32 
ON THE HABITUAL USE OE OPIUM 
quantity of Chandu is expended, cry hold enough? My friend Dr* 
Oxley would hint that some had that power. I have never seen it, 
and I have searched every where for one, who with money, stopped 
short of partial insensibility. 
I have examined hundreds, and the only limit to their indulgence 
is their means. All, to a man, have so expressed themselves. 
Often have I asked an opium smoker how much lie daily used ? 
« fi ve hoons ” or the one-twentieth of a tael. How much could you 
smoke ? “ as much as I could get, when I have money I smoke two 
or three chin daily, if I had sufficient, X could smoke one tael daily.” 
A superior officer in a memorial to the Emperor of China as quoted 
by Sir John Davis, says, “ I have learned that those who smoke opi¬ 
um, and eventually become its victims, have a periodical longing for 
it, which can only be answered by the application of the drug at the 
regular time. If they cannot obtain it when the daily period arrives 
their limbs become debilitated, a discharge of rheum takes place from 
the eyes and nose and they are altogether unequal to any exertion ; 
but with a few whiffs their spirits and strength are restored in a sur¬ 
prising manner, thus opium becomes to opium smokers their very 
life.” 
The writer of an essay on the opium trade, says, “ there is no 
slavery on earth to name with the bondage into which opium casts 
its victims, there is scarcely one known instance of escape from its toils 
when once they have fairly enveloped a man.” 
Not confined to the Chinese alone is this fascination of the drug, 
for Mr. Bruce, superintendent of Tea culture in Assam, in allusion 
to the opium smoker, says, “ He will steal, sell his property, his chil¬ 
dren, the mother of his children, and finally even commit murder 
for it.” 
Even Mr. Marsden who is quoted, as will be seen hereafter, as an 
authority that opium is not prejudicial, says, 45 the use of opium a- 
mongst the people of Sumatra is a species of luxury that all ranks 
adopt, according to their ability, and Which when once become ha¬ 
bitual, it is almost impossible to shake off.” 
Sir Stamford Raffles gives it as his opinion “ that the use of opium 
