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THE
SEVEN SISTERS
POPULAR HISTORY OP THE SEVEN PREVAILING
NARCOTICS OF THE WORLD.
DIRECTOR OP THE METROPOLITAN SCHOLASTIC MUSEUM.
“ 1 How many are you, then ? ’ said I.
' 0 Master, we are seven.’ ”
Wordsworth.
To ro-create lor man, whate’er
Was lost in Paradise."
Southev's TnAEAni.
LONDON:
JAMES BLACKWOOD, PATERNOSTER ROW.
OF
BY
M. C. COOIE
[ The right of Translation is reserved .]
fcF /COo
jliHfdnrn.
TO ALL LOVERS OF TOBACCO, IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD,
JUVENILE AND SENILE, MASCULINE AND FEMININE ;
AND TO ALL' ABSTAINERS,
VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY—
TO ALL OPIOPHA5I, AT HOME AND ABROAD,
WHETHER EXPERIENCING THE PLEASURES, OR PAINS
OF THE SEDUCTIVE DRUG—
TO ALL HASCHISCHANS, EAST AND WEST,
IN WHATEVER FORM THEY CHOOSE
TO WOO THE SPIRIT OF DREAMS—
TO ALL BUYEROS, MALAYAN OR CHINESE,
WHETHER THEIR SIRI-BOXES ARE FULL, OR EMPTY—
TO ALL COQUEROS, WHITE OR SWARTHY,
FROM THE BASE TO THE SUMMIT
OF THE MIGHTY CORDILLERAS—
TO ALL VOTARIES OF STRAMONIUM AND HENBANE,
HIGHLANDER, OR LOWLANDER—
AND
TO ALL SWALLOWERS OF AMANITA,
EITHER IN SIBERIA OR ELSEWHERE—
THESE PAGES COME GREETING
WITH THE BEST WISHES
OF THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANT,
J3ke ^fluikat
1
Wellcome Library
for the History
and Understanding
of Medicine
PREFATORY PREMONITION.
“A certain miller was much annoyed by a
goblin, who used to come and set his mill at
work at night when there was no grain to be ,
ground, greatly to the danger of the machinery,
so he desired a person to watch. This person,
however, always fell asleep, but once woke up
from a nap time enough to see the mill in full
operation, a blazing fire, and the goblin himself,
a huge hairy being, sitting by the side thereof.
Pat s yer name ? ’ said the Highlander.
Ourisk, said the unwelcome guest; c and what
is yours ? ‘ Myself,’ was the reply ; ‘ her nain-
sell/ The goblin now went quietly to sleep, and
the Highlander, taking a shovel of hot coals,
hung them into the hairy lap of the goblin, who
was instantly in a blaze. Out ran the monster to
VI
PREFATORY PREMONITION.
his companions, making as much noise as he
could. ‘ Well,’ said they, ‘ who set you on fire ?’
< Myself,’ said the unlucky monster. c Well, then,
you must put it out yourself,’ was the consoling
rejoinder.”
Some of my readers may arrive at the con-
clusion, that I, like the Ourisk, have trespassed
upon other people’s property, and ground my corn
at their milk Let it not be assumed, on my
account, inasmuch as I do not myself make that
assumption, that I have journeyed from Cornhill
to Cathay, in search of those who habituate
themselves to the indulgences herein set forth.
Others have laboured, and I have eaten of the
fruits of their labours. Travellers numberless
have contributed to furnish my table, in some
instances, without even thanks for their pains.
This is the way of the world, and I am not a
whit better than my neighbours. Let it, there-
fore, be understood, that I make no pretensions
to aught beyond the form in which these
numerous contributions are now presented to the
reader. The tedium of wading through volume
after volume in search of information on these
PREFATORY PREMONITION.
VII
subjects has been performed for him, and com-
pacted together into a pocket companion, saving,
thereby, to him, a large amount of trouble, and
a small amount of vexation. Private corre-
spondence has furnished a portion of the infor-
mation. Those who may recognise my own
poaching pranks upon their domains may throw
coals of fire upon my lap, and leave “Myself” to
extinguish the flame.
Herein the reader will find only a popular
history of the most important Narcotics indulged
in, and the customs connected with that indulgence.
Mere statistical details have as much as possible
been avoided, and those calculated to interest the
more matter-of-fact reader added in a tabulated
form, as an appendix. The majority of these
tables have been compiled from official documents,
trade circulars, or commercial returns, and care
has been taken to render them correct up to the
period of their dates. In this department I am
largely indebted to the valuable assistance of P. L.
Simmonds, Esq., F.S.S., to whom I thus tender
my thanks.
Those who are desirous of seeing specimens of
vm
PREFATORY PREMONITION.
the narcotics named, in the following pages, can
visit either the Museum of the Royal Botanic
Gardens at Kew, the East India House Museum,
the Food Department in the gallery of the South
Kensington Museum, or the Industrial Museum
in the gallery of the central transept of the Crystal
Palace, in each of which they will meet with some
of the articles named, though in none of them will
they discover all. In the former two are illustra-
tions of the opium manufacture, and at Kensington
an interesting series of tobaccos, and other articles
connected with the indulgence therein, and also
with opium-smoking in China, together with some
of the tobacco substitutes and sophistications.
Hone of these collections are so complete as they
might be. Public museums of this kind have
every facility for doing more to instruct the public
on the common things of every-day life : why they
do not accomplish this, is as much a fault, perhaps,
of the public as of themselves. There are hopes,
however, to be entertained that one, at least, of
these institutions will exhibit, in a complete and
collected form, the principal narcotics and their
substitutes.
Why I should have chosen such a title for my
PREFATORY PREMONITION. ix
volume, and wherefore invested it with a legend,
is matter of little importance. It was a fancy of
my own, and if any think fit to quarrel with it,
they may do so, without disturbing my peace of
mind. The reply of the Ourisk to his companions,
as to who set him on fire, was, “ Myself.”
Parents seldom baptize their children with a
name pleasing to all their friends and relatives,
yet the child manages to get through the world
with it, and — dies at last.
M. C. C.
Lambeth.
CONTENTS.
Chapter I. — Somewhat Fabulous. page
The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus ; Legend of the Seven Sisters of
Sleep ; Laureates of Sleep ; Necessity of Sleep ; Pleasures of
Sleep ; Sanctity of Sleep ; The “ Last Sleep of Argyle Death
of Sleeping Duncan; Desdemona and Othello ; Drowsiness,
fatal alike to Devotion and Instruction 1
Chapter II. — The Sisters of Old.
Hemp amongst the Scythians ; Intoxicating vapours of the Massa-
geta: ; the Nepenthes of Homer ; the Secret of Egyptian Thebes ;
The Poppy of the Ancients ; Secret Poisoning of Aratus of
Sicyon ; The Acts of Locusta ; Death of Britannicus ; The
Delphic Oracle; Arabian Nights; Another Nepenthes;
Antony’s Retreat ; Retreat of the Ten Thousand ; Something
unknown i n
Chapter III.— The “ Wond’rous Weed.”
Legendary origin of Tobacco ; Use in Hispaniola ; Names for
Tobacco ; First Discovery by Europeans ; Introduction into
France, Tuscany, Spain and Portugal, England ; Complaints
against it ; Smoking taught to the Dutch ; Studenten Kneipe ;
Tobacco in the East; Progress in England; Opposition by
James I. and other monarchs in Russia, Italy, Persia, Turkey
Tuscany, &c. ; Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth; Lovers of
Tobacco ; The Distribution of the Tobacco Plant ; Consump-
tion of Tobacco ; Curious use of the Flowers; Tobacco Poison ;
Antidote to Arsenic ; Finance questions ; Religious prohibi-
tions ; King J ames’a “ Counterblaste.”
Chapter IV. — The Cabinet of Cloudeand.
A Premier ; Lord Mayor Staines; Smoking the Plague; A First
Cigar; Infant Smokers at Vizagapatam; Burtnah; Female
Smokers in China; Smokers in Persia, Siam, Japan, Nicaragua
on the Amazon, in New Guinea, Havana, Manilla ; The
Linua of Johore; Signor Calistro’s Story; Cigars on the
Orinoco ; In Chili ; The Court of Montezuma ; Panama Smoke-
blowers; Rocky Mountain Indians; Salvation Yeo; Yemen
Smokers ; Smoking in Austria ; Turkish Cloudland ; Defeat of
. apoleon ; Curious Legend; Old Epigram; Cost of Puffing -
inTheCStateCU aUOnS ! Smoking in New York; Cigar-makiug
a 68 38
CONTENTS.
xii
Chapter Y. — I'ipeology. page
Philosophy in a pipe ; St. Omer pipes ; English pipes ; Curious
Indian pipe ; Turkish howls ; Meerschaum ; Massa bowls ;
Amber mouth-pieces; Origin of amber; Modern Egyptian
pipes ; The Shibuk ; The Nargeeleh ; The Gozeh ; Egoodu of
the Zulus; Hubble-bubble of the Delagoans; Kaffir bowls;
Sailors’ pipes; Bamboo pipes; Winna of British Guiana;
Shell pipes ; Chinese pipes ; Metallic pipes ; Ode to a Tobacco-
pipe • Red pipe-stone quarry ; Stone pipes of Rocky Mountains ;
The “ Calumet ;” The Sultan’s pipe-bearer ; Wooden pipes;
Modern pipeology ; Pipes in Australia • • •
Chapter VI. — Sniffing and Sneeshin.
The Eranciscan of Sterne; Etymology of Snuff; Pouncet-boxes ;
The “ Niopo” of the Ottomacs ; The “ Curupa” of the Omaguas ;
Snuffing in Iceland; Zulu Calabashes; Early Snuff-taking
Apparatus; Origin of the “ Mull ;” Magnificent Mull; Mon-
grabin Cases ; Strong Snuff of the Sahara ; Plugging and
Ouidding; Snuff- taking Estimates; Snuff dipping; Death in
the Box ; Adulterated Snuff ; Snuff Scents ; Substitutes for
Snuff - Lead Poison; Advice Gratis; Gold Snuff-boxes ; Amber
Snuff-boxes; Boxes of Hard-shelled Seeds; Chinese Flasks;
Chinese Snuffing; A Snuff-stick; Birch-bark Boxes ; Sco ch
Snuff-boxes; Introduction of Snuffing; Varieties of Snu «
Hardham’s 37 ; Gossip on Sneezing ; Pseudo-philosophy of a
Sneeze
73
Chapter VII.— -Quid pro Quo.
Eccentricities of Taste; Miles of Pig-tail; Tobacco Md Tea Calcu-
lations- Chewing Ladies of Paraguay; Tchuktehi Chewers ,
Tobacco and Nation Quids; Taking the “ Bucca ;” Chewing
Snuff- Quidding in Washington; Dignified Proceedings in the
Senate House ; The Kou of the Hottentots; Angelica Root;
Chewing Dulse ; A Quidding Monkey
Chapter VIII.— A Race of Pretenders.
Adulterated Tobacco ; Substitutes; Coltsfoot ; Milfoil ; Rhubarb;
Bo<rbean- Sage; Mountain Tobacco; Cossena, Sumach,
Bearberry ; Maize Husks; Pimento ; CasoariUa B^k ; Poly-
Jon™" wild ^gga-,culen; Purplnok ; Rope-
smoking Chaplain ; FarewcU to Tobacco
Chapter IX.— “Mash Allah ’’—The Gift.
What is Opium? Indian Cultivation; The Nushtur; < Cutting the
n , . Collecting the Juice; Use of the Refuse; Fo.t ,
Bofsa- Poppy Trash; Pussewali and Lewah ; Different Forms
of Preparation ; Chandu ; Its Preparation in Singapore ; Sm
aular Workman ; Adulterations ; Tye and Samshing ; Egyptian
Conserves "Cordials Modes of taking Opium ; Immense Doses ;
Opiumin’the « Fei Country;” The Crow and the Pigeon; ^
Estimate of Opium Consumption
CONTENTS.
Xlll
Chapter X. — The Gates of Paradise. tage
Paradise of the Moslems ; Siamese Opium-pipes ; Chinese Opium-
pipe ; Smoking the Drug ; Its Effects ; An Old Malay ; Opium
Experiences ; Dr. Madden’s Trial ; The Habit in China ; Dr.
Medhurst’s Keport ; Victims at Slianghae ; Percentage of
Smokers ; Amongst the Shikhs ; Influence on those engaged in
its preparation ; Chinese petition ; Results in China ; Opium-
eating poultry 132
Chapter XI. — Revels and Reveries.
Mahomet’s Ascent into Heaven ; Mental Effects of Opium ; An
Opium-eater’s Reverie ; At the Opera ; Peeping into the Stores
at Hong-Kong ; Opium-shops ; Papan Mera ; Stores in Singa-
pore ; Opium in China ; Remarks of M. Abbd Hue 149
Chapter XII. — Pandemonium.
Running amol; in Java — in Singapore — in Batavia; Pains of
opium ; Piranesi’s dream ; Confessions of crocodile visions ;
Horrible dreams ; Fever phantasmagoria of “ Alton Locke
A fable; Chinese opium- smoker ; Mustapha Shatoor; The
Theriakis ; Heu Naetse’s opinion; Experiences of a surgeon at
Penang ; Testimonies of Abbd Hue ; Ho King Shan ; Oppen-
heim ; Dr. Madden ; Dr. Oxley; Dr. Little; Opium and In-
surance ; Another side of the question 163
Chapter XIII. — Opium: Morals.
Examination of Criminals at Singapore ; Income and expenditure ;
Opium-smoking and crime ; Examination of transports ; Drun-
kenness compared with opium-smoking ; De Quincey’s com-
parison ; Abuse of opium the source of poverty ; The diseased
poor of Singapore ; Their consumption of opium ; Cooly
smokers ; Difficulty of discarding the habit of opium-smoking •
Opinion of Dr. Eatwell
Chapter XIV. — False Prophets.
Preparations of opium ; History of lettuce ; Lactucarium ; Narcotic
effects of Lettuce ; Lacticiferous plants ; Dutchman’s laudanum;
Syrian rue ; Sterculia seeds ; Beah leaves ; Adulterations •
Imitation opium-balls
Chapter XV. — Nepenthes.
Influence of climate on plants ; Native home of hemp ; Properties
of hemp-seed ; Distribution of hemp; Scythian hemp; Anti-
quity of hemp ; Churrus, or hemp resin ; Homeca ; Gunjah ;
Bang, or Guaza; Majoon ; Haschisch ; Dawamese ; Hasch-
asheens and Assassins; Berch ; Dacha; Hemp in India — in
Egypt > Use of Stimulants
Chapter XVI. — Gunja at Home.
At home;” Influence of hemp extract; Intoxication; Annihila-
tion of time; Happiness; M. de Saulcey’s trial ; Extraordinary
delusions ; History of Genii ; The Slieykli’s jinnee ; Mr. Lane’s
cook and the efreet ; The captain’s sheep ; Mansour’s jinnee ;
Experiments; The impromptu rajah ; The fosterer of supersti-
tion amongst the Arabs 1
230
XIV
CONTENTS.
Chapter XVII.— Hobble-Bubble. page
Dakka smoking at Ambriz ; Busbmen smokers ; Curious method of
the Bechuanas ; Egoodu of the Zulus ; Snuffing hemp ; Hubble-
Bubble of the Delagoans; Haschishans of Constantine; Gunjah
in India ; Predilection of “Young America” for Bang 250
Chapter XVIII. — Seri and Pinang.
The Malayan race ; Areca palm ; Qualities of nuts ; Produce of
trees ; a mi n at production ; Preparation ; How used ; Local
names; Chinese consumption; Cinghalese instruments; Con-
firmed habits ; Estimates of consumption ; The palm in
Sumatra; Substitutes in the Philippines— in Ceylon Poetical ^
votaries
Chapter XIX. — Under the Palms.
The betel peppers ; Their cultivation ; Chenai of Penang ; Poly-
nesian ava ; Chewing cava at Tongataboo ; Pipula moola ;
Cfambir preparation ; “ Kutt,” or cutch ; Story of an Indian
“kutt” maker; Areca cutch; Statistics of the catechu and ^
gambir trade
Chapter XX. — Chewing the Coon.
In Burmali; The Manilla doctor; Yankee adventure; Teeth
colouring properties ; Custom in Sumatra ; Betel-stand of the
Sultan of Moco-moco ; Of the Sultan of Sooloo ; Betel a correc-
tive of over-doses of opium ; Tagali maidens ; A Tagal wedding ;
Making the buy os ; Mahomedan abstinence; Ofter to Lady
Baffles “
Chapter XXI.— Our Ladt of Yongas.
Coca under the Incas ; Origin of the name ; Early history; The
coca shrub ; The harvest ; Estimated production ; Estimated
consumption and consumers; Spanish protection ; Method ot
using the coca; How to enjoy it; Stimulating effects; Coca
tea-parties; Confirmed coqueros; The virtues of coca - The
vices of coca; Power of allaying hunger; Questionable nutri-
tive properties ; Devotion of Peruvians to it ; Narcotio rliodo- ^
dendrons *"
Chapter XXII.— Whitewash and Clay.
Lime-eating at Paria; Among the Guajiros ; White mud of the
Kiver Mackenzie ; Edible clay of the Guanos and Ott omacs , O
Banco • Caouac of Western Africa; Tanaampo and ampo of
Sa;’ Edible stone of New Caledonia; Lime at »
Lcche de llauka of Quito ; Kussiau stone
and bergbutter of Germany ; Bergmelil of Sweden , 1 ossil
infusoria^- MM. Cloquet and Breschets experiments i Bucaro
Sy of Portugal and Spain ; Bahaa of La Paz ; Chaco of ^
Cliiquisaca ; Bed earth of Sikkim ••
Chapter XXIII.— Precious Metals.
Wherein metals are precious; Cumulative action ‘
poisons ; Use of corrosive sublimate ; A”em°?“lCd °bac£0 of
in Canada; Benefits claimed for it; Arsemated
China ; Effects of Arsenic ; Uses of Arsenic at home
CONTENTS.
XV
Chapter XXIV. — Datcra and Co. page
Solanaceous plants and their properties ; The thorn-apple of India ;
The Florispondio of Peru ; Its superstitious uses ; Indulgence
therein in New Granada; Effects of thorn-apple on the Jamaica
soldiers ; Origin of Belladonna ; Its effects as a poison ; Influence
on the brain ; A family beneath the spell ; Henbane and its
effects; Jealousy caused and cured ; Foxglove leaves 323
Chapter XXV. — The Exile of Siberia.
