimens of all 
varieties of colour and consistence. This number is mixed with water, 
and only used as a paste to cement the covering of the balls. 
* Lately I saw a Chinam an brought to the Police for fabricating Opium 
Balls. The imitation Balls were composed of a skin, or husk formed from 
the leaves of Madras tobacco, inside was sand, which was evidently in¬ 
tended to form the shape of the Balls till the outer covering had suffici- 
antly set. The whole was neatly w served” with bandages of Calico, which 
would be removed when the tobacco was able to retain the proper shape ; 
the sand would then be abstracted, and a mixtare of Gambier and Opium 
substituted ; while the outside would be rubbed over with a watery solution 
ofChandu, By these means the native traders arc much and often im¬ 
posed upon. 
