Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1890. 
The  Indian  Opium  Trade. 
569 
Treaty  ports.  The  decrease  to  China  in  the  last  ten  years  seems  to 
have  been  as  much  as  33,000  cwt.  Persian  opium  has  also  increased 
greatly  in  recent  years,  and,  being  cheaper  than  the  Indian  article, 
has  begun  to  have  a  distinct  effect  upon  the  market.  The  foreign 
exports  from  India  by  no  means  represent  the  total  trade  in  the 
drug.  There  is  an  immense  internal  consumption  of  what  is  known  as 
Excise  opium,  averaging  about  4,500  chests  yearly,  weighing  about 
5,600  cwt.  This  is  retailed  to  the  Indian  consumer  as  a  decoction,  or 
in  the  form  of  two  smoking  mixtures  known  as  Chandu  and  Madak. 
OPIUM  EXPORTS  FROM  INDIA  IN  THE)  FINANCIAL  YEARS  ENDING  MARCH. 
Chests. 
Cwt. 
1878,  
126,789 
1879,  
125,765 
1880,  
 105,507 
144,638 
1881,  
  92,190 
127,484 
1882,  
  89,338 
123,846 
1883,  
  91,798 
126,789 
1884,  
  91,963 
126,585 
1885,   
  86,578 
118,599 
1886,  
•    •   •   87,956 
120,995 
1887,  
  95,839 
131,630 
1888,   . 
125,870 
1889,  
  87,789 
I22,l6o 
 .      ,.  85,166 
118,598 
The  quantities  of  the  different  kinds  of" }pium  imported  in  1889 
into  China,  added  to  that  held  in  bond  from  the  previous  year,  were 
as  follows,  in  piculs  of  about  I      cwt.  : 
Piculs. 
Malwa,   36,200 
Patna,   26,165 
Benares,   18,177 
Persian,    3,414 
Turkey,   2,414 
86,370 
The  net  imports  into  China  were — 
Piculs. 
1888,   82,401 
1889,   76,040 
The  home  production  is  believed  now  to  be  as  much  as  that 
imported,  and  this  would  give  a  total  of  about  200,000  cwt.  As  5 
drachms  is  the  calculated  average  amount  used  by  each  smoker 
daily,  the  consumption,  instead  of  being  general,  must  be  limited  to 