Kamtschatdale prospects ; Poisonous fungi ; The amanita-eater in
Eussia ; Fatal effects of amanita ; Description ; Preparation of
the fungus ; Method of indulging therein ; Effects produced ;
Its singular properties; “Sucking the monkey;” Narcotic
symptoms of poisonous fungi ; Narcotism of puff-ball ........ 336
Chapter XXVI. — Odds and Ends.
Gathering the crumbs ; Smoke vision of life ; The Canadian herb
Legend of St. Betsy ; Two Ottoman swains ; Story of Abou
Gallioun ; Chinese designations ; Smoke doth follow the fairest ;
The broken pipe of Saladin ; Clerical authority ; The Angel of
Sleep and the Angel of Death 346
Appendix.
Tables of chronology of tobacco ; Of consumption of tobacco ;
Duties on importation of tobacco ; Profits of the French Kegie ;
Consumption of tobacco in Britain ; Consumption of tobacco in
the Austrian Empire ; Exports from the United States in 1855 ;
Disposition of the growth of the United States in 1840 and
1850 ; Exports from America in decennial periods ; Analysis of
tobacco ; Ketum of opium exports ; Income of East India Com-
pany from opium monopoly ; Opium statistics of Great Britain ;
Analysis of opium ; Prisoners sentenced to the House of Cor-
rection, and their opium habits ; Opium consumed in the
Singapore Hospital ; Keports of opium smoking in China ;
Professor Johnston’s estimates ; Synopsis of narcotics with their
substitutes 357
THE SEVEN SISTEES OF SLEEP.
CHAPTER I.
SOMEWHAT FABULOUS.
“ Oh sleep ! it is a gentle thing.
Beloved from pole to pole.” — Coleridge.
During the Decian persecution, seven inhabitants
of Ephesus retired to a cave, six were persons of
some consequence, the seventh was their servant ;
from hence they despatched the attendant occa-
sionally to purchase food for them. Decius, who
like most tyrants possessed long ears, hearing of
this, ordered the mouth of the cave to he stopped
up while the fugitives were sleeping. After a
lapse of some hundred years, a part of the masonry
at the mouth of the cave falling, the light flowing
in awakened them. Thinking, as Rip Van Winkle
also thought, that they had enjoyed a good night’s
rest, they despatched their servant to buy provi-
sions. All appeared to him strange in Ephesus-
and a whimsical dialogue took place, the citizens
accusing him of having found hidden treasure he
persisting that he offered the current coin of the
realm. At, length, the attention of the emperor
was excited, and he went, in company with the
bishop, to visit them. They related their story and
shortly after expired.
Thus much chroniclers narrate of the seven
sleepers of Ephesus. All are not agreed as to the
place where this extraordinary event occurred. It
2 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
has been assigned also to the “ mountain of the
seven sleepers,” near Tersous. It may have been
claimed by the citizens of twenty other ancient
cities, for aught we can tell: Faith removes
mountains. But the number remains intact.
Mahomet wrote of seven heavens — no Mahometan
takes the trouble to believe in less. The “wise
men were but seven there were seven poets of
the age of Theocritus ; seven of the daughters of
Pleione elevated to the back of Taurus ; and
“ There were seven pillars of gothic mould,
In Chillon’s dungeon, dark and old j”
and wherefore not seven sleepers at Ephesus or
Tersous ; or seven sisters of
« Nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep 1”
Although not to be found in Livy, or Hesiod or
Ovid or any of the fathers ot history 01 fable,
there is a legend of the latter seven, which may be
considered in the light of an abstract of title ot
certain seven sisters, to be included in the list o
immortal sevens who have honoured the earth by
making it their abode. .
It is’ many thousands of years since bleep
received from her parent, as a dowry of love, an
empire, unequalled in extent by any other which
the1 earth ever acknowledged. Her domain em-
braced “ the round world, and they that dwell
therein.” From pole to pole, and from ocean to
ocean, she swayed her sceptre. And it was
assigned her that man should devote one-tlnrd of
his existence in paying homage at the foot of 1 e
throne. All monarchs from Ninue 1 to ^apoteon
have done her honour. All ladies from Rhodope
to Cleopatra, and from Helen to Clotlnldc, have
admitted her claim to ascendency. And all serfs.
SOMEWHAT FABULOUS. 3
and all captives, from Epictetus to Abd-el-Kader,
have forgotten their bonds and their captivity, and
bowed, on an equality with kings, beneath her nod.
Sleep had seven sisters. Envious of her throne
and jealous of her power, they complained bitterly
that no heritage, and no government, and no
homage was theirs. Then they strove to deceive
men, and counterfeit the blessings which Sleep
conferred, and thus to steal the affections of her
subjects from the universal monarch, and transfer
them to themselves. Herein they toiled and in-
vented many strange devices; and though they
beguiled many, these all fell back again to the
allegiance they had sworn of old.
‘‘ 0 my sisters !” said Sleep, “wherefore do you
stiive to instil discontent into the hearts of my
subjects and breed discord in my dominions ?
Know ye not, that all mortals must fain obey me,
or die ? Your enchantments cannot diminish my
votaries, and only serve to increase my power. And
men, who for a while are cheated of the blessings
I confei, woo me at last with increased ardour
and with songs of gratitude fall at my feet/’ ’
Morphina first replied—
. “ We know full well, proud sister, how wide
is your empire, and how great your power, ’but we
too must reign, and our kingdoms will soon coim-
pare with yours. Let us but share with you in
ruling the world, or we will rule it for ourselves.”
‘Sisters! let us be at peace with each other
Is there not two-thirds of the life of man free from
my control ? Why should you not steal from iron-
handed care enough of power to make you queens
as potent, or little less than me ? My minister of
dreams shall aid you by his skill, and visions more
gorgeous, and illusions more splendid, than ever
visited a mortal beneath my sway, shall attend the
ecstacies ot your subjects.”
B 2
4
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP]
The sisters were reconciled henceforth. And
anon thousands and millions of Tartar tribes and
Mongolian hordes welcomed Morphina, and blessed
her for her soothing charms and benignant rule —
blessed her for her theft from the hours of sorrow
and care — blessed her for the marvels of dreams
the most extravagant, and visions the most gor-
geous that ever arose in the brain of dweller in the
glowing East.
More extended became the sway of the golden-
haired Virginia, until four-fifths of the race of
mortals burned incense upon her altars, or silently
proffered thank-offerings from their hearts. Curl-
ing ever upwards from the hearth of the Bi iton
and the forest of the Brazilian— from the palaces
of Ispahan and the wigwams of the Missouri —
from the slopes of the eternal hills and the bosom
of the mighty deep, arose the fragrant odours of
her votaries, mingled with the hum of pasans in
her praise. .
Beneath the shadow of palms, in the sultry
regions of the sun, the dark impetuous Gunja
held her court. There did the sons of the Ganges
and the Nile, the Indus and the Niger, own her
sovereignty 5 and there did the swarthy Hindoo
and the ebon African hold festivals in her
honour. And, though the hardy Norseman
scorned her proffered offices, she established her
throne in millions of ardent and affectionate
llCNot far away, the red-lipped Siraboa raised her
graceful standard from the summit of a feathery
palm ; and the islanders of the Archipelago m
proa and canoe, hastened to do her homage, ihe
murderous Malay stayed his uplifted weapon, to
bless her name ; and savage races, that ne er bowed
before, fell prostrate at her feet. .
Honoured by the Incas, and flattered bj priests
SOMEWHAT FABULOUS.
5
persecuted by Spanish conquerors, but victorious,
Erythroxylina established herself in the Bolivian
Andes and the Cordilleras of Peru. With subjects the
most devoted and faithful, she has for ages received
the homage of a kingdom of enthusiastic devotees.
Two,. less favoured, less beautiful, and less
successful of the sisters, pouting and repining at
the good fortune that had attended the others,
secluded themselves from the rest of the world, and
rushed into voluntary exile. Datura, ruddy as
Bellona, fled to the Northern Andes ; and in those
mountainous solitudes collected a devoted few of
frantic followers, and established a miniature
court. The pale and dwarfish Amanita, turning
her back on sunny lands and glowing skies, sought
and found a home and a refuge, a kingdom and a
court, in the frozen wastes of Siberia.
And. now . in peace the sisters reign, and the
world is divided between them. When care, or
woe, or wan disease, steals for a time the mortal
from his allegiance to the calm and blue-eyed
Sleep, then do the sisters ply their magic arts to
win him back again, and, by their soothing in-
fluence, lull him to rest once more, and again
unlock the portals of the palace of dreams ; then
issues from the trembling lips the half-heard
murmur of a whispered blessing on the
In all times Sleep has been a fertile theme with
poets one on which the best and worst has been
SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.*
•vrraius uae -laates ol the creation:”
especially
and in this matter
"We have a vision of our own.
And why should we undo it ?”
6
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
written. All forms in heaven and in earth have sub-
mitted themselves to become similes ; and columns
of adjectives have done duty in the service since
Edmund Spenser raised his House of Sleep, where
“ careless Quiet lyes,
Wrapt in eternal silence, farre from enimyes.”
No monarch has numbered so many odes in his
praise, or had so many poet laureates “all for
love.” These, though not so long, are quite as
worthy as the one we heard when George III. was
no longer king. Perhaps that same little tyrant,
Love, has come in for even a larger share of what
some would call “twaddle.” In the sunny mom
of youth, these hung upon our lips, and dwelt in our
hearts, with less of doubt than disturbs their present
repose. Old age makes us sleepy, and we sing —
“ O magic sleep ! 0 comfortable bird,
That broodest o’er the troubled sea of the mind
Till it is hushed and smooth ! 0 unconfined
Restraint, imprisoned liberty, great key
To golden palaces, strange minstrelsy,
Fountains grotesque, new trees, bespangled caves,
Echoing grottoes, full of tumbling waves
And moonlight ; aye, to all the mazy world
Of silvery enchantments !” — Endymion.
“ God gave sleep to the bad,” said Sadi, ‘ in
order that the good might be undisturbed.” Yet
to good and bad sleep is alike necessary. During
the hours of wakefulness the active brain exerts its
powers without cessation or rest, and during sleep
the expenditure of power is balanced again by
repose. The physical energies are exhausted by
labour, as by wakefulness are those of the mind ;
and if ’sleep comes not to reinvigorate the mental
powers, the overtaxed brain gives way, and lapses
into melancholy and madness. Men depnv ed of
rest, as a sentence of death, have gone, trom tho
world raving maniacs ; and violent emotions of tho
SOMEWHAT FABULOUS.
7
mind, without repose, have so acted upon the body,
that, as in the case of Marie Antoinette, Ludovico
Sforza, and others, their hair has grown white in a
single night- —
“ As men’s have grown from sudden fears. ” *
Mind and body alike suffer from the want of
sleep, the spirit is broken, and the fire of the ardent
imagination quenched. Who can wonder that
when disease or pain has racked and tortured the
frame, and prevented a subsidence into a state so
natural and necessary to man, he should have re-
sorted to the aid of drugs and potions, whereby to
lull his pains, and dispel the care which has
banished repose, and woo back again —
“ the certain knot of. peace,
The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe ; . 1
The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,
Tk’ indifferent judge between the high and low.”
* A correspondent of the Medical Times having asked for
authentic instances of the hair becoming grey within the space
of one night, Mr. D. F. Parry, Staff-Surgeon at Aldershott,
transmitted the following account, of which he made memor-
andum shortly after its occurrence. “ On February 19, 1858,
the column under General Franks, in the south of Oude, was
engaged with a rebel force at the village of Chainda, and several
prisoners were taken . One of them, a sepoy of the Bengal
army, was brought before the authorities for examination, and I,
being present, had an opportunity of watching from the com-
mencement the fact I am about to record. Divested of his
uniform, and stripped completely naked, he was surrounded by
the soldiers, and then first apparently became alive to the
danger of his position ; he trembled violently, intense horror
and despair were depicted in his countenance, and although he
answered all the questions addressed to him, he seemed almost
stupified with fear ; while actually under observation, within
the space of half-an-hour, his hair became grey on every por-
tion of his head, it having been, when first seen by me, the
glossy jet black of the Bengalee, aged about twenty-four. The
attention of the bystanders was first attracted by the serieant
whose prisoner he was, exclaiming, ‘ He is turning grey •’ and
7 , several other persons, watched its progress. Gradually
but decidedly, the change went on, and a uniform greyish
colour was completed within the period above named.”
8
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Leigli Hunt has well said, “ It is a delicious
moment that of being well nestled in bed, and feel-
ing that you shall drop gently to sleep. The good
is to come, not past ; the limbs have just been tired
enough to render this remaining in one posture
delightful ; the labour of the day is gone — a gentle
failure of the perceptions creeps over you — the
spirit of consciousness disengages itself once more,
and with slow and hushing degrees, like a mother
detaching her hand from that of a sleepiug child,
the mind seems to have a balmy lid closing oyer
it, like the eye — it is closed — the mysterious spirit
has gone to take its airy rounds.”
It is this .universal sense of the blessing of sleep
which takes hold of the mind with such a religious
feeling, that the appearance of a sleeping form,
whether of childhood or age, checks our step, and
causes us to breathe softly lest we disturb their
repose. We can scarce forbear whispering, while
standing before the well-known picture of the
“ Last Sleep of Argyle,” lest by louder or more dis-
tinct articulation, we should rob the poor old man
of a moment of that absence of sorrow which sleep
has brought to him for the last time.
Shakespeare has made the murder of Duncan to
seem the more revolting in that it was committed
while he slept. Macbeth himself must have felt
this while exclaiming —
“ Methongbt I heard a voice cry, 1 Sleep no more .
Macbeth does murthcr sleep, the innocent sleep ,
Sleep, that knits up the ravelled sleavc of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labours bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.’ ”
Had Desdemona been sent to her last account
at once, when her lord entered the room and kisset
her as she slept, we feel that all our pity for the
Valous Moor would have been turned to hate, and
SOMEWHAT FABULOUS.
9
our detestation of him been so great that no room
bad been left for execration of the villanous Iago,
who now seems to be the Mephistopheles, the evil
genius, of the work.
“A blessing,” says Sancho Panza, “ on him who
first invented sleep ; it wraps a man all round like
a cloak.” But neither Sancho nor any one else will
give us a blessing if we suffer ourselves to go to
sleep in thinking over it, at the very threshold of
our enterprise, and before indulging in communion
with the seven sisters of whom we have spoken.
It was a trite remark of a divine that “ where
drowsiness begins, devotion ends,” and needs appli-
cation as much to book writers as to sermon
preachers. Although we may not have the power
to check an occasional yawn, in which there may be
as much temporal relief as in a good sneeze, let us
avoid the premonitory sinking of the upper eyelids,
by calling in the aid of Francesco Berni to release
us from the spell of sleep, and introduce us to
“the sisters” of the olden time.
“ Quella diceva cli’era la piu bella
Arte, il piu bel mestier che si facesse ;
II letto er’ una veste, una gonella
Ad ognun buona che se la mettesse.”
OniiAND. Innamou, lib. iii. cant. vii.
CHAPTER II.
THE SISTERS OF OLD.
“ What are these,
So -withered, and so wild in their attire ;
That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth.
And yet are on’t ?” — Macbeth.
There is no reason to doubt that the ancients
were, in a manner, acquainted with some of the
narcotics known to us, although they did not
indulge in them as stimulants or luxuries. The
antiquarian, it is true, has failed to unearth the
tobacco-box of Claudius, or the pipe of Nero —
however much the latter may have been given to
smoke. And no one has as yet discovered a snuff-
box bearing the initials of Marc Antony, whence
the taper fingers of Egypt’s queen drew a pinch of
Princess’ Mixture or Taddy’s Violet, gazing with
loving eyes on Antony the while. In those remote
times the hemp and the poppy were not unknown ;
and there is reason for believing that in Egypt the
former was used as a potion for soothing and dis-
pelling care.
Herodotus informs us that the Scythians culti-
vated hemp, and converted it into linen cloth,
resembling that made from flax ; and he adds also,
that “ when, therefore, the Scythians have taken
some seed of this hemp, they creep under the
cloths, and then put the seed on the red hot
stones ; but this being put on smokes, and pro-
duces such a steam, that no Grecian vapour-bath
would surpass it. The Scythians, transported with
THE SISTERS OF OLD.
11
the vapour, shout aloud.” * The same author
also states that the Massagetse, dwelling on an
island of the Araxes, have discovered “ trees that
produce fruit of a peculiar kind, which the inhabi-
tants, when they meet together in companies, and
have lit a fire, throw on the fire as they sit round
in a circle ; and that by inhaling the fumes of the
burning fruit that has been thrown on, they
become intoxicated by the odour, just as the Greeks
do by wine, and that the more fruit is thrown on,
the more intoxicated they become, until they rise
up to dance, and betake themselves to singing.” f
Homer also makes Helen administer to Tele-
machus, in the house of Menelaus, a potion pre-
pared from nepenthes , which made him forget his
sorrows.
“Meanwhile with genial joy to warm the soul,
Bright Helen mix’d a mirth-inspiring bowl ;
Temper’d with drugs of sovereign use to assuage
The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage ;
To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,
And dry the tearful sluices of despair ;
Charm’d with that virtuous draught, the exalted mind
All sense of woe delivers to the wind :
Though on the blazing pile his parent lay,
Or a loved brother groan’d his life away,
Or darling son, oppress’d by ruffian force,
Pell breathless at its feet a mangled corse ;
From morn to eve, impassive and serene
The man entranced would view the deathful scene.
These drugs, so friendly to the joys of life,
Bright Helen learn’d from Thone’s imperial wife,
Who sway’d the sceptre where prolific Nile
With various simples clothes the fatten’d soil.
With wholesome herbage mixed, the direful bane
Of vegetable venom taints the plain ;
From Paeon sprung, their patron-god imparts
lo all the Pharian race his healing arts.”
Pope’s Homer's Odyssey , b. iv.
* Herod., lib. iv. cap. 74-75.
t lb., lib. i. cap. 202.
12
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Diodorus Siculus states that the Egyptians laid
much stress on the circumstance that the plant
used by Helen had been given her by a woman of
Egyptian Thebes, whence they argued that Homer
must have lived amongst them, since the women
of Thebes were celebrated for possessing a secret
whereby they could dissipate anger or melancholy.
