12 
ON THE HABI 'UAL ESE OF OriUM 
In the preceding- part of this paper 1 have generally traced the Ins* 
t-ory of the drug, described, though not particularly, the various forms, 
it is met with in commerce, and slightly touched upon its introduction 
into China and the Eastern Archipelago. I will now more minutely 
examine it as used in Singapore. The kind of Opium that is here 
preferred is the Bengal, Patna and Benares, of which the Patna is es¬ 
teemed to have the finest flavour. It is not however used in the 
state in which it is imported, but as an extract called Chandu, for the 
formation of which the Opium undergoes the following process. 
Between 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning the fires are lighted. A 
chest is then opened by one of the officers of the establishment of the 
Opium Farmer, and the number of balls delivered to the workmen is 
proportioned to the demand. The balls are then divided into equal 
halves by one man, who scoops out with his fingers the inside or soft 
part, and throws it into an earthen dish, frequently during the opera¬ 
tion moistening and washing his hands in another vessel, the water 
of which is carefully preserved. When alt the soft part is carefully 
abstracted from the hardened skins or husks, these are broken up, 
split, divided, and torn, and thrown into the earthen vessel contain¬ 
ing the water already spoken of, saving the extreme outsides which 
are not mixed with the others but thrown away, or sometimes sold to 
adulterate Chandu in Johore and the back of the Island. 
The second operation is to boil the husks with a sufficient quanti- 
of water in a large shallow iron pot for such a length of time as may be 
requisite to break down thoroughly the husks and dissolve the Opium. 
This is then strained through folds of China paper, laid on a 
frame of basket work, and over the paper is placed a cloth. The 
strained fluid is then mixed with the Opium scooped out in the first 
operation, and placed in a large iron pot, when it is boiled down to 
the consistence of thickish treacle. In this second operation, the re¬ 
fuse from the straining of the boiled husk is again boiled in water, 
filtered through paper, and the filtered fluid added to the mass to be 
made into Chandu. The refuse is thrown outside and little at¬ 
tended to. It is dried and sold to the Chinese going to China for 
3 to 5 dollars - picul, who pound it, and adulterate good opium with 
