TN SINGAPORE, 
17 
of his allowance. Slowly inhaling it, lie seems to brighten up, the 
smile that was sparkling in his eye extends to other features, and 
his appearance is one of complete yet placid enjoyment. Pre¬ 
sently the pipe is slowly displaced or drops by his side, his head if 
raised, is now laid on the pillow, feature after feature gives up its 
smile, the eye becomes glazed. Now droops the upper eyelid and 
falls the chin with the lower lip, deeper and deeper inspirations fol¬ 
low, all perception is gone, objects may strike the eye, but no sights 
are seen, sounds may fall on the ear, but no sensations are excited, 
and so he passes into sleep, disturbed and broken, from which the 
wretched being awakes to a full conception of liis misery. 
Before tracing the moral and physical evils resulting from the 
lengthened use of Opium, it will be as well to search into the details 
connected with the places where the drug is used. In the Island of 
Singapore, according to Section VI of the Opium regulation, the 
number of shops where the drug Is to be consumed, is determined by 
the Governor in Council, a most satisfactory rule; but not acted up to. 
At present the number of Opium shops in town is limited to 45, and 
in the country to 6. Each has a red board which the vender ought to 
hang up outside his shop, with the No. as received by the Farmer. 
Hence their name is Pap an Herd or red board, and the shops are 
known by that name among all classes of natives. They are scat¬ 
tered in all directions over the island; and wherever a number of 
Chinese are congregated, there you have one or more. The Farmer 
could not have hit on a better plan, for extending the consumption 
of this article, than he has done, by the manner in w hich Opium shops 
are permitted to exist, A man comes to him, generally previously 
known or now recommended, and says he wishes to establish a Papin 
Mdra, which he gets, and pays 50 cents for the board. If the num¬ 
ber of 45 is completed he does not require a board ; but puts a mat 
in the place of a door by which an Opium shop is known to all, while 
the faet is anounced by an inscription in Chinese. He pays nothing 
for a license, nor does he enter into any securities; but he purchases 
a certain quantity of the Chandu, and, according to his facilities 
for selling it, so is the price. If the Opium shop is in town, and near 
D 