This secret is supposed to have been a knowledge
of the narcotic properties of hemp. The plant
was known to the Romans, and largely used by
them in the time of Pliny for the manufacture of
cordage, and there is scarce a doubt that they
were acquainted with its other properties. Galen
refers to the intoxicating power of hemp, for he
relates that in his time it was customary to give
hemp-seed to the guests at banquets as a promoter
of hilarity and enjoyment. Slow poisons and secret
poisoning was an art with which the Romans were
not at all unfamiliar. What the medium was
through which they committed these criminal acts,
can only be conjectured from the scanty informa-
tion remaining. Hemp, or opium, or both, may
have had some share in the work, since the poppy
was sacred to Somnus, and known to possess
narcotic properties.
The latter plant is one of the earliest described.
Homer speaks of the poppy growing in gardens,
and it was employed by Hippocrates, the father of
physic, who even particularizes two kinds, the
black and the white, and used the extract of
opium so extensively, as to he condemned by his
contemporary Diagoras. Dioscorides and Pliny
also make mention of it ] and from their time, it
lias been so commonly used, as to be incorporated
in all the materia medicas of subsequent medical
^Plutarch tells us that a poison was administered
to Aratus of Sicyon, not speedy and violent, but ol
THE SISTERS OF OLD.
13
that kind which at first occasions a slow heat in
the body, with a slight cough, and then gradually
brings on consumption and a weakness of intellect.
One time when Aratus spat up blood, he said,
“ This is the effect of royal friendship.” And
Quintilian, in his Declamations, speaks of this
poison in such a manner as proves that it must
then have been well known.
The infamous acts of Locusta are noticed by
Tacitus, Suetonius, and Juvenal. This poisoner
seems to have been a type of such a character as
the traditions of a later age embodied in the
person and under the name of Lucretia Borgia.
Agrippina, being desirous of getting rid of
Claudius, but not daring to despatch him sud-
■ anC^ ^ Ashing not to leave him time
sufficient to make new regulations concerning the
succession to the throne, made choice of a poison
which should deprive him of his reason and gra-
dually consume him. This she caused to be
prepared by an expert poisoner, named Locusta
who had been condemned to death for her infamous
actions, but saved that she might be employed as
a state engine. The poison was given to the em-
as, on account
of his irregular manner of living it did not
produce the desired effect, it was assisted by some
iW fir°n?er nature* We are a]so further told
tnat this Locusta prepared the drug wherewith
whomhi^n'i611 B‘itan,nicus' the son of Messalinu,
father, Claudius, wished to succeed him
dvlnwhr°ne'i AS this poison occasioned only a
) entcry, and was too slow in its operation the
emperor compelled Locusta, by blows and bv
threatening her with death, to prepare in hL nre
sence one more powerful. It w!ns first tried on a
ud, but as the animal did not die till the end of
five hours, she boiled it a little longer unlit it
14
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
instantaneously killed a pig to which it had been
given, and this poison despatched Britannicus as
soon as he had tasted it. For this service the
emperor pardoned Locusta, rewarded her liberally,
and gave her pupils, whom she was to instruct in
her art, in order that it might not be lost.
The pupils of Locusta have not left us, however,
the secret which their mistress confided to them.
The demand made of the apothecary in “ Romeo
and Juliet” would have suited Nero’s case, in the
latter instance.
“ Let me have
A dram of poison ; such soon speeding geer
As will disperse itself through all the veins,
That the life-weary taker may fall dead ;
And that the trank may be discharged of breath
As violently, as hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon’s mouth.”
What connection the narcotic hemp had with
the famous oracle of Delphi is not altogether cer-
tain, but it has been supposed, and such supposition
contains nothing of heresy in these days, that the
ravin ^s of the Pythia were the consequences ot a
good dose of haschish, or bang. The non-classical
readers will allow us to inform them, and the
classical permit us to remind them, that the oracle
at Delphi was the most celebrated in all Greece.
That it was related of old, that a certain shepheid,
tending his flocks on Mount Parnassus, observed,
that the steam issuing from a hole m the rock
seemed to inspire his goats, and cause them to frisk
about in a marvellous manner, that this same
shepherd was tempted to peep into the hole him-
self and the fumes rising therefrom filled him with
such ecstacy, that he gave vent to wild and extrava-
gant expressions, which were regarded as prophe-
tical. This circumstance becoming known, the
place was revered, and thereon a temple was
THE SISTERS OF OLD.
15
afterwards erected to Apollo, and a priestess
appointed to deliver the oracles. This priestess
of Apollo, Pythia, was seated over the miraculous
cavity upon a tripod, or three-legged stool, and the
tumes arising were supposed to fill her with in-
spiration, and she delivered, in bad verses, the
oracles of the deity. During the inspiration, her
eyes sparkled, her hair stood erect, and a shivering
ran over the whole body. Under the convulsions
thus produced, with loud howlings and cries, she
delivered the messages, which were carefully noted
down by an attendant priest. Plutarch states,
tdat one of the priestesses was thrown into such an
excessive fury, that not only those who came to
consult the oracle, but the priests in attendance
WT.xS0,tfri5ed’ that they forsook her and fled’
and that the fit was so violent, that she continued
several days m agony, and finally died. It has
been believed that these fumes, instead of proceeding
iiom the earth, were produced by the burning of some
narcotic herb, probably hemp. Who shall decide ?
^ In later times <( bang” is referred to in the
Arabian Nights. In one of the tales, two ladies
la conversation, and one enquires of the other
It the queen was not much in the wrong not to
love so amiable a prince?” To which the ntW
replied, “ Certainly, I know not why she goes out
every night and leaves him alone. Is it possible
that he does not perceive it ? ” “ Alas ! ” says the
fiist, how would you have him to perceive it?
fehe mixes every evening with his drink the juice
o a certain herb, which makes him sleep so sound
a night, that she has time to go where she pleases
and as day begins to appear, she comes to him
agam, and awakes him by the smell of somethin
she puts under his nose.”
The Caliph Haroun al Easchid indulged too in
bang/ and although somewhere we have seen
16
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
this word rendered “henbane,” we still adhere to
the “ bang ” of the text, and think the evidence ia
in favour of the Indian hemp. Further accounts
of the early history of this plant we will not
however forestal, as it will occur more appro-
priately when we come to speak of it in particular.
Henbane has been long enough known ; but it has
always had the misfortune either of a positive bad
name, or no one would speak much in its favour,
and therefore it has never risen in the world.
The lettuce, which has not been known to us
three hundred years, was also known to . the
ancients, and its narcotic properties recognized.
Dioscorides writes of it, and so also Theophrastus.-
It is referred to by Galen, and, if we mistake not,
spoken of by Pliny. It was certainly wild, in some
of its species, on the hills of Greece, and was culti-
vated for the tables of the salad-loving Greeks and
Komans. It had been better that some of them
had spent more of their time in eating lettuce
salads, and by that means had less time to spare
for other occupations of a far more reprehensible
k^The “ nepenthes ” of Homer has. already been
shown to have found a representativ e in . hemp.
There have also been claims made' for considering
it as the crocus, or the stigmas of that flower known
to us as saffron. Pliny states that it has the power
of allaying the fumes of wine, and preventing
drunkenness ; and it was taken m drink by great
winebibbers, to enable them to drink largely
without intoxication. Its properties are of a
peculiar character, causing, in large doses, fits of
immoderate laughter. The evidence m favour
of this being the t ue “nepenthes is, however,
we consider very incomplete,, and not so satisfac-
tory, by any means, as that given on behalf ot tlio
Indian hemp.
THE SISTERS OF OLD.
17
When the Eoman soldiers retreated from the
Parthians, under the command of Antony,
Plutarch narrates of them that they suffered
great distress for want of provisions, and were
urged to eat unknown plants. Among others,
they met with a herb that was mortal ; he that
had eaten of it lost his memory and his senses,
and employed himself wholly in turning about all
the stones he could find, and, after vomiting up
bile, fell down . dead. Attempts to unravel the
mysteries of this . plant have ended, in some cases
at least, in referring it to the belladonna, a plant
common enough in these our days, and known to
possess poisonous properties of a narcotico-acrid
character.
An analogous circumstance occurred in the
retreat of the Ten Thousand, as related by Xeno-
phon. A ear Trebizond were a number of bee-
hives, and as many of the soldiers as ate of the
honeycombs became senseless, and were seized
with vomiting and diarrhoea, and not one of them
could stand erect. Those who had swallowed but
little looked very like drunken men, those who
ate much were like madmen, and some lay as if
tying; and thus they lay in such numbers, as on
a field of battle after a defeat. And the conster-
nation was great; yet no one was found to have
died : all recovered their senses about the same
WH°ni th® follo'vln£ day; and on the third or
l?UFth id?7 th®[eafJer> theT rose up as if they had
suffered from the drinking of poison.
1 his poisonous property of the honey is said to
be derived by the bees from the flowers of a species
of rhododendron (Azalea pontica), all of whTch
possess narcotic properties
.Supposing that blind old Homer— if ever there
was an old Homer, and if blind, no matter— knew
the secret of Egyptian Thebes, and the power oT'
18
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the narcotic hemp, and yet never smoked a hubble-
bubble, it is of little consequence, except to the
Society of Antiquaries, and certainly makes no
difference to Homer now. Although Diagoras
condemned Hippocrates for giving too much
opium to his patients, we are not informed
whether it was administered in the shape of
« Tinctura opii,” or “Confectio opii ” or “ Extractum
opii,” or “ Godfrey’s cordial,” or “ Paregoric elixir.”
The discovery would not lengthen our own lives,
and therefore we do not repine. We think that
we have some consolation left, in that we are wiser
than Homer or Hippocrates in respect , of that
particular vanity, called “ shag tobacco, which,
we venture to suggest, neither of those veneiable
sages ever indulged in during the period of their
natural lives. And although Herodotus found the
Scythians using, in a strange manner, the tops of the
hemp plant, he never got so far as Ivamtschatka,
and therefore never saw a man getting drunk upon
a toadstool. If he bad ever seen it, he had never
slept till he had told it to that posterity which he
has left us to enlighten.
THE
CHAPTEK III.
wond’rous weed.
“ Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased ;
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ;
Kaze out the written troubles of the brain ;
And, with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the stuff ’d bosom of that perilous stuff,
Which weighs upon the heart ? ’’—Macbeth.
Amongst Mahometans, the following legend is
said to be accepted as an account of the miraculous
introduction of the “ wond’rous weed ” to the world.
“ Mahomet, passing the desert in winter, found
a poor viper frozen on the ground ; touched with
compassion, he placed it in his sleeve, where the
warmth and glow of the blessed body restored it to
Me. No sooner did the ungrateful reptile find its
health restored, than it poked forth its head, and
said — 5
“ ‘ Oh, Prophet, I am going to bite you.’
‘“Give me a sound reason, 0 snake, and I
be content.’
will
» i
Your people kill my people constantly, there
18 a? 1 '■)e^ween your race and mine.’
Your people bite my people, the balance
Detween our kindred is even, between you and me *
Day, h is in my favour, for I have done you good.’
And that you may not do me harm, I will
bite you. ’
you.
“ 1 Do not be so ungrateful.’
c 2
20
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
“‘I will ! I have sworn by the Most High that
I will.’
“At the Name the Prophet no longer opposed the
viper, but bade him bite on, in the name of God.
The snake pierced his fangs in the blessed wrist,
which the Prophet not liking, shook him off, but
did him no further harm,, nor would he suffer
those near him to destroy it, but putting his lips
to the wound, and sucking out the poison, spat it
upon the earth. From these drops sprang that
wond’rous weed, which has the bitterness of the
serpent’s tooth, quelled by the sweet saliva of the
Prophet.”* , , , A1 ,
Happy Moslem ! you have solved the mystery,
and your heart feels no doubt ; but Christian dogs
despairingly sigh for some revelation from the
past, whether through history or tradition, ot the
first use of this plant. In vain we enquire who it
was that first conceived and put in practice the
idea of burning the large leaves of a .weed, and
drawing in the smoke to spit it out again . W h o
it was that discovered pleasure or amusement m
tickling the nose with that “titillating dust to
enjoy the luxury of a sneeze or find employment
in blowing it out again? \e shades ot heroes
departed, that hover around the pine-woods ot the
Saskatchewan, sail over the rolling prames of
Illinois, or roam along the strands of \ lrgmia, tell
us to what illustrious progenitor of Oree or
Mohawk we are to accord, the honour of a dis-
covery more popular than any since the days when
“ Adam delved and Eve spau * .
In default of the shades giving us the required
information, we must resort to the faint lootst^P®
which “ the habit ” has left imprinted on the sands
of Time. Even the name by which it is called,
• The Ansayrii and the Assassins, by the Hon. F. Walpole.
THE “WONDROUS WEED."
21
has been disputed and even denied, as of right,
belonging to tobacco. This word, Humboldt
informs us, like the words savannah, maize , maguey ,
and vianati , belong to the ancient language of
Hayti or St. Domingo, and did not properly denote
the herb, but the pipe through which it was smoked.
Tobacco, according to Oveido, was indigenous in
Hispaniola, and much used by the native Indians,
who smoked it from a tube in the shape of the
letter Y, the two branches being inserted in the
nostrils, and the stem placed in the burning leaves.
The plant was called the cohiba , and the rude
instrument by which it was inhaled tabaco.
Other fabulous accounts of the origin of this
mystic name, which opens the heart and hand of
the savage more readily than that of gold, trace it
to Tabacco, a province of Yucatan in Hew Spain,
whence it is stated to have been first brought to
Europe. Or affinity is claimed for it with the Island
,°f Tobago, one of the Caribbees, where it grew wild
in abundance. Or its derivation is traced to
Tobasco, in the island of Florida. In Mexico it
was called yetl: and in Peru sagri, meaning
in those languages “the herb,” or the herb par
excellence,, worthy of superiority over all other
herbs which the earth ever produced from her
bosom.
It seems surprising that a vegetable production
so universally spread should have different names
among neighbouring people. In North America
the Algonlun name is serna , and the Huron
oyngoua , and the same dissimilarity exists in the
languages of South- American tribes ; the Oinamia '
f Terr\j-l itlle Maypm'e> jema ; the Chiquifo, mils ’•
the Vilela, tump ; and the Tamanac, cavai. One
would have expected to have found names with less
variation among such neighbours. It might be
urged, perhaps, that these are all independent
22
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
ancient names given by each tribe to the plant
before they became acquainted with the existence
of their neighbours, and an evidence that its use
was not derived from each other, nor from travellers
passing among them. To these speculations the
theorist is welcome.
There is little reason to doubt that tobacco is a
plant indigenous to the New World. With the
era, therefore, of Columbus, our knowledge of it will
necessarily commence. When the Spaniards landed
with that navigator in Cuba in 1492, they found
the Cubans doing the same kind of thing as the
voyager would now find them occupied in, making
and smoking cigars. In the latter act, these
Spaniards soon followed the Cuban example, as did
those also who landed in 1518, with Fernando
Cortez, in the island of Tobago, to a still greater
extent. The honour of introducing this, the fairest
of “ the Seven Sisters of Sleep,” to European
society and soil, is due, perhaps, to Hernandez, the
naturalist, who brought the first seeds from Mexico
(Humboldt states, from the Mexican province of
Yucatan), in 1559, and conveyed them to Spain.
About the same time some unknown Flamingo in-
troduced the illustrious visitor to Portugal.
Of the introduction of tobacco into France, the
more commonly-received opinion is, that the first
seeds were sent to Catherine de Medici from Por-
tugal in 1560, by Jean Nicot, the French ambas-
sador to that country, and ever since it has borne
as its generic name a memento of its patron. Other
accounts attribute to Father Andre Thevet, or some
friend of his, the honour of introducing the raw
material to the most accomplished snuff-takers in
Europe, and, perhaps, the first who ever indulged
in it to any extent.
In Tuscany, tobacco was first cultivated under
Cosmo de Medici, who died in 1574. It was origin-
THE “WOND’ROUS WEED.”
23
ally raised by Bishop Alfonso Tournabuoni, from
seeds received from his nephew, Nicolo Tourna-
buoni, then ambassador at Paris. After him it
bore the name of Erba Tournabuoni, as in France
it was called Herbe de la Reine. Very early,
before 1589, the Cardinal Santa Croce, returning
from his nunciature in Spain and Portugal to Italy,
carried with him thither tobacco ; but he can scarce
claim the honour of its introduction, although the
exploit was commemorated by Castor Duranti in
Latin verse. Thus it would appear that this
plant was brought from Mexico to Spain, whence
it passed into France, and thence into Italy, during
the early part of the latter half of the sixteenth
century.
The first introduction of tobacco into England
has been claimed for a trinity of valiant knights —
Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Plawkins, and Sir
Walter Raleigh. In Bancroft’s “ History of the
United States,” it is said — “ The exiles of a year
had grown familiar with the favourite amusement
of the lethargic Indians, and they introduced into
England the general use of tobacco.” These exiles
were brought home by Drake before Raleigh visited
the New World, and the period for the introduction
of tobacco into this country by Sir Francis, claims
the date of 1560. For Sir John Hawkins’ intro-
duction, the time has been fixed at 1565; whilst
the earliest date assigned for its introduction by
Sir Walter Raleigh is 1584, the same year in which
a proclamation was issued in England against it.
Humboldt states that the celebrated Raleigh con-
tributed most to introduce the custom of smoking
among the nations of the North. When Raleigh
brought tobacco from Virginia to England, whole
fields of it were already cultivated in Portugal. It
was also previously known in France, where it was
brought into fashion by Catherine de Medicis. As
24 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
early as tlie end of the sixteenth century, bitter
complaints were made in England of this imitation
of the manners of a savage people. It was feared,
that by the practice of smoking tobacco, English-
men would degenerate into a barbarous state.*
The cultivation of this narcotic plant preceded
that of the potato in Europe 120 or 140 years.
Camden, who informs us of these fears for the
civilization of England, also states that Eichard
Fletcher, Bishop of London, a courtly prelate (who
died in 1596), by the use of tobacco “ smothered
the cares he took by means of his unlucky mar-
riage.” According to Aubrey, the pipe was handed
from man to man round the table ; and this bears,
certainly, a great resemblance to the custom of
the North- American Indians — the chief smoking
two or three whiffs, then passing it to his neigh-
bour*, until from one to another it passes round the
circle, and comes back to the first smoker again.
M. Jorevin, a Frenchman, who visited England
in Charles the Second’s time, says that the women
smoked tobacco as well as the men.
