268 
VARIETIES. 
with  opium  at  Whampoa,  where  for  more  than  a  year  she  lay  unmolested, 
selling  out  her  cargo.  In  1821,  owing  to  the  difficulties  attending  the  sale 
at  these  places,  the  opium  merchants  withdrew  all  their  vessels  from  Wham- 
poa and  Macao,  and  stationed  them  under  shelter  of  Lintin  Island,  in  the 
bay,  at  the  entrance  of  Canton  river,  which  henceforth  became  the  seat  of 
extensive  trade.  From  these  vessels  it  was  taken  in  Chinese  junks  and 
smugglers'  boats,  and  retailed  at  various  ports  along  the  shore.  In  1847, 
it  is  said  about  fifty  vessels  were  engaged  exclusively  in  this  trade,  besides 
a  greater  or  less  number  which  were  only  partially  freighted  with  the  drug. 
It  is  stated  that  two  and  a  half  millions  dollars  worth  of  opium  is  an- 
nually imported  into  Foo-chow,  from  whence  it  finds  its  way  into  the  inte- 
rior. In  that  city  alone  there  were,  in  1848,  one  hundred  houses  devoted  to 
the  smoking  of  the  drug,  while  as  many  retailed  the  poison  in  small  quan- 
tities. 
As  respects  the  progress  and  present  extent  of  the  trade,  it  is  said  that 
from  1794  to  1820  the  amount  exported  to  China  varied  from  3,000  to  7,000 
chests  per  year.  In  1837  it  amounted  to  between  39,000  and  40,000  chests, 
valued  at  $25,000,000.  From  1838  to  1842  the  trade  was  almost  entirely 
interrupted  by  the  war  which  grew  out  of  the  attempts  on  the  part  of  the 
Chinese  government  to  suppress  it.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  the  trade 
was  resumed  with  renewed  vigor.  For  the  year  1848,  the  amount  imported 
into  China  from  Bombay  was  19,111  chests,  and  from  Calcutta  36,000  chests, 
which,  at  an  average  of  $550  per  chest,  would  amount  to  $32,000,000  ex- 
pended for  this  single  article  of  trade.  Then  the  Chinese  pay  an  advance 
on  this  sum  of  several  millions  more,  which  goes  into  the  hands  of  the 
merchants  as  the  fruit  of  their  investment  and  labors  in  the  trade. 
The  principal  use  made  of  opium  by  the  Chinese  is  in  the  form  of 
smoking,  a  practice  to  which  they  become  most  passionately  addicted.  The 
wealthier  orders  do  their  smoking  in  their  own  dwellings,  but  for  the  poorer 
classes  there  are  thousands  of  shops  fitted,  in  many  of  the  Chinese  cities, 
with  accommodations  expressly  for  smoking.  Many  of  these  shops  are  re- 
presented to  be  the  most  miserable  and  wretched  places  imaginable.  Rev. 
Mr.  Squire  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  says  of  them — »  Never,  per- 
haps, was  there  a  nearer  approach  to  hell  upon  earth  than  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  these  vile  hovels,  where  gambling  is  likewise  carried  on  to  a  great 
extent."  It  is  stated  that  there  are  one  thousand  of  these  opium  shops  in 
the  city  of  Amoy.  All  classes  in  the  community  are  addicted  to  the  prac- 
tice. 
The  effects  of  this  drug  upon  the  consumer  are  thus  described  by  a  dis- 
tinguished Chinese  scholar :  "  It  exhausts  the  animal  spirits,  impedes  the 
regular  performance  of  business,  wastes  the  flesh  and  blood,  dissipates 
every  kind  of  property,  renders  the  person  ill-favored,  promotes  obscenity, 
discloses  secrets,  violates  the  laws,  attacks  the  vitals  and  destroys  life/' 
This  statement  is  confirmed  by  other  natives,  and  also  by  foreign  residents; 