From England the practice of smoking was car-
ried to the Continent. Dutch students were first
taught the art of smoking at tire University of
Leyden by students from England ; hence the
greatest smokers in Europe derived their know-
ledge of the use of the pipe from the English.
Lilly, in his autobiography, informs us that
when committed to the guard-room in Whitehall,
he thought himself in regions far below, where
Orpheus sang, and Pluto reigned, for “ some were
* “ Ex illo sane tempore [tabacum] usn cepit esse creberrimc
in Anglifi, et magno pretio dum quam plurimi graveoleutem illius
fumutn per tubulum tcstaceum hauriunt et mox e naribus
efliant ; adco ut Anglorum corporum in barbaroram naturam
degenerasse videantur quum iidem ac barbari dclectentur.” — •
Camden, Annal. Elizab., p. 143. (15S5.)
THE “ wond’hous weed.”
25
sleeping, others swearing, others smoking tobacco ;
and in the chimney of the room were two bushels
of broken tobacco-pipes.” Good friend Lilly, what
wouldst thou have thought of a visit to a Studenten
Kneipe, where a crowd of students, amid fumes
dense as a London fog in November, scream and
growl the well-known song —
“And smokes the Fox tobacco 1
And smokes the Fox tobacco ?
And smokes the leathery Fox tobacco ?
Sa! Sa!
Fox tobacco.
And smokes the Fox tobacco.
“ Then let him fill a pipe !
Then let him fill a pipe !
Then let him fill a leathery pipe ;
Sa ! Sa !
Leathery pipe.
Then let him fill a pipe !”
And then perhaps — but let the reader enquire for
himself of some descendant from the ancestors of
the renowned Wouter Van Twiller, the worthy
head of the long-pipe faction. In 1601, tobacco
was carried to Java, whence it spread over the
East. It was also conveyed to Turkey and Arabia
m the beginning of this century. El-Is-hakee
states that the custom of smoking tobacco began to
be common in Egypt between the years of the
flight, 1010 and 1012 (a.d. 1601-1603). And
from Persian writers on J\fateiia medica , it appears
to have been introduced into India in A.n. 1014
(a.d. 1605), towards the end of the reign of Jcla-
ladeen Akbar Padshaw. From India, tobacco
probably found its way to the Malayan Peninsula
and China ; although Pallas, Loureiro, and Kum-
phuis think that tobacco was known in China
before the discovery of the New World, and that
26
THE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
the Chinese tobacco plant is indigenous to that
country.
From “Notes and Queries” we learn that
u tobacco was first cultivated in this country at
Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, and that the
natives did suck thereout no small advantage J
and before the time of James II. the best Vir-
ginia was but two shillings the pound, and two
gross of the best glazed pipes, and a box with
them, three shillings and fourpence.” Tobacco
became almost a necessary among the upper
classes; nor could the parliamentary representa-
tives of the city of Worcester be despatched up to
town until the “ collective wisdom ” had smoked
and drunk sack at the “ Globe,” or some other
hostelry. As early as 1621, it was moved in the
House of Commons by Sir William Stroud, that
“he would have tobacco banished wholly out of
the kingdom, and that it may not be brought from
any part, nor used amongst us.” And by Sir ;
Grey Palmes, “ that if tobacco be not banished,
it will overthrow 100,000 men in England, for it
is now so common, that he hath seen ploughmen j
take it as they are at the plough.” At a later period
of the same century, so inveterate had the practice
become, that an order appears on the journals of
the House, “That no member in the House do
presume to smoke tobacco in the gallery^ or at the
table of the House sitting at Committees. .
But tobacco did not come into general use in
Europe without great and strenuous opposition.
All kinds of weapons were called in requisition to
stay its progress. Persuasion and force were alike
essayed without effect. A German writer has
collected the titles of a hundred different works
condemning its use, which were published within
half a century of its introduction into Europe.
The pen was wielded by royal as well as plebeian
THE “WOND’rOUS WEED.”
27
fingers, and the famous diatribe of the British.
Solomon, King James I., of blessed memory,
defender of the faith, and antagonist of tobacco,
keeps his memory still green in the hearts of
Englishmen. In Russia, the snuff-taker was ingeni-
ously cured of the habit, by having his nose cut
off, while smokers had a pipe bored through the
same useful projection. Michael Feodorovitch
Tourieff kindly offered a bastinado to the Musco-
vites for the first offence, cutting off the nose for
the second, and the head for the third. In 1590
Pope Innocent XII. took the trouble to excommu-
nicate all who used tobacco in any form in the
church of St. Peters in Pome. And in 1624,
Pope Urban VII., the old woman, fulminated a bull
against all persons found taking snuff during
divine service; and old women, in the spirit of
opposition, have been fond of snuff ever since.
The sultans and priests of Persia and Turkey
declared smoking a sin against their religion.
Amurath IV. of Persia published an edict, making
the smoking of tobacco a capital offence. Shah
Abbas II. punished such delinquents equally
severely. When leading an army against the
Cham of Tartary, he proclaimed that every soldier
in whose possession tobacco was found, would have
his nose and lips cut off, and afterwards be burnt
alive.. El-Gabartee relates, that about a century
ago, in the time of Mohammed Basha El-Yedek-
shee, who governed Egypt in the years of the
flight, 1156-8, it frequently happened that, when
a man was found with a pipe in his hand in
Cairo, he was made to eat the bowl with its
burning, contents. This may seem incredible
but a pipe bowl may be broken by strong teeth*
particularly if it be of meerschaum. In Tuscany*
the growth of tobacco was prohibited, except in a
tew localities, where it was allowed, under certain
28
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
restrictions, from 1645 to 1789, when the Grand
Duke Peter Leopold declared its cultivation free
all over the country. Ferdinand III. afterwards
restricted it to its former localities. The number
of these were reduced in 1826, and in 1830 its
growth was entirely prohibited. In Transylvania
the penalty for growing tobacco was a total confis-
cation of property ; and for the use of the weed, a i
fine of from three to two hundred florins. In
1661, the Canton of Berne introduced an eleventh
commandment to the decalogue, and this was
inserted after the seventh, “ Thou shalt not
smoke!” In 1719, the wise senate of Strasburg
prohibited the cultivation of tobacco, fearing lest
it should interfere with the growth of com.
Prussia and Denmark contented themselves with
prohibiting its use. This brings us back again to
England, and the days of “ good Queen Bess.”
That lady, who is said to have prohibited the use
of tobacco in churches, according to certain chro-
niclers, was wont to banter Sir Walter Raleigh on
his affection for his protege. It is said, that on one
occasion, when Raleigh was conversing, with his
royal mistress upon the singular properties of this
new and extraordinary herb, he assured her
Majesty that he had so well experienced the
nature of it, that he could tell her of what weight I
even the smoke would be in any quantity pro- \
posed to be consumed. Her Majesty, deeming it \
impossible to hold the smoke in a balance, must ]
needs lay a wager to solve the doubt. Raleigh •
procured the quantity agreed upon, he thoroughly I
smoked it, and weighed the ashes; pleading at the I
same lime that the weight now wanting was the 1
wei-dit of the smoke dissipated in the process.
The Queen did not deny the doctrine of her .
favourite, saying “that she had often heard or
those who had turned their gold into smoke, but -
THE “WOND’ROUS WEED.” 29
Raleigh was the first who had turned his smoke
into gold.”
The Star Chamber levied a heavy duty, and
Charles II. prohibited its cultivation in England.
Tobacco was first put under the excise in 1789.
It was not at first allowed to be smoked in ale-houses.
“ There is a curious collection of proclamations,
&c. says Brand, “in the archives of the Society
of Antiquaries of London. In vol. viii. is an ale-
house licence, granted by six Kentish justices of
the peace, at the bottom of which is the following
item, among other directions to the inn-liolder : —
i Item. — You shall not utter, nor willingly suffer
to be uttered, drunke, or taken, any tobacco ■within
your house, cellar, or other place thereunto be-
longing.’ ”
notwithstanding oppositions, imposts, anathe-
mas, counterblasts, and persecutions, tobacco
gradually and rapidly arose in popular esteem.
The first house in which it was publicly smoked
in Britain was the Pied Bull, at Islington ; but
this was “alone in its glory” for a very brief
period of time. “ Is it not a great vanity,” saith
Royal James, u that a man cannot heartily wel-
come his friend now, but straight they must be in
hand with tobacco ? And he that will refuse to
take a pipe of tobacco amongst his fellows is
accounted peevish, and no good company; yea,
the mistress cannot in a more mannerly kind
entertain her servant than by giving him out of
her fair hand a pipe of tobacco.” Raleigh smoked
m his dungeon in the Tower, while the headsman
was grinding his axe. Cromwell loved his pipe
and dictated his despatches to Milton over some
burning Trinidado, or sweet-smelling nicotine.
Ben. Johnson affirmed that tobacco was the most
precious weed that the earth ever tendered to the
tse of man. Dr. Radcliffb recommended snuff to
30
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
his brethren. Dr. Johnson kept his snuff in his
waistcoat pocket ; and so did Frederick the Great.
Robert Hall smoked in liis vestry, and, it would
seem, in other places as well, for Gilfillan informs
us, that when on a visit to a brother clergyman,
he went into the kitchen where a pious servant
girl, whom he loved, was working. He lighted
his pipe, sat down, and asked her — “ Betty, do you
love the Lord Jesus Christ ?” I hope I do, sir,
was the reply.. He immediately added, “ Betty,
do you love me ?” They were married. And
Napoleon took rappee by the handful. And poets
wrote, and minstrels sang, in the praise of the
“ Divine Virginia.”
“ Thou glorious weed of a glorious land,
I would not be freed from thy magical wand—
Though a slave to thy fetters, and bound in thy chain,
Despairing of freedom, I cannot complain.
“ Tobacco, I love thee— I bow at thy shrine !
The longer I prove thee, the less I repine.
The affection I cherish, no time can assuage—
Thy joys do not perish, like others, with age.
The mailed Spaniard and red-plumed Indian
have fought around it ; and gold-seekers have
drenched "it with the gore of negroes. One whole
continent has been enriched by it ; and to cultivate
it another continent has been depopulated. Ne-
m-oes have prayed to their Fetishes beside it—
many a Cacique now dead smoked it at the war-
council, and many a grave, grey-bearded Spaniard,
who had fought at Lepanto, or bled in the Low
Countries. Old soldiers of Cromwell have smoked
it • and while Indians have bartered their gold tor
English beads, the swarthy Buccaneers looked on,
handling their loaded muskets. Tobacco was for
some time used as currency in Virginia, as, accord-
ing to Mr. Galton, is the case now among the
THE “ WONDROUS WEED.”
31
Damaras, Ovampo, and other tribes of South-
Western Africa.
Forty varieties of tobacco have been described ;
but the differences are mainly the result of climate,
and the mode of culture. It grows well in almost
every part of the world. The northern limit in
Scandinavia is 62°-63° N. L. The different parts
of America in which it is grown include Canada,
New Brunswick, United States, Mexico, the
Western Coast, as far as 40° S. L. In Africa
it is cultivated by the Bed Sea and Mediter-
ranean, in Egypt, Algeria, the Canaries, the
Western Coast, the Cape, and numerous places
in the interior. In Europe, it has been raised
successfully in almost every country ; in Hungary,
Germany, Flanders, and France, it forms an
important agricultural product. In Asia, it has
spread over Turkey, Persia, India, Thibet, China,
Japan, the Philippines, Java, and Ceylon. In
paits of Australia and New Zealand. From the
Equator to 50° N. L., it may be raised without
difficulty. The finest qualities are raised between
15° and 35° N.L.
The most noted tobacco is that of Cuba; and
the most extensive growers are the Americans of
me United States. Two-thirds of our supply is
doubtless derived from the latter source.
In 1665, Virginia exported to England 60,000
pounds. Twenty-five years afterwards, our total
imports were double that amount ; while in 1858
they amounted to62,217,705 pounds, including snuff
and cigars; hence, we may fairly calculate that,
in '-rreat Britain, eight millions of pounds sterling
are annually spent in tobacco.
has been computed that eight hundred mil-
nnS\°u ;h® human race are consumers of tobacco,
that the average annual consumption is 70
ces per head. The total consumption would,
32
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
therefore, approximate to two millions of tons.
The average annual consumption of every male
over eighteen years of age, in each of the following
countries of Europe, as collected from returns, is,
in Austria, 108 ounces; Zollverein, 156 ounces;
Steurverein, including Hanover and Oldenburg,
200 ounces ; France, 88 ounces ; Russia, 40 ounces ;
Portugal, 56 ounces; Spain, 76 ounces; Sardinia,
44 ounces ; Tuscany, 40 ounces ; the Papal States,
32 ounces ; England, 60 ounces ; Holland, 132
ounces ; Belgium, 144 ounces ; Denmark, 128
ounces ; Sweden, 70 ounces ; and Norway, 99
ounces. In the United States of America, the
consumption is 122 ounces ; and in New South
Wales, where there are no restrictive duties, it is
declared to exceed 400 ounces.
“ Jamie, thou shouldst been living at this hour,
Europe hath need of thee.”
To what a height of royal indignation the
“ Misocapnos” would have risen, had its author
postponed its publication 250 years, and re-
appeared, a “new avater,” to see it through the
press in these latter days. He had then required
no Spanish matches to set him on fire; and the
« horrible Stygian smoake” would have required
the addition of all Catesby’s gunpowder to have
made the simile worthy of its royal master, im-
lcss, peradventure, the weight of five millions of
"olden sovereigns from the Inland Revenue Office
had pressed heavily upon his conscience, and he
had purchased himself a new pair of silk stockings,
and rested in peace; then he could have returned
the old pair lie borrowed in his Scotch capital, m
which to meet his English Coui t at London.
Since the days when the green leaf of tobacco
was used as a sovereign application for wounds
and bruises and the bites of poisonous serpents,.
THE “WONDROUS WEED.”
33
there has been no more singular use discovered for
any part of this plant than that of certain African
tribes, who, Denham says, “ colour their teeth and
lips with the flowers of the goorjee tree and the
tobacco plant. The former, he saw only once or
twice ; the latter, was carried every day to market
at Bornou, beautifully arranged in large baskets.
The flowers of both these plants rubbed on the lips
and teeth give them a blood-red appearance, which is
there thought a great beauty.” That the poison of
tobacco should have been turned to account is not
surprising ; and we are more prepared to hear of the
bushmen of South Africa poisoning the heads of
their arrows, not with nicotine, but with a poison
taken from the head of the yellow serpent. These
serpents they kill with the oil of tobacco, one
drop or two producing spasms and death. Count
Bocarme effectually settled the question of the
poisonous property of nicotine, some years since at
Mons. It remained for future experimentalists to
discover that as well as a bane, tobacco was an
antidote.
A young lady in New Hampshire fell into the
mistake ot eating a portion of arsenic, which had
been prepared for the destruction of rats. Painful
symptoms soon led to the discovery. An elderly
lady, then present, advised that she should bemade
to vomit as speedily as possible, and as the unfor-
tunate victim had always exhibited a loathing for
tobacco in any shape, that was suggested as a
ready means of obtaining the desired end. A pine
was uSed but this produced no nausea. A large
p jition of strong tobacco was then chewed, and
sensation 7r °VCn this *d no
“ f®,0 disgust. A strong decoction was then
wUhouTtod4 Wter’ 0f this drank half a pint
emetic torP ™«C‘1? nal'.soa 01' Si(MineS3, or any
emetic or cathartic action. The pains gradually
34
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
subsided, and she began to feel well. On the
arrival of physicians, an emetic was administered.
Tlie patient recovered, and no ill consequences
were experienced. Another case occurred a few
years subsequent at the same place, when tobacco
was administered and no other remedy. In this
instance there was complete and perfect recovery.
From this it may be reasonably concluded, that
tobacco is an antidote of very safe and ready
application in cases of poisoning by arsenic.
Financiers and Chancellors of Exchequers or
Ministers of Finance, look with particularly
favourable eyes upon the “ Indian Weed/’ Our
own official in that department, can now calculate
on nearly six millions of safe income in his esti-
mates for a year, from this fertile source. Our near
neighbours of France consider four millions too
good an addition to the revenue, to denounce its
use. Austria and Spain each manages to supply
the state coffers with a million and a half of
money from the tobacco monopoly. Russia, the
Zollverein, Portugal, Sardinia, and the Papal
States, individually realizes from three to four
hundred thousands of pounds every year, from the
use or abuse of this most popular plant in the
world.
Although this habit, in its increase, may cause
throbs of ecstatic -joy in the breasts of certain
officials, there are other sections of society holding
antagonistic opinions. The Maine Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church at a late session,
passed the following preamble and resolutions
AVhcrGcis — The use ot tobcicco pre\nils to &
prodigious extent in our country, as indicated m
the reports of our national treasury, and other
authentic documents, from which it appears tha
over 100,000,000 pounds of this article are con-
sumed in the United States annually, at a cost to
THE “WONDROUS WEED.”
35
the consumers of over 20,000,000 dollars, and
whereas, we have reason to believe that its use is
rapidly increasing, and that even ministers of the
Gospel are becoming,- to a great extent, guilty of
this debasing indulgence ; therefore —
£' I. — Resolved. That we view these facts as a
matter of profound alarm, and such an evil as to
demand the serious attention of the Church.
“II- — Resolved. That we regard the use of
tobacco as an expensive and needless indulgence,
unfavourable to cleanliness and good manners,
unbecoming in Christians, and especially in
Christian Ministers, and, like the use of alcohol, a
violation of the laws of physical, intellectual, and
moral life.
III. — Resolved. “ That we will discountenance
the use of that injurious narcotic, except as a
medicine prescribed by a physician, by precept
and example, and by all proper means.”
De Lagny states that the “Old Believers” a sect
of dissenters from the Greek Church in Russia
look wi th horror on the use of tobacco. The
Wahhabees, a Pharasaical sect of strict Moslems
are rigid in their condemnation of tobacco, and in
their adherence to the precepts of the Koran, and
the traditions of the Prophet.
There are to be met with nearer home, those
who are inveterate against its use, and who wil-
J01n with Cowper in denouncing the
“Pernicious weed which banishes for hours,
That sex whose presence civilizes ours.”
w_fn- °fCc^ion1al pamphlet or letter, makes its
nt° the hands of speculative publishers or
m “uC T paP?ra' S‘™S gratuitous advice, and
which is bvT,CT0ry lan®uagc’ aSainst a kabit
too mom by f -t0° ^eral, and has been tested by
too many experiments not to be well known, and
d 2
36
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
equally well understood. These “counterblasts’
differ but little from the model one which each
would seem to aim at imitating — the quaint
expressions, the only redeeming quality in the
original, alone being wanting.
“ Surely,” saith the high and mightie Prince
James, ££ smoke becomes a kitchen farre better than
a dining chamber ; and yet it makes a kitchen
oftentimes in the inward parts of men, soyling and
infecting them with an unctuous and oyly kind of
soote, as hath been found in some great tobacco
takers, that after their death were opened. Now,
my good countrymen, let us (I pray you), consider
what honour or policie can move us to imitate the
barbarous and beasflie manners of the wild, god-
lesse, and slavish Indians, especially in so vile and
filthy a custome. Shall we, that disdain to imitate
the manner of our neighbour, France (having the
style of the greate Christian langdome), and that
cannot endure the spirit of the Spaniards, (their
king being now comparable in largenesse of
dominions to the greatest Emperor of Turkey),
shall we, I say, that have been so long cmll and
wealthy in peace, famous and invincible in war,
fortunate in both— we that have been ever able to
aid any of our neighbours (but never deafened
any of their ears with any of our supplications for
assistance), shall we, I say, without blushing, abase
ourselves so far as to imitate these beasthe Indians,
slaves to the Spaniards, the refuse of the worlde
and, as yet, aliens from the holy covenant of God ?
Why do we not as well imitate them in walkm0
naked as they do, in preferring glasses fathers
and toys, to gold and precious stones, as they do t
Yea why do we not deny God, and adore the
devils, as^hey do? Have you not, then, reasons
to forbear this filthie noveltie, so basely grounded
so foolishly received, and so grosslie mistaken m
THE “WOND’ROUS WEED.”
37
the right use thereof ? In your abuse thereof,
sinning against God, harming yourselves both in
person and goods, and raking also, thereby, the
marks and notes of vanitie upon you, by the
custom thereof, making yourselves to be wondered
at by all forreine civill nations, and by all strangers
that come among you, to be scorned and con-
temned ; a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to
to the nose, harmfull to the braine, dangerous to
the lungs, and, in the blacke stinking fume thereof,
nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoake of
the pit that is bottomless.”
Wise and worthy king, adieu. Gold stick, lead
the way. We hasten from your royal presence to
join the Cabinet of Oloudland. Vive la Virginie!
CHAPTER IV.
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
“ A magnificent array of clouds ;
And as the breeze plays on them, they assume
The forms of mountains, castled cliffs, and hills,
And shadowy glens, and groves, and beetling rocks;
And some, that seem far off, are voyaging
Their sunbright path in folds of silver.”
u Right,” said I to myself, as I lay down the
volume of Hyperion, in which I had been glancing
for repose. u I, too, have a friend, not yet a sexa-
genary bachelor, but a bachelor notwithstanding.
He has one of those well oiled dispositions which
turn upon the hinges of the world without creak-
ing, except during east winds, and when there is
no butter in the house. The hey-day of life is
over with him ; but his old age (begging his
pardon) is sunny and chirping, and a merry heart
still nestles in his tottering frame, like a swallow
that builds in a tumble-down chimney. He is a
professed Squire of Dames. The rustle of a silk
^own is music to his ears, and his imagination is
continually lantern-led by some wiU-witb-the-wisp
in the shape of a lady’s stomacher. In his devo-
tion to the fair sex — the muslin, as lie calls it he
is the gentle flower of chivalry. It is amusing to
see how quickly he strikes into the scent of a lady’s
handkerchief. ' When once fairly in pursuit, there
is no such thing as throwing him out. His heart
looks out at his eye ; and Ins inward delight
tingles down to the tail of his coat. He loves to
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
39
bask in the sunshine of a smile; when he can
breathe the sweet atmosphere of kid gloves and
cambric handkerchiefs, his soul is in its element ;
and his supreme delight is to pass the morning, to
use his own quaint language, c in making dodging
calls, and wriggling round among the ladies/ ” Yet
there are a few little points in the picture which
want retouching, and beyond all, one great omission
to be remedied. It is the pipe. What would the
worthy Abbot be without his pipe ? Just as un-
comfortable as we should presume a dog to be
without his tail. As incomplete as a sketch of
Napoleon without his boots and cocked-hat. See
hira in a cloud, and he seems the very Premier of
Cloudland. It was said of Staines, Lord Mayor of
London, that he could not forego his pipe long
enough to be sworn into office, without a whiff;
and a print was published representing his lordship
smoking in his state carriage ; the sword bearer
smoking — the mace bearer smoking — the coach-
men smoking — the footmen smoking — the posti-
lions smoking — and, to crown the whole — all the
six horses smoking also. The ninth of November
on which this event occurred, must needs have
been a cloudy day.
Another cloudy day arose upon London when
the great plague broke out, and on this occasion,
the smoke of tobacco mingled with the gloom. In
Reliquiae Hearnianae, it is stated that “ none who
kept tobacconist’s shops had the plague. It is cer-
tain that smoking was looked upon as a most ex-
cellent preservative, insomuch, that even children
were obliged to smoke. And I remember ” con-
tinues the writer, « that I heard formerly Tom
Kogers, who was yeoman beadle, say, that when he
was that year when the plague raged, a schoolboy
t Lton, all the boys of that school were obliged
to smoke in the school every morning, and that he
40 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
was never whipped so much in his life as he was
one morning for not smoking.” We may imagine
the experiences of some of these urchins at their
first or second attempt, and in remembrance, it
may be, of some similar experience of our own, see
no cause for wonder at Tom Rogers not liking to
elevate his yard of clay, and view the curls of
smoke arise from the ashes of the smouldering
weed. Another amateur who flourished after the
great fire had burnt out all traces of the great
plague, has left us the record of his “ day of smoke,”
and the cudgelling he received for doing that which
Tom Rogers was whipped for not doing —
“ I shall never forget the day when I first
smoked. It was a day of exultation and humilia-
tion. It was a Sunday. My uncle was a great
smoker. He dined with us that day ; and after the
meal, he pulled out his cigar case, took a cheroot,
and smoked it. I always liked the fumes of tobacco,
so I went near him and observed how he put the
cheroot into his mouth, the way he inhaled the
smoke, how he puffed it out again, and the other
coquetries of a regular smoker. I envied my uncle,
and was determined that I would smoke myself.
Uncle fell asleep. How, thought I, here’s an
opportunity not to he lost. I quietly abstracted
three cigars from the case which was lying on the
table, and sneaked off. Being a lad of a generous
disposition, I wislicd that my brothers and
cousins should also partake of the heneiits of a
smoke, so I imparted the secret to them, at
which’ they were highly pleased.- When and
where to smoke was the next consideration. It
was arranged that when the old people had gone
to church in the evening, we should smoke ni
the coach-house. We were six in number. I
divided the three cigars into halves, and gave
each a piece. Oh, how our hearts did palpitate
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
41
with joy ! Fire was stealthily brought from
the cook-house, and we commenced to light
our cigars. Such puffing I never did see. After
each puff we would open our mouths quite wide,
to let the smoke out. At the performance of the
first puff we laughed heartily — the smoke coming
out of our mouths was so funny. At the second
puff we didn’t laugh so much, but began to spit ;
we thought the cigars were very bitter. After the
third puff we looked steadfastly at each other —
each thought the other looked pale. I could not
give the word of command for another pull. I felt
choked, and my teeth began to chatter. There
was a dead silence for a second. We were ashamed,
or could not divulge the state of our feelings.
Charlie was the first who gave symptoms of re-
bellion in his stomach. Then there was a general
revolt. What occurred afterwards I did not know,
till I got up from my bed next morning, to expe-
rience the delights of a sound flagellation. After
that I abhorred the smell of tobacco — would never
look at a cigar or think of it.” All this happened,
as the narrator informed us, at the age of seven—
an early age, some may imagine, who do not know
that in Yizagapatam and other places on the same
coasts, where the women smoke a great deal, it is
a common thing for the mothers to appease their
squalling brats by transferring the cigar from their
own mouths to that of their infants. These young-
sters being accustomed to the art of pulling, suck
away gloriously for a second, and then fall asleep.
Howard Malcom states, “that in Burmah the
consumption of tobacco for smoking is very great,
not in pipes, but in cigars or cheroots, with
wrappers made of the leaves of the Then-net tree.
In making them, a little of the dried root, chopped
nne, is added, and sometimes a small portion of
sugar, ihese are sold at a rupee per thousand.
42
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Smoking is more prevalent than c chewing coon ’
among both sexes, and is commenced by children
almost as soon as they are weaned. I have seen,”
he continues, “ little creatures of two or three years,
stark naked, tottering about with a lighted cigar
in their mouth. It is not uncommon for them to
become smokers even before they are weaned — the
mother often taking the cheroot from her mouth
and putting it into that of the infant.”
In China, the practice is so universal, that every
female, from the age of eight or nine years, as an
appendage to her dress, wears a small silken pocket
to hold tobacco and a pipe.
The use of tobacco has become universal through
the Chinese empire; men, women, children, every-
body smokes almost without ceasing. They go
about their daily business, cultivate the fields, ride
on horseback, and write constantly with the pipe in
their mouths. During their meals, if they stop for
a moment, it is to smoke a pipe ; and if they wake
in the night, they are sure to amuse themselves in
the same way. It may easily be supposed, there-
fore, that in a country containing, according to M.
Hue, 300,000,000 of smokers, without counting
the tribes of Tartary and Thibet, who lay in their
stocks in the Chinese markets, the culture of
tobacco has become very important. The cultiva-
tion is entirely free, every one being at liberty to
plant it in his garden, or in the open fields, in
whatever quantity he chooses, and afterwards to
sell it, wholesale or retail, just as he likes, without
the Government interfering with him in the
slightest degree. The most celebrated tobacco is
that obtained in Leao-tong in Mantchuria, and in
the province of Sse-tchouen. The leaves, before
becoming articles of commerce, undergo various
preparatory processes, according to the practice of
the locality. In the South, they cut them into ex-
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
43
tremely fine filaments; tlie people of the North
content themselves with drying them and rubbing
them up coarsely, and then stuff them at once into
their pipes.
According to etiquette and the custom of the
court, Persian princes must have seven hours for
sleep. When they get up, they begin to smoke the
narghile or shishe, and they continue smoking all
day long. When there is company, the narghile
is first presented to the chief of the assembly, who,
after two or three whiffs, hands it to the next, and
so on it goes descending; but in general, the
great smoke only with the great, or with strangers
of distinction. The Schali smokes by himself, or
only with one of his brothers, the tombak, the
smoke of which is of a very superior kind, the
odour being exquisite. It is the finest tombak of
Shiraz.
Mr. Neale says — c‘ Talk about the Turks being
great , smokers ; why, the Siamese beat them to
nothing. I have often seen a child only just able
to toddle about, and certainly not more than two
years of age, quit its mother’s breast to go and get
a whiff from papa’s cigaret, or, as they are here
termed, borees— cigarets made of the dried leaf of
the plantain tree, inside of which the tobacco is
rolled up.”
In Japan, after tea. drinking, the apparatus for
smoking is brought in, consisting of a hoard of
wood or brass, though not always of the same
structure, upon which are placed a small fire-pan
with coals, a pot to spit in, a small box filled with
tobacco cut small, and some long pipes with small
brass heads, as also another japanned board or
cush, with socano — that is, sometliing to eat, such
as tigs, nuts, cakes, and sweetmeats. “ There are
no other spitting pots,” says Kocmpfer, “brought
nto the room but those which come along with the
44
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
tobacco. If there be occasion for more, they make
use of small pieces of bamboo, a band broad and
high being sawed from between the joints and
hollowed.”
In Nicaragua, the dress of the urchins, from
twelve or fourteen downwards, consists generally
of a straw hat and a cigar — the latter sometimes
unlighted and stuck behind the ear, but oftener
lighted and stuck in the mouth — a costume
sufficiently airy and picturesque, and excessively
cheap. The women have their hair braided in
two long locks, which hang down behind, and
and give them a school-girly look, quite out of
keeping with the cool deliberate manner in which
they puff their cigars, occasionally forcing the
smoke in jets from their nostrils.*
On the Amazon, all persons — men and women —
use tobacco in smoking ; when pipes are wanting,
they make cigarillos of the fine tobacco, wrapped
in a paper-like bark, called Toware ; and one of
these is passed round, each person, even to the
little boys, taking two or three puffs in his turn.f
The Papuans pierce their ears and insert in
the orifice, ornaments or cigars of tobacco, rolled in
pandan leaf, of which they are great consumers.
A Spaniard knows no crime so black that it
should be visited by the deprivation of tobacco.
In the Havana, the convict who is deprived of
the ordinary comforts, or even of the necessaries of
life, may enjoy his cigar, if he can beg or borrow
it ; if he stole it, the offence would be considered
venial. At the doorway of most of the shops
hang little sheet-iron boxes filled with lighted
coals, at which the passer-by may light cigars;
and on the balustrade of the staircase of every
* Squier’s “ Nicaragua.”
t Edwards’ “ Voyage up the Amazon.”
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
45
house stands a small chafing dish for the same
purpose. Fire for his cigar, is the only thing for
which a Spaniard does not think it necessary to
ask and thank with ceremonious courtesy. If he
has permitted his cigar to go out, he steps up to
the first man he meets — nobleman or galley slave,
as the case may be — and the latter silently hands
his smoking weed ; for it is impossible that two
Spaniards should meet and not have one lighted
cigar between them. The light obtained, the
lightee returns the cigar to the lighter in silence.
A shorthand suddenly checked motion of the hand,
as the cigar is extended, is the only acknowledg-
ment of the courtesy. This is never, however,
omitted. . Women smoke as well as men ; and in
a full railroad car, every person, man, woman, and
child, may be seen smoking. To placard “ no smok-
ing allowed;'' and enforce it, would ruin the road.
A regular smoker in Cuba will consume perhaps
twenty or thirty cigars a day, but they are all
fresh. What we call a fine old cigar, a Cuban
would not smoke.
At Manilla, the women smoke as well as the
men. One manufactory employs about 9,000
women in making the Manilla cheroots ; another
establishment employs 3,000 men in making paper
cigars or cigarettes. The paper cigars are chiefly
smoked by men ; the women prefer the “ puros ”
the largest they can get. 5
The Binua of Johore, of both sexes, indulge
rrv.C ^ tobacco. It is their favourite luxury.
1 he women are often seen seated together weaving-
mats; and each with a cigar in her mouth. When
speaking, it is transferred to the perforation in
he ear. When met paddling their canoes the
cigar is seldom wanting. The Mintira women
smoke°itmUC 1 addlcted to tobacco> but they do not
46
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
In South America, many of the tribes are free
indulgers in tobacco ; and this extends also to the
female and juvenile sections of the community.
A story, which Signor Calistro narrated to Mr.
Wallace whilst travelling in the interior of Brazil,
shows that it was nothing but a common occur-
rence for little girls' to smoke. This story is in
itself interesting considered apart from all circum-
stances of veracity. “ There was a negro who had
a pretty wife, to whom another negro was rather
attentive when be had an opportunity. One day
the husband went out to hunt, and the other party
thought it a good opportunity to pay a visit to
the lady. The husband, however, returned rather
unexpectedly, and the visitor climbed up on the
rafters to be out of sight, among the old boards
and baskets that were stowed away there. The
husband put his gun by in a corner, and called to
his wife to get Ins supper, and then sat down in
his hammock. Casting his eyes up to the raffers, he
saw a leg protruding from among the baskets, and
thinking it something supernatural, crossed himself,
and said, ‘ Lord deliver us from the legs appearing
overhead !’ The other, hearing this, attempted to
draw up his legs out of sight; but, losing his
balance, came down suddenly on the floor in front
of the astonished husband, who, half-frightened,
asked, c Where do you come from ?’ ‘ I have just
come from heaven,’ said the other, k and have
brought you news of your little daughter Maria.
‘ Oh, wife, wife ! come and see a man who has
brought us news of our little daughter Maria!’
then, turning to the visitor, continued, ‘and what
was my little daughter doing when you left?’
‘ Ob, she was sitting at the feet of the Virgin with
a golden crown on her head, and smoking a golden
pipe a yard long.’ ‘ And did she send any message
to us P’ ‘ Oh, yes ; she sent many remembrances,
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
47
and begged you to send her two pounds of your
tobacco from the little rhoosa ; they have not got
any half so good up there.’ ‘ Oh, wife, wife, bring
two pounds of our tobacco from the little rhoosa,
for our daughter Maria is in heaven, and she says
they have not any half so good up there.’ So the
tobacco was brought, and the visitor was departing,
when he was asked, 1 Are there many white men up
there?’ ‘Very few,' he replied; ‘they are all down
below with the diabo.’ ‘ I thought so,’ the other
replied, apparently quite satisfied ; ‘ good night.’ ”
On the Orinoco, tobacco has been cultivated by
the native tribes from time immemorial. The
amanacs and the Maypures of Guiana wrap maize
leaves around their cigars as did the Mexicans at
the time of the arrival of Cortes ; and, as in Chili
is done at the present day. The Spaniards have
substituted paper for the maize husks, in imitation
of them. 1 he little cigarettes of Chili are called
Ao/ztas They are about two inches and a half
long, filled with coarsely powdered tobacco. As
eir use is apt to stain the fingers of the smoker
the fashionable young gentlemen carry a pair of de-
licate gold tweezers for holding them. The cinar
p 80 Snia11 tllat & requires not more than three&or
i tervAn,UteS t0 Sm°ke °na The7 serve t0 AH up the
ttetpn ® conversation. At tertulias, the gen-
craen sometimes retire to a balcony to smoke one
or two cigars after a dance.
knmv° 1,001 1{ndians of tbe forests of the Orinoco
MonfpWe 1 “ Cud the Sreat nobles of the Court
excellent zuma’.that the smoke of tobacco is an
So af»rCOUO ; ”d they "se it. “Ot only to pro
wiescencp Aap’ bllt alsr> to lndlloe a state o£
lien At tl n "'-v cail dreaming with the eyes
If ^ourt.of Montezuma the pipe was
with 'a,K . wdile the nostrils were stopped
wrth the other. m order that the smote ndght be
48
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
more easily swallowed. Bernal Diaz also informs
us, that after Montezuma had dined, they presented
to him three little canes, highly ornamented, con-
taining liquid amher, mixed with a herb they call
tobacco, and when he had sufficiently viewed and
heard the singers, he took a little of the smoke of
one of these canes, and then laid himself down to
sleep. A tribe of Indians originally inhabiting
Panama, improved upon this method, which occu-
pied both hands, and involved considerable trouble ;
the method adopted by the chiefs and great men of
this tribe, was to employ servants to blow, tobacco
smoke in their faces, which was convenient and
encouraged their indolence ; they indulged in the
luxury of tobacco in no other way.
Amongst the Bocky Mountain Indians, it is a
universal practice to indulge in smoking, and when
they do so they saturate their bodies in smoke.
They use but little tobacco, mixing with it a plant
which renders the fume less offensive. It is a
social luxury, for the enjoyment of which, they
form a circle, and only one pipe is used. Ihe
principal chief begins by drawing three whiffs, the
first of which he sends upward, and then passes
the pipe to the person next in dignity, and in like
manner the instrument passes round imtil it comes
to the first chief again. He then draws four whiffs,
the last of which he blows through his nose, in two
columns, in circling ascent, as through a double
fined chimney ; and their pipes are not of the race
stigmatized by Knickerbocker as plebeian. None ot
the smoke of those villanous short pipes, con-
tinually ascending in a cloud about the nose,
penetrating into and befogging the cerebellum,
drying up all the kindly moisture of the brain, ana
rendering the people who use them vapourish and
testy ; or, what is worse, from being goodly, burly,
sleek-conditioned men, to become like the Dutcli
THE CABINET OP CLOUDLAND.
49
yeomanry who smoked short pipes, a lantern-jawed,
smoke-dried, leathern-hided race. The red people,
whether of the Rocky mountains or of the Missis-
sippi, belonged to the aristocracy of the long pipes.
Let us hope that they have not degenerated, and
become followers of the customs of the barbarian
ultra-marines.
Turn over the leaves of “Westward Ho !” until
you reach the end of the seventh chapter, and
then read of Salvation Yeo and his fiery repu-
tation, and his eulogium — “ for when all things were
made, none was made better than this; to be a
lone man’s companion, a bachelor’s friend, a hun-
gry man’s food, a sad man’s cordial, a wakeful
man’s sleep, and a chilly man’s fire, sir ; while, for
stanching of wounds, purging of rheum, and settling
of the stomach, there’s no herb like unto it under
the canopy of heaven.” The truth of which eulogium
Amyas testeth in after years. But, “ mark in the
meanwhile,” says one of the veracious chroniclers
from whom I draw these facts, writing seemingly
in the palmy days of good Queen Anne and “ not
having (as he says) before his eyes the fear of that
misocapnic Solomon James I. or of any other lyin°-
Stuart,” “ that not to South Devon, but to North*
not to Sir Walter Raleigh, but to Sir Amyas
Leigh ; not to the banks of the Dart, but to the
banks of iorndge, does Europe owe the dayspring
ot the latter age, that age of smoke which shall
endure and thrive when the age of brass shall have
vanished, like those of iron and of gold, for whereas
tr. Lane is said to have brought home that divine
weed (as Spenser well names it), from Virginia in
ie year 1584, it is hereby indisputable that full
Tn!irra earlier> by UUge of Mford in the
hermit? (whlch a11 true smokers shall
• i C. tci T18^ as a hallowed spot and point of
pilgrimage) first twinkled that fiery beacon and
50
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
beneficent loadstar of Bidefordian commerce, to
spread hereafter from port to port, and peak to
peak, like the watch-fires which proclaimed the
coming of the Armada and the fall of Troy, even
to the shores of the Bosphorus, the peaks of the
Caucasus, and the farthest isles of the Malayan
sea; while Bideford, metropolis of tobacco, saw
her Pool choked up with Virginian traders, and
the pavement of her Bridgeland Street groaning
beneath the savoury bales of roll Trinidado, leaf, )
and pudding ; and the grave burghers, bolstered }
and blocked out of their own houses by the scarce
less savoury stockfish casks which filled, cellar,
parlour, and attic, were fain to sit outside the ;
door, a silver pipe in every strong right hand, and •
each left hand chinking cheerfully the doubloons
deep lodged in the auriferous caverns of their
trunkhose ; while in those fairy rings of fragrant •
mist, which circled round their contemplative I
brows, flitted most pleasant visions of Wiltshire f
farmers jogging into Sherborne fair, their heaviest I
shillings in their pockets to buy (unless old
Aubrey lies) the lotus leaf of Porridge for its '
weight in silver, and draw from thence, after the I
example of the Caciques of Dariena, supplies of f
inspiration much needed then, as now, in those |
Gothamite regions. And yet did these improve, ;
as Englishmen, upon the method of those heathen
savages; for the latter (so Salvation Yeo reported ■
as a truth, and Dampier’s surgeon, Mr Wafer, 1
after him), when they will deliberate of war or
policy, sit round in the hut of the chief ; where
being placed, enter to them a small boy with a
cigarro of the bigness of a rolling pm, and pulls
the smoke thereof into the face of each warrior,
from the eldest to the youngest; while they,
putting their hand funnel-wise round their mouths,
draw into the sinuosities of the brain, that more
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
51
than Delphic vapour of prophecy ; which boy pre-
sently falls down in a swoon, and being dragged
out by the heels and laid by to sober, enter another
to puff at the sacred cigarro, till he is dragged out
likewise, and so on till the tobacco is finished, and
the seed of wisdom has sprouted in every soul into
the tree of meditation, bearing the flowers of
eloquence, and, in due time, the fruit of valiant
action.” And with this quaint fact, narrated in
the bombastic style of chronicles, close th the
seventh chapter of the voyages and adventures of
Sir Amyas Leigh, under the style and title already
mentioned, and after which digression the course of
our narrative proceedeth as before.
The inhabitants of Yemen smoke their well-
loved dschihschi pipes, with long stems passed
through water, that the smoke may come cold to
the mouth ; and which, when a few inveterate
smokers meet together, keep up a boiling and
bubbling noise, not unlike a distant corps of
drummers in full performance.
. ^ke Austrian dominions, the lovers of the
pipe may be found amongst all classes of the
community. Kohl writes, that after taking two
or three pipes of tobacco with the pasha at New
Ursova, he went into the market-place, where he
round several merchants who invited him to sit
own, and again he was presented with a pipe.
f/om this place he went to a mosque, calling in
at a schoo1 on hig way._«The little Turkish
dents were making a most heathenish noise,
JZ c°ntrasted arausing1.7 with the quiet and
. , demeanour of their teacher, who lay
Sne nnd XXVT C\bench’ where he sraoked kis
to look otSatl He afterwards went to
saw ') Inf iie dedications, and here and there
Pipe' in thT Vrith hLs musket in one hand and
PTe m the other. « Twenty-five soldiers were
e 2
52
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
seen smoking under a shed, and on the ground lay
a number of shells or hollow halls, which they
assured us wore filled with powder and other
combustibles, yet the soldiers smoked among
them unconcernedly, and allowed us to do the
same/’ A gentleman from Constantinople told
him that he had seen worse instances of careless-
ness, in Asia Minor. He had there been one day in
the tents of a pasha, where some wet powder was
drying and being made into cartridges, and the
men engaged in the work were smoking all the
■while.
In the “ Stettin Gazette,” lately appeared a
notification that the Prussian clergy had privately
been requested by the higher authorities to abstain
from smoking in public. We are not accustomed
to it, and should certainly think it odd to see
clergymen perambulating the streets with shoit I
pipes in their mouths.
In all parts of the Sultan’s dominions, the pipe
or narghile has a stem generally flexible, about
six feet in length; and at this the owner wilil
suck for hours. You may see a man travelling,
mounted aloft on a tall camel, with his body
oscillating to and fro like a sailor’s when he I
rows, but still that man has his two yards ot pipe
before him. lrou may see two men caulking a
ship’s side as she lies careened near the shore.
Up to their waists in water, they act up to t he
principle of division of labour ; for one will smoke
as the other plies the hammer, and then the
worker takes his turn at the narghile. Arabs
sitting at work, fix their pipes m the sand In
the potteries both hands must be employed— how,
then, can the potter smoke? Necessity is the
mother of invention. One end of the pipe is sus-
pended by a cord from the ceiling, the other is
in the potter’s mouth.
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
53
In smoking, Lane informs us, the people of
Egypt and other countries of the East draw in
their breath freely, so that much of the smoke
descends into the lungs ; and the terms which
they use to express “ smoking tobacco,” signify
“ drinking smoke,” or “ drinking tobacco for the
same word signifies both smoke and tobacco. Few
of them spit while smoking ■ he had seldom seen
them do so.
It was something like drinking of smoke that
Napoleon accomplished in his unsuccessful smoking
campaign. He once took a fancy to try to smoke.
Everything was prepared for him, and his Majesty
took the amber mouth-piece of the narghile be-
tween his bps; he contented himself with open-
ing and shutting his mouth alternately, without in
the least drawing his breath. “ The devil,” he re-
plied—why, there’s no result ! ” It was shewn that
he made the attempt badly, and the proper method
practically exhibited to him. At last he drew in
a mouthful, when the smoke — which he had dis-
covered the means of drawing in, hut knew not
to, exPel— found its way into his throat, and
thence by Ins nose, almost blinding him. As soon
as he recovered breath, he cried out— “ Awav with
it ! What an abomination ! Oh ! the lion my
stomach turns ! ” In fact, the annoyance continued
lor an hour, and he renounced for ever a habit
W ahu 1G was ^ on^ amuse sluggards.
Although Napoleon managed to fail, thousands
less mighty have managed to succeed. There is a
curious kind of legend mentioned in Brands
Antiquities, by way of accounting for the frequent
use and continuance of taking tobacco, for the
eracity of which he declares that he will not
Amp " ' ^Gn the Christians first discovered
flip nCai t evil was afraid of losing his hold of
the people there by the appearance of Christianity.
54
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
He is reported to have told some Indians of his
acquaintance, that he had found a way to he re-
venged on the Christians for beating up his
quarters, for he would teach them to take tobacco,
to which, when they had once tasted it, they should
become perpetual slaves.”
y Without venturing to authenticate this strange
story, in the moral of which Napoleon would have
concurred — with a mental reservation in favour of
snuff — after the above defeat, let us console tobacco
lovers, that whilst the success of the first temptation
closed the gates of Paradise, the success of the
second opens them again.
The following from an old collection of epigrams
is, in every respect, worthy of the theme.
“ All dainty meats I do defie,
Which feed men fat as swine ;
He is a frugal man indeed
That on a leaf can dine.
He needs no napkin for his hands
His fingers’ ends to wipe,
That keeps his kitchen in a box,
And roast meat in a pipe.”
In Hamburg, 40,000 cigars are smoked daily in
a population scarcely amounting to 45,000 adult
males. And in London, the consumption must be
considerable to furnish, from the profits of retail-
ing, a living to 1566 tobacconists. In England,
we may presume that the largest smoker of tobacco
must be the Queen, since an immense kiln at the
docks, called the Queen’s pipe, is occasionally
lighted and primed with hundredweights of
tobacco, sea damaged or otherwise spoiled, at the
same time blowing a cloud
“ Wrhich Turks might envy, Africans adore.”
The total number of cigars consumed in France
in 1857 is stated to have been 523,636,000 ; and
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
55
the total revenue of the French Government from
the tobacco monopoly is estimated at £7,320,000
annually. In Russia the revenue is £7,200,000
annually ; and in Austria near £3,000,000. These
are large sums to pay for the privilege of puffing.
The Buffalo Democracy estimates the annual
consumption of tobacco at 4,000,000,000 of pounds.
This is all smoked, chewed, or snuffed. Suppose it
all made into cigars 100 to the pound, it would
produce 400,000,000,000 of cigars. These cigars5
at the usual length, four inches, if joined together,
would form one continuous cigar 25,253,520 miles
long, which would encircle the earth more than
1000 times. Cut up into equal pieces, 250,000
miles in length, there would be over 1000 cigars
which would extend from the centre of the earth
to the centre of the moon. Put these cigars into
boxes 10 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 3 inches
high, 100 to the box, and it would require
4,000,000,000 boxes to contain them. Pile up
these boxes in a solid mass, and they would occupy
a space of 294,444,444 cubic feet ; if piled up 20
feet high, they would cover a farm of 338 acres ;
and if laid side by side, the boxes would cover
nearly 20,000 acres. Allowing this tobacco, in its
unmanufactured state, to cost sixpence a pound
and we have 100,000,000 pounds sterling expended
yearly upon tins weed ; at least one-and-a-half times
as much more is required to manufacture it into a
marketable form, and dispose of it to the consumer.
At the very lowest estimate, then, the human family
expend every year £250,000,000 in the gratified
won ot an acquired habit, or a crown for every man
woman, and child upon the earth. This sum the
writer calculates, would build 2 railroads round the
from .t\C,°,8t ?-f f >°?° I'cr « 16 railroads
100 000 f pAt untlC to -the 1Jacific- If would build
100,000 churches, costing £2,500 each, or 1,000,000
56 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
dwellings costing £25 each (rather small !) It
would employ 1,000,000 of preachers and 1,000,000
of teachers, giving each a salary of £125. It would
support 3.( millions of young men at college, allow-
ing to each £75 a year for expenses.
What a cloud the “ human family ” would blow if
they had each his share of the 4,000,000,000 pounds
dealt out to him in cigars on the morning of the
25th of December, in the year of our Lord, 1860.
One feels dubious as to the number who would
refuse to take their quota, if there were nothing to
pay.
Dr. Dwight Baldwin states, that in 1851, the
city of New York spent 3,650,000 dollars for
cigars alone, while it only spent 3,102,500 dollars
for bread. The Grand Erie Canal, 364 miles
long, the longest in the world, with its eighteen
aqueducts, and eighty-four locks, was made in six
years, at a cost of 7,000,000 dollars. The cigar
hill in the city of New York would have paid the
whole in two years.
The number of cigar manufactories in America
is 1,400, and the number of hands employed in
them 7,000 and upwards. The total estimated
weekly produce of these manufactories is 1 1 -V
millions, and the yearly 840 millions. At 7 dollars
per 1,000, these would be worth 5 million dollars,
and adding 50 per cent, for jobber and retailer,
the total cost to consumers would be 7^ million
dollars— add to this the sum paid for imported
cigars, 6 million dollars, and we ha\c 1 3 1 million
dollars, the value of cigars consumed yearly in the
United States, without adding profit to the im-
ported cigars ; so that, including the amount ex-
pended in tobacco for smoking and chewing, an
in snuff, the annual cost ol the tobacco consumed
vearly, is not less than 30 million dollars or
£6,000,000. This is but little more than is
THE CABINET OF CLOUDLAND.
57
realized annually in Great Britain by the excise
duty alone on the tobacco consumed at home ; but
it must be remembered, that in America tobacco
is free of the duty of three shillings and twopence
per pound, and free of charges for an Atlantic
passage, so that the tobacco represented by 6
millions there, would be represented here by at
least six times that amount.
_ Cloudland costs something to keep up its dig-
nity after all, but beauty is seductive, and so is
tobacco.
Yes! St. John (Percy, we mean — not “the
Divine”), there must be “magic in the cigar.”
Then, to the sailor, on the wide and tossing ocean,
what consolation is there, save in his old pipe ?
While smoking his inch and a half of clay, black
and polished, his. Susan or his Mary becomes
manifest before him, he sees her, holds converse
with her spirit— in the red glare from the ebony
bowl, as he walks the deck at night, or squats on
the windlass, are reflected the bright sparkling
eyes of his sweetheart. The Irish fruit-woman^
the Jai vie without a fare, the policeman on a quiet
beat, the soldier at his ease, all bow to the mystic
power of tobacco* — all acknowledge the infatua-
tions of Cloudland.
* Bentley’s Magazine.
CHAPTER Y.
PIPEOLOGY.
“ It was his constant companion and solace. IVas he gay, he smoked
—was he sad, he smoked— his pipe was never out of his mouth— it
was a part of his physiognomy ; without it his best friends would not
know him. Take away his pipe— you might as well take away his nose."
. — Knickerbocker’s New York.
Semele, in a deatli by fire, became a martyr to
love. Thus Virginia suffers herself to he burnt
for the good of the world. From the ashes of the
old Phoenix the young Phoenix was horn. From
the smoke of the Havana spring new visions, and
eloquent delights. As the altars of the gods re-
ceived honour from men, and the censers from
whence ascended the burning incense were sacred
to the deities, wherefore should not the pipe
receive honour, as well as the man who uses it,
or the odorous weed consumed within it. An
enthusiast writes of it thus— “ Philosophers have •
drawn their best similes from their pipes. How
could they have done so, had their pipes first been t
drawn from them ? We see the smoke go up- •
wards — we think of life ; we see the smoke- wreath
fade away— we remember the morning cloud.
Our pipe breaks— we mourn the fragility of earthly
pleasures We smoke it to an end, and tapping :
out the ashes, remember that ‘Dust we are, and’,
unto dust we shall return.’ If we are in love, we.
garnish a whole sonnet with images drawn from
smoking, and first tiff our pipe, and then tune it.
PIPEOLOGY.
59
That spark kindles like her eye, is ruddy as her
lip; this slender clay, as white as her hand, and
slim as her waist ; till her raven hair grows grey
as these ashes, I will love her. This perfume is
not sweeter than her breath, though sweeter than
all else. The odour ascends me into the brain,
fills it full of all fiery delectable shapes, which
delivered over to the tongue, which is the birth
become delectable wit.”
The instruments by which the <c universal weed”
is consumed, are almost as variable in form and
material as the nations indulging in their use.
The pipe of Holland is of porcelain, and that of
our own island of unglazed clay. These latter are
made in large quantities, both at home and
abroad* One factory at St. Omer employs 450
work-people, and produces annually 100,000 gross,
or nearly fifteen millions of pipes ; and another
factory at the same place employs 850 work-people,
and produces 200,000 gross, or nearly thirty mil-
lions of pipes, consuming nearly eight thousand
tons of clay in their manufacture. The quantity
of pipes used annually in London is estimated at
364,000 gross, or 52,416,000 pipes ; it requires
300 men, each man making 20 gross four dozen
per week, for one year, to make them ; the cost of
winch is £40,950. The average length of these
pipes is twelve and. a half inches; and if laid down
in a horizontal position, end to end together, they
would reach to the extent of 10,340 miles, 1,600
yauls ; if they were piled one above another per-
pendicularly they would reach 135,138 times as
g as bt. Pauls; they would weigh 1,137 tons,
indebted to' ®*>™e tobacco P'P® ot <%. the Dutch are
rof,0,Owl,!ch- Mr-
of the Gouda Tine Work ' m 1^?8’states tliat the master
Principal ** -
60 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
10 cwts., and it would require 104 tons, 9 cwts.,
32 lbs. of tobacco to fill them. In 1857 we im-
ported clay pipes to the value of £7,614, which
cannot be short of 121,000 gross, or seventeen and
a half millions. But even with us, pipes were not
always of clay. The earliest pipes used in Britain
are stated to have been made from a walnut-shell
and a straw. Dr. Boyle describes a very primitive
kind of clay pipe used by some of the natives of
India — it is presumed only in cases of necessity.
“ The amateur makes two holes, one longer than
the other, with a piece of stick in a clay soil, in-
clining the stick so that they may meet ; into the
shorter hole he places the tobacco, and applies his
mouth to the other, and thus, as he lies upon the
around, luxuriates in the fumes of the narcotic
herb/’ j ]
Turkish pipe-bowls, or Lules, are composed of
the red clay of Nish, mixed with the white earth
of the Roustchouck. They are very graceful in
form, and are in some cases ornamented with gild-
ing. The u regular Turk” prefers a fresh bowl
daily ; therefore the plain ones are resorted to on
the score of economy. In Turkey and some other
parts of the Orient, it is not unusual to compute
distances, or rather the duration of a journey, by
the numbers of pipes which might be smoked in
the time necessary to accomplish it.
The pipe of the German is, almost universally,
the Meerschaum, that pipe of fame so coveted by
the Northern smoker. These articles are composed
of a kind of magnesian earth, known to the Tar-
tars of the Crimea as kef -til. Pallas erroneously
supposed that this kind of earth was so denomi-
nated from Caffa, and therefore the name signified
“ Caffa earth.” From “ Memnski s Oriental Dic-
tionary” it would appear to. be a derivation of two
Turkish words which signify u foam or “froti
PIPEOLOGY.
61
of the “ earth.” The French name, ecume de mer ,
or “ scum of the sea,” and the Germans “ sea foam,”
have doubtless an intimate relationship with this
same “ keff til” of the Crimean Tartars.
_ Meerschaum earth is met with in various locali-
ties in Spain, 'Greece, Crimea, and Moravia. The
greatest quantity is derived from Asia Minor, it
being dug principally in the peninsula of Natolia,
near the town of Coniah. Before the capture of
the Crimea, this earth is stated to have formed a
considerable article of commerce with Constanti-
nople, where it was used in the public baths to
cleanse the hair of women. The first rude shape
was formerly given to the pipe-bowls on the spot
where the mineral was dug, by pressure in a mould ;
and these rude bowls were more elegantly carved
and finished at Pesth and Vienna. At the present
time, the greater part of the meerschaum is ex-
ported in the shape of irregular blocks ; these un-
dergo a. careful manipulation^ after having been
soaked in a preparation of wax and oil. After
being finished, and sold at the German fairs, some
of them have acquired such an exquisite tint
thiough smoking, in the estimation of connoisseurs,
that they have realized from £40 to £50.
Attempts have not been wanting to imitate this
material, hitherto not very successfully. The large
quantity of parings that are left in trimming up
the bowls, has been rendered available for the
manufacture of what are called “ massa bowls,” but
e) ( o not enjoy the reputation of the genuine
meerschaum bowls.
is yet another mineral production, the use
which Turkish smokers, at any rate, know how
o appreciate. This is amber. The Turk will
expend an almost fabulous sum in an amber mouth-
.u,s. nar9h^eh. Four valuable articles of
this description were exhibited in the Turkish de-
62
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
partment of the Exhibition of 1851, which were
worth together £1000, two of them being valued
at £305 each. There is a current belief in Turkey
that amber is incapable of transmitting infection ;
and as it is considered a great mark of politeness
to offer the pipe to a stranger, this presumed pro-
perty of amber accounts in some measure for the
estimation in which it is held.
The knowledge of amber extends backwards to
a remote antiquity, as the Phoenicians of old fetched
it from Prussia. Since that period it has been
obtained there uninterruptedly, without any dimi-
nution in the quantity annually collected. The
greatest amount of amber is found on the coast of
Prussia proper, between Konigsherg and Dantzic.
From the amber-beds on the coast of Dirschkeim,
extending under the sea, a storm threw up, on the
1st of January, 1848, no less than 800 pounds. The
amber fishery of Prussia formerly produced to the
king about 25,000 crowns per month. After a
storm, the amber coasts are crowded with gatherers,
large masses of amber being occasionally cast up
by the waves. In digging for a well in the coal-
mines near Prague, the workmen lately discovered,
between the bed of gritstone which forms the roof
of that mine and the first layer of coals, a bed of
yellow amber, apparently of great extent. Pieces
weighing from two to three pounds ha\ e been ex-
tracted. There are two kinds— the terrestrial,
which is dug in mines, and the marine, which is
cast ashore during autumnal storms.
Opinions vary as to the origin of amber. Tacitus
and others have considered it a fossil resin exhaled
by certain coniferous trees, traces of which are fre-
quently observed among the amber, whilst other
theorists contend that it is a species of wax or lat,
having undergone a slow process ot putrefaction,
this latter view being based upon the fact that
PIPEOLOGY.
63
chemists are able to convert fatty or cerous sub-
stances into succinic acid by artificial oxidation.
One thing is, however, certain, that amber, at some
period of its history, must have existed in a state
of fluidity, since numerous insects, especially of the
spider kind, are found imbedded in it ; and a spe-
cimen has been shown enclosing the leg of a toad.
Toads are in the habit of living for centuries, we
are informed, cooped up in stone and rock ; but we
are not aware that hitherto any of these extraordi-
nary reptiles have been found buried alive in a mass
of amber. Masses of amber have been found weigh-
ing from 4 lbs. to 6 lbs. — more than large enough
to contain a toad or two of ordinary dimensions.
F or a knowledge of the pipes of modern Egypt,
we must resort for information to Mr. Lane, from
whom we gather the following notes. The pipe
(which is called by many names, as “shibuk,”
“ood, ’ &c.) is generally between four and five feet
long. Some pipes are shorter, and some of greater
length. The most common kind used in Egypt is
made of a kind of wood called “ garmashak.” The
giealu pait of the stick is covered with silk, which
is confined at each extremity by gold thread, often
intertwined with coloured silks, or by a tube of
gilt silver; and at the lower extremity of the
covering is a tassel of silk. The covering was
originally designed to be moistened with water in
order to cool the pipe, and consequently the smoke
by evaporation; but this is only done when the
pipe is old, or not handsome. Cherrystick pipes
w nch are never covered, are used by some persons’
particularly in the winter. In summer, the smoke
r? -T1 from .the cherrystick pipe as from
ttc k‘„d heforc mentioned. The bowl is of baked
earth, coloured red or brown. The mouthpiece is
coloured1 °VW° ^ “°re pieCCS °f °Pa(lue> Hght-
d amber, mterjoincd by ornaments of en-
04 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
amelled gold, agate, jasper, carnelion, or some
other precious substance. This is the most costly
part of the pipe. Those in ordinary use by persons
of the middle classes cost from £1 to £3 sterling.
A wooden tube passes through it; this is often
changed, as it becomes foul from the oil of the
tobacco. The pipe also requires to be cleaned very
often, which is done with tow, by means of a long
wire. Many poor men in Cairo gain a livelihood
by cleaning pipes. Some of the Egyptians use the
Persian pipe, in which the smoke passes through
water. The pipe of this kind most commonly
used by persons of the higher classes is called
“ nargeeleh,” because the vessel that contains the
water is the shell of a cocoa-nut, of which “ nar-
geeleh” is an Arabic name. Another kind which
has a glass vase, is called “ sheesheh,” from the
Persian word signifying “ glass.” Each has a very
long, flexible tube.
A kind of pipe commonly called “ gozeh,” which
is similar to the nargeeleh, excepting that it has
a short cane tube, instead of the snake, and no
stand. This is used by men of the lowest class
for smoking both the “ turabak " or Persian
tobacco, and" the narcotic hemp.
The Zoolus of Southern Africa have a kind of
pipe or smoking horn called “ Egoodu,' which is
constructed on a similar principle to the Persian
pipe. The herb is placed at the end of a reed in-
troduced into the side of an oxhorn, which is filled
with water, and the mouth applied to the upper or
wide part of the horn, the smoke passing down
the reed and through the water.
The Delagoaus of Eastern Africa smoke the
“ hubble-bubble,” a similar instrument, having the
upper part of the horn closed, excepting a small
orifice in the centre of the covering through which
the smoke is inhaled.
riPEOLOC Y.
65
The Kaffirs form pipe bowls from a black, and
also from a green stone ; they are in shape similar
to the Dutch pipes, and without ornament. The
negroes of. Western Africa have pipes of a reddish
earth, some of them of very uncouth and singular
forms, others close imitations of European pipe
bowls. One kind of pipe consists of two bowls
placed side by side upon a single stem. Old
Indian pipes have been found in America, also
fashioned out of green stone.
The natives of the South-West coast of Africa,
near Elizabeth’s Bay, use pipes in the shape of a
cigar tube formed of a mottled green or white
mineral of the magnesian family, externally carved
or roughly ornamented.
. Sailors, when on a voyage, are often in difficui-
ties for the want of pipes. Under such circum-
stances, numerous contrivances have at different
times been resorted to to remedy the defect ; such
as pipes cast out of old lead, or cut out of wood.
he sailors. belonging to H.M.S. Samarcmg bavin o-
lost their pipes in the Sarawak river, set to, and in
a very, little while, manufactured excellent pipes
li’om different sized internodes of the bamboos that
grew around them. In India, simple pipes are
used composed of two pieces of bamboo, one for
the bowl cut close to a knot, and a smaller one for
the tube.
the aborigines of British Guiana use a pipe, or
rather a tube, called a “ Winna.” It resembles a
cneroot m outward appearance, but is hollow, so as
to contain the tobacco. It is said to be made from
c nnd of the fruit of the manicot palm, growing
on the river Berbice. Forasmuch as it pleaseth us
• r™w fashions from nations barbarous as well
“Winnf"^ a v°rm °f itllbe much resembling the
nist shn™ nbeei1 fatle and sold in the tobacco-
nist shops of the metropolis of old England.
F
66
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Among the Bashee group, and particularly on
the island of Ibayat, the natives form very elegant
and commodious pipes from different species of
shells, the columella and septa of the convolutions
being broken down, and a short ebony stem
inserted into a hole at the apex of the spire.
These are more generally formed of the shells
known as the Bishop’s mitre (Mitra episcopate)
and the Pope’s mitre (Mitra papalis )._ Species of
Terebra and Turbo are also converted into pipes.
In China, where M. Bondot calculates that there
are not less’ than 100 millions, and Abbe Hue 300
millions of smokers, pipes are made in immense
numbers. Of tbese there ure three kinds; the
water pipe, the straight pipe, and the opium pipe.
Chinese pipes, and indeed those of all the Indc-
Chinese races, including the Tartars, Chinese,
Koreans, and Japanese, are provided with a smaU
metallic bowl, and usually a long bamboo stem ;
for with persons who are in the habit of smoking,
at short intervals, all day long, a large bowl would
be inadmissable. By inhaling but a pinch Oi
tobacco on one occasion, they extend the influence
of a larger pipe over a greater space ot time. In
such cases they suffer no inconvenience from the
nature of the material of which the bowl is com-
posed. Nations that smoke larger pipes adopt
some other substance, as metal would become^ too
hot ; hence we have pipes of “ Samian ware m
Turkey, “ Meerschaum” in Germany and Clay
iu England and other places. My Uncle Toby
would have burnt liis Augers with a Chinese pipe
of nickel silver many a tune and often - and it
would have required a large amount of logic to
have induced Doctor Kiccabocca to have exchanged,
his companion (his pipe, not his umbrella) for a
bowl of Japanese manufacture. ,,
Isaac Browne thought, a century ago, that there
PIPEOLOGY.
67
was something in a pipe worth writing about, or
he had never given us the following
“ODE TO A TOBACCO PIPE.
“ Little tube of mighty power,
Charmer of an idle hour,
Object of my warm desire,
Lip of wax, and eye of fire ;
And thy snowy taper waist,
With thy finger gently braced ■
And thy pretty swelling crest,
With thy little stopper prest ;
And the sweetest bliss of blisses
Breathing from thy balmy kisses.
Happy thrice, and thrice again,
Happiest he of happy men ;
Who, when again the night returns
When again the taper burns,
When again the cricket’s gay
(Little cricket full of play),
Can afford his tube to feed’
With the fragrant Indian weed •
Pleasure for a nose divine,
Incense of the god of wine.
Happy thrice, and thrice again
Happiest he of happy men.”
, 7 u'gmia’s native country, the nine sHpPr
closer to a man than his boot An^neS
s no more furnished without his
To thi °T 18 (U1'".ished "iflxwt a looking glass’
nil ? n ?tlVe Indlan’ ifc supplies an important
We If w°°mTet •hlSt,tre?tl' of Peace — his chal-
rufi- u War‘ 18 ^le instrument of a solemn
potest comehofZ rltpea0f Z ,T *° the
every warrior ..V Con1tment, which has visited
stem the irrevoenhl paS!!£d ?rouSh its reddened
’ urevocable oath of war and desolation
f 2
68
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
And here, also, the peace breathing calumet was
horn and fringed with the eagle s quills, which
has shed its thrilling fumes over the land, and
soothed the fury of the relentless savage lhe
Great Spirit, at an ancient period, hem called to-
gether the Indian warriors, and standing on the
precipice of the red-pipe stone rock, broke from its
wall a piece, and made a huge pipe, by turning it
in his hand, which he smoked over them, and to
the north, the south, the east, and the west; and
told them that this stone was red — that it was
their flesh— that they must use it for their pipes
of peace, that it belonged to them all, and that the
war club, and the scalping knife must not be
raised on its ground. At the last wlnft of his
nine, his head went into a great cloud, and the
whole surface of the rock, for several miles, was
melted and glazed. Two great ovens were opened
beneath, and two women, guardian spirits ot the
place, entered them in a blaze of fire, and they are
heard there yet, answering to the invocations ot
the priests or medicine men, who consult them
when they are visitors to this sacred place.
“ Prom the red stone of the quarry
With his hand he broke a fragment,
Moulded it into a pipe head,
Shaped and fashioned it with figures.
From the margin of the river
Took a long reed for a pipe stem.
With its dark green leaves upon it ;
Filled the pipe with hark of willow ;
With the bark of the red willow ;
Breathed upon the neighbouring forest,
Made its great boughs chafe together,
Till in flame they burst, and kindled ;
And erect upon the mountains,
Gitche Manito, the mighty,
Smoked the calumet, the Peace 1 ipe,
As a signal to the nations,” &c.
* Catlin's North American Indians, vol. ii., PP- 160.
PIPEOLOGY.
69
The tribes of the Missouri make their pipes of a
kind of stone called Catlinite, from the red pipe
stone quarries upon the head waters of that river,
the colour of which is brick red. These stones,
when first taken out of the quarry are soft, and
easily worked with a knife, but on exposure to the
air become hard and take a good polish. The
pipes of the Rocky Mountain Indians are some of
them wrought with much labour and ingenuity of
an argillaceous stone of a very fine texture, found
at the north, of Queen Charlotte’s Island. This
stone is of a blue black colour, and in character
similar to the red earth of the Missouri quarry.
The Calumet or “ pipe of peace” of the Sioux
Indians is thus described by Irving. “The bowl
was of a species of red stone resembling porphyry,
the stem was six feet in length, decorated with
tufts of horse hair dyed red. The pipe bearer
stepped within the circle, lighted the pipe, held it
towards the sun, then towards the different points
of the compass, after which he handed it to the
principal chief. The latter smoked a few whiffs
then, holding the head of the pipe in his hand,
oifered the other end to their visitor, and to each
one successively in the circle. When all had
smoked, it was considered that an assurance of
good faith and amity had been interchanged.” The
use of the Uspogan or Calumet among the
-Lythinyuwak,. appears not to have been an
original practice of the Tinne, but was introduced
p,. tobacco by Europeans; while among the
nppeways, the plant has been grown from the
noost ancient times.
Among the most uncultivated and uncivilized of
„• J'?ns’ W InPe is an object upon which is exer-
sed alt their ingenuity, and in the decoration of
almoi1piC0“ren+ti!ate(i a11 their taste- 0ne might
almost classify the races of the world by means of
70 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
a good collection of their pipes, and not stray very
far from the order resulting from more scientific
processes.
In the East, there is existing an almost incessant
habit of smoking ; and the pipe is the prelude of
all official acts, of all conversations, and of all
social relations. The Oriental seizes his pipe in
the morning, and scarcely relinquishes it till he
goes to bed. Here there is generally a special
functionary — the pipe-hearer — as an appendages
to all officials. When the Sultan goes abroad, his
pipe-bearer is with him. In families of respec-
tability, the care of the pipes is the exclusive
attribute of one or more servants, who occupy the
highest grade of the domestic establishment ; and
thus dignity is given to the pipe, even in a country
where less dignity is allowed to the fairer portion
of the community than in more highly cultivated
countries.
In the Museum of the Botanic Gardens at Hew,
are pipes and stems carved out of boxwood, as used
in Sweden; also pipe-bowls of pine and other
woods made by the native Indians near Sitka in
North-West America, and brought home from. a
late expedition. The latter are rude, but quite
equal in elegance to many which adorn the win-
dows of fancy tobacconists and cigar divans in this
metropolis of the civilized world.
From a schism in tobacco-pipes, Knickerbocker
dates the rise of parties in the Niew Nederlandts.
« The rich and self-important burghers, who had
made their fortunes, and could afford' to be lazy,
adhered to the ancient fashion, and formed a kind
of aristocracy, known as the Long-pipes while the
lower order, adopting the reform of William Kieft,
as more convenient in their handicraft employ-
ments, were branded with the plebeian name of
Short-pipes” Who may be considered as the
PIPEOLOGY.
71
founder of the English Short-pipe school, is more
difficult to determine ; it is nevertheless, of late
years, a very popular one, and considerably out-
numbers the aristocracy of Long-pipes. The
variety of these instruments is almost infinite. There
are all kinds of short clays, cutties, St. Omer,
Gambier, meerschaum washed, coloured clay, and
fancy clay of all shapes, grotesque, uncouth, stupid,
and in some instances graceful. Pipes also of
wood, of black ebony, green ebony, brier-root —
whatever that may be — cherry-root, tulip-wood,
rosewood, &c. Glass pipes, with reservoirs and
without, smokers’ friends, and, if we may judge
from their size, tobacconists’ friends ; meerschaum
bowls, massa bowls, porcelain bowls, clay bowls,
of uncouth and monstrous heads, with eyes of glass
and enamelled teeth, together with short stems
and mounts for broken clays. Add to these, one
knows not how many kinds of tobacco-pots, from
a smiling damsel in all the glories of crinoline, to
the dissevered head of Poor Dog Tray. The
windows of retail tobacconists now-a-days more
resemble a toy-shop, or a fancy stall from an arcade
or bazaar, than the sober-looking windows of a
retailer halt a century ago. Mr. Frank Fowler
informs us that the same tastes have migrated to
Australia. ^ “ The cutty is of all shapes, sizes, and
shades. _ Some are negro heads, set with rows of
very white teeth; some are mermaids, showing
their more presentable halves up the front of the
bowls, and stowing away their weedy extremities
under the stems. Some are Turkish caps, some
are Russian skulls, some are houris, some are
hrn presses of the French, some are Margaret
t/atchpoles, some arc as small as my lady’s thimble
others as large as an old Chelsea tea-cup. Every-
ody has one, from the little pinafore schoolboy
*ho has renounced his hardbake for his Hard ham’ s’
72
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
to the old veteran who came out with the second
hatch of convicts, and remembers George Barring-
ton’s prologue. Clergymen get up their sermons
over the pipe; members of parliament walk the
verandah of the Sydney House of Legislature, with
the black bowl gleaming between their teeth One
of the metropolitan representatives was seriously
ill just before I left, from having smoked forty
pipes of Latakia at one sitting. A cutty bowl,
like a Creole’s eye, is most prized when blackest.
Some smokers wrap the bowls reverently in leather
during the process' of colouring ; others buy them
ready stained, and get (I suppose) the reputation
of accomplished whiffers at once. Every young
swell glories in his cabinet of dirty clay pipes. A
friend of mine used to call a box of the little black
things Iris £ Stowe collection.’ Tobacco, I shonld
add here, is seldom sold in a cut form ; each man
carries a cake about with him, like a card-case ;
each boy has his stick of Cavendish, like so much
candy. The cigars usually smoked are Manillas,
which are as cheap and good as can be met with
in any part of the world. Lola Montez, during
her Australian tour, spoke well of them. What
stronger puff could they have than hers ?
CHAPTER VI.
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
“ *’Ti8 most Excellent,’ said the monk. ‘ Then dome the favour ’ I
replied, ‘to accept of the box and all ; and when you take a pinch out
o it, sometimes recollect that it was the peace-offering of a man who
once used you unkindly, but not from the heart.’ ”
Sterne’s Sentimental Jour ney.
Everybody, of course, knows all about the Fran-
ciscan and his snuff-box, with which this chapter
begins. Sterne narrates it in his happiest vein,
and all who read it are somehow sure to remember
it; Boxes are exchanged ; the traveller is left to
himself. Row he moralises : “ I guard this box
as I would the instrumental parts of my religion
to help my mind on to something better. In truth’
1 seldom go abroad without it ; and oft and many
a,, !'nc have I called up by it the courteous spirit
ot its owner to regulate my own in the iustlings of
e world. They had found full employment for
R aIm learned fi;om his story, till about the
i. 1 1 . year of his age, when, upon some mili-
d1) services ill-requited, and meeting at the same
ime with a disappointment in the tenderest of
passions, he abandoned the sword and the sex
gether, and took sanctuary, not so much in his
convent as in himself.”
antW-W°rtd f 8nuSf” is 6tated V competent
verb lnflectlon of t,ic old nortliern
before ff’ yb ich latter word was in existence long
oelore the invention or knowledge of the substanc!
74
THE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
to which it now gives its name.* In its earlier
signification, it was expressive of strong inhalation
through the nostrils, or descriptive of any impa-
tience. Hence arose the the expressions in use in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to “ snuff
pepper” or “ take in snuff.’' Shakespeare makes a
similar use of the phrase in H mry IV., in con-
nection with a small box of perfume displayed by
a courtier to the annoyance of Hotspur.
“ He was perfumed like a milliner ;
And, ’twixt his finger and his thumb, he held
A pouncet box, which ever and anon
He gave his nose, and took’t away again ;
Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in snuff.”
In this quotation we also meet with the u pouncet
box,” which seems to have been a small box having
a “ pounced” or perforated cover, containing per-
fumes, the scent of which escaping from the open
work at the top was regarded as a preservative
against contagion. From the pouncet box the
perfumes were inhaled. It was probably not till a
century after the introduction of tobacco, that the
triturated dust was commonly in use, and there
became any occasion for the snuff-box. _
Humboldt gives an account ot a curious kind of
snuff, as well as an extraordinary method ot in-
haling it, which came under his notice while
travelling in South America. “The Ottomacs
he days, “ throw themselves into a peculiar state ot
intoxication, we might say ot madness, by the use
of the powder of niopo. They gather the long pods
of an acacia (made known by him under the name
of Acacia niopo), cut them into pieces moisten
them, and cause them to ferment. When tne
* Tooke says “ Snufv is the past participle of to sniff, that
which is sniffed .”
SNUFFING AND SNEESHIN.
75
softened seeds begin to grow black, they are
kneaded like paste, mixed with some flour of cas-
sava. and lime procured from the shell of a helix
(snail), and the whole mass is exposed to a very
brisk fire, on a gridiron made of hard wood. The
hardened . paste takes the form of small cakes.
When it is to be used,, it is reduced to a fine pow-
der, and placed on a dish, five or six inches wide.
The. Ottomac holds this dish; which has a handle
m his right hand, while he inhales the niopo by
the nose, through the forked bone of a bird, the
two extremities of which are applied to the5 nos-
trils. This bone, without which the Ottomac
believes that he could, not take this kind of snuff
is seven inches long; it appears to be the leg bone
ot a large species of plover. The niopo is so stimu-
lating, that the smallest portions of it produce violent
sneenugm those who are not accustomed to its use 55
ather Gum ill a says, “ this diabolical powder of the
Uttomacs, furnished by an aborescent tobacco plant
intoxicates them through the nostrils, deprives
them ot. reason for some hours, and renders them
furious m battle.”
A custom analagous to this, La Condamine ob-
served among the natives of the Upper Maranon.
rnrf °™aguas a tnhe wbose name is intimately
onnected with the expeditions in search of El
hav&> hlf® tbe Ottomacs, a dish, and the
whiT I00® °f a bird’ and a P°wder called cunwa,
which , they convey to their nostrils by means of
^ ri1?anner identical with that of the Otto-
Pr°Wde- is als° obtained from the
if nn+ fho d °f aCaCia’ apparently closely allied to,
n not the same as the niopo.
and Omilar ins,trum™t the bone of the Ottomacs
usein?rgUaS- ilas/ ready been refen'e<l to as in
Z mfcU’ “““S trough the nostrils
nioke of burning tobacco leaves.
76
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
The method of taking snuff in Iceland is de-
scribed by Made. Pfeiffer as differing from the
methods above detailed, but equally singular. Most
of the peasants, and many of the priests, have no
proper snuff-box, but only a box made of bone,
and shaped like a powder flask. When they take
snuff, they throw back the head, insert the point
of the flask in the nose, and shake a dose of snuff
in it. They then offer it to their neighbour, who
repeats the performance, passes it to his, and thus
it goes the round, until it reaches its owner again.
Had this been the custom in the days of the
“ Eape of the Lock,” Belinda had not so readily sub-
dued the baron, as with one finger and a thumb —
“ Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew,
A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw ;
The gnomes direct, to every atom just,
The pungent grains of titillating dust.
Sudden, with starting tears each eye o’erflows,
And the high dome re-echoes to his nose.”
The Zoolus of Southern Africa use a small gourd
to carry their snuff, and a small ivory spoon with
which to ladle out the dust. We remember many
years ago an elderly gentleman who practised on
the Zoolu plan, his snuff was carried loose in his
waistcoat pocket, whence it was conveyed to his
nose by means of a small silver spoon, which was
always at hand for the purpose.
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
77
As early as the beginning of the reign of
James I., a “ taker ol tobacco” was furnished
with an apparatus resembling that of a modern
Scotch mull, when supplied with all the necessary
implements. In 1609, Dekker, in his “Gull’s
Horn Book, says — “ Before the meat come
smoking to the hoard, our gallant must draw out
his tobacco-box, the ladle for the cold snuff into the
nostril, the tongs and priming iron; all which
artillery may he of gold or silver, if he can reach
the price of it.” In 1646, Howell describes the
apparatus and practice of snuff taking as quite
common in other countries ; since, he says — “ The
Spaniards and Irish take tobacco most in powder
or smutchin, and it mightily refreshes the brain ■
and I believe there’s as much taken this way in
Ireland, as there is in pipes in England. One
shall commonly see the serving maid upon the
washing block, and the swain upon the plough-
share when they are tired of their labour, take
oih their boxes of smutchin, and draw it into
their nostrils with a quill, and it will beget new
spirits m them with a fresh vigour to fall to their
work again.”
The word printed “smutchin” by Howell, is
stated to be more accurately “sneeshin,” a vulvar
snuff winch causes sneezing; and hence
• b,n1ees“m miH (sometimes corrupted into “mull”')
is the Scottish name for snuff-box. Dr. Jameson’s
Etymological Dictionary may be considered as an
authority m these matters ; and from it we learn
snuff WW°rd “T11” iS Vulgar name for a
snuti-box, especially one of a cylindrical form or
resembling an inverted cone/ No other name
s formerly in use in Scotland ; and the reason
ssigned for it is, that when tobacco was first
have^nuff ^ c?UIltrJ’ those who wished to
snuff, were accustomed to toast the tobacco
78
THE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
leaves before the fire, and then bruise them with a
piece of wood in the box, which was thence called
a “ mill,” because the snuff was ground in it. From
all this, it is easy to perceive how a ram’s horn,
from its conical shape, became one of the primitive
forms of the Scottish snuff-box, although latterly
it is often one of the most costly and luxurious.
In confirmation of the latter remark, it is only
necessary to refer to an example in the Exhibition
of 1851. Mr. W. Baird of Glasgow, exhibited a
ram’s head beautifully mounted, as a snuff-box and
cigar case. When alive, he must have been a
noble sheep, for the circular horns measured no
less than 3 feet 4 inches from root to tip. The
cigar case was beautifully mounted, having on the
top a splendid Scotch amethyst, surmounted with
thistle wreaths in gold and silver, and set out with
many fine cairngorms and small amethysts. The
snuff-box cavity, occupied the centre of the fore-
head, the lid surmounted by a splendid cairngorm,
and clustered with gold and silver wreaths and
small precious stones. In fact, the head presented
a perfect flourish of the most beautiful and grace-
fully disposed ornaments, and altogether the article
was most unique. Attached thereto was a fine
ivory hammer and silver spoon, pricker and rake,
with a silver mounted hare’s foot. It ran on ivory
castors upon a rosewood platform, surmounted by
a glass shade. There were not less than nine hun-
dred separate pieces of precious stones and metals
used in the construction of this ornate article.
Down to the middle of the eighteenth century,
the “sneeshin horn,” with spoon and hare’s foot
attached to it by chains, appears to have been
regarded as so completely a national charac-
teristic, that when Baddeley played Gibby in “ The
Wonder,” with Garrick, he came on the stage
with such an apparatus.
SPIFFING AND SNEESH1N.
79
The Mongrabins and other African races, ac-
cording to Werne, are much, addicted to snuff
taking. The snuff they usually carry in small
oval-shaped cases made out of the fruit of the
Doum palm ; these have a very small opening at
one end, stopped up by a wooden peg ; and the
snuff is not taken in pinches, hut shaken out on
the back of the hand. Mr. Campbell, while
travelling in South Africa, gave a Bushman a
piece of tobacco. It was speedily converted into
snuff. One of the daughters, after grinding it
between two stones, mixed it with white ashes
from the fire ; the mother then took a large pinch
of the composition, putting the remainder into a
piece of goat’s skin, among the hair, and fold in cr
it up for future use.
The snuff in use in Africa is not always made
from tobacco. Mr. Hutchinson states that he saw
at Panda, on the western coast, snuff made of the
powdered leaves of the monkey fruit tree (Adan-
sonia digitate, ). dhat of the Zoolus is composed of
the dried leaves of the dacca or narcotic hemp
mixed with the powder of burnt aloes. Whether
or not this was the kind of snuff which Mr
Richardson was knocked down with in his journey
across the Great Desert, we are not in a position to
determine ; whatever it was, it appears to have
been extremely powerful. “ A merchant,” he says
offered me a pinch of snuff, and to please him I
took a large pinch, pushing a portion of it up mv
nostrils. Immediately I fell dizzy and sick, and
m a short time vomited violently. The people
stared at me with astonishment, and were terrified
out of their wits, and thought I was about to give
np the ghost. _ They never saw snuff before pro-
uce such terrible effects. After some time I got
a little better and returned home. This snuff
was from Souf, and is called war (difficult). I
80
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
had been warned of it, and therefore paid richly
for my folly ; indeed, the Souf snuff is extremely
powerful.” Some of the strict Mahometans of
Ghadames consider snuffing, as well as smoking,
prohibited by their religion, and therefore do not
indulge in it. The South American traveller
which Mr. Lizars, the tobacco antagonist, once
fell in with, was evidently not a strict Mahometan,
for he first filled his nostrils with snuff, which he
prevented falling out by stuffing shag tobacco
after it, and this he termed “ plugging then put
in each cheek a coil of pig-tail tobacco, which he
named “ quidding lastly, he lit a Havannah
cigar, which he put into his mouth, and thus
smoked and chewed — puffing at one time the
smoke of the cigar, and at another time squirting
the juice from his mouth. What a phenomenon !
That gentleman should have politely thanked the
South American for permitting him to view an
exliibition, such as he may never have the pleasure
of seeing again. And what a capital illustration
ready made to his hands. It is almost equal to
those elaborate calculations which are based upon
the amount of time consumed in taking so many
pinches of snuff during the day, and so many
repetitions of the operation of blowing the nose.*
* Lord Stanhope makes the following curious estimate : —
“ Every professed, inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker, at a
moderate computation, takes one pinch in ten minutes. Every
pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blowing and wiping the
nose, and other incidental circumstances, consumes a minute
and a half. One minute and a half out of every ten, allowing
sixteen hours to a snuff-taking day, amounts to two hours and
twenty minutes out of every natural day, or one day out of
every ten. One day out of every ten amounts to thirty-six
days and a half in the year ; hence, if we suppose the practice
to bo persisted in for forty years, two entire years of the snuff-
taker’s life will be dedicated to tickling his nose, and two more
to blowing it.” The expense of snuff, snuff-boxes, and hand-
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
81
A correspondent of the « Petersburg (Ya)
Express ” says : — “ There are, perhaps, in our
state 125,000 women, leaving out of the account
those wfio have not cut their teeth, and those who
have lost them from age. Of this number, eighty
pei cent, may be safely set down as snuff-dippers.
Every five of these will use a two-ounce paper of
snuff per day that is to the 100,000 dippers
2,500 lbs. a day, amounting to the enormous
quantity of 912,000 lbs. In this number of
snuff-cuppers are included all ages, colours, and
conditions. This . practice is generally prevalent
m the pme districts of North Carolina, and in
many parts of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Florida, and Eastern Tennessee. It may be thus
described : A female snuff-dipper takes a short
stick and, wetting it, dips it into her snuff-box,
and then rubs .the gathered dust all about her
mouth, into the interstices of her teeth, &c., where
she allows it to remain until its strength has been
fully absorbed Others hold the stick thus loaded
with snuff m the cheek, a la quid of tobacco, and
?iUc. 1 ,yith a decided relish, while engaged in
their ordinary avocations ; while others simply fill
the mouth with the snuff, and thus imitate? to all
tents and purposes, the chewing propensities of
nW i lU-th-e abs-e?f °f snuff, tobacco, in the
1 5? or M is invariably resorted to as a substi-
to “snuffdipping” Wi“S iS elegant' COmPaIed
• y,hefm(ist uncomfortable reflection to the snuffer
sunfini concerns the probability of his con-
° himself by a condition of slow poisoning,
Woceilnnr a“d t0 5 and ifc is calculated that “by a
a £ h°n °f thr tim° and monG^ fchus tost to the public
debt" g b° C°nstltuted for the discharge of the national
82
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
not the result of the pure tobacco, hut its impure
associates in the box. In boxes lined with very
thin lead, but especially in cases where the leaden
lining is thicker, and which are much used by the
Paris retailers, a chemical action takes place, the
result of which is to charge the snuff with sub-
acetate of lead. This result was suspected by
Chevalier, and has been confirmed by JBoudet of
Paris, and Mayer of Berlin, by careful experiments.
Mayer traces several deaths and cases of saturnine
paralysis to the patient’s having taken snuff from
packets, the inner envelope of which was thin
sheet lead, in constant contact with the powdered
weed. The cry once heard of “ death in the pot,”
requires now to he exchanged for “death in the
box,” and Holbein to give us a new plate of the
skeleton form emerging from a packet or snuff-box
containing the scented rappee. .
Late investigations have shown that no small
amount of adulteration is practised with snuff, and
this in some instances of a most dangerous kind.
Out of forty-three samples of snuff examined by
Dr. Hassell, the majority were adulterated consi-
derably. Chromate of lead, oxide ot lead, and
bichromate of potash, all highly poisonous, were
detected. Mr. Phillips also stated to the com-
mittee of adulteration, that he had . found in
different samples common peat, such as is obtained
from the bogs of Ireland, starch, ground wood of
various kinds, especially fustic, extract of logwood,
chromate of lead, bichromate of potash, and ■wmous
ochreous earths. Samples of spurious snuff, it is
presumed for the purpose of mixing, were found
to be composed of sumach, umber, Spanish brown,
and salt ; another kind was made up of ground
peat, yellow ochre, lime, and sand, all ot these
being more or less scented. .
Tiie numerous varieties of snuff owe their clia-
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
83
racter principally to the peculiarity of scent and
the method of preparation. The perfumes used
are either the essential oil of bergamot or otto of
roses, and in some cases powdered orris root or
Tonquin beans. The powdered leaves of the
sweet-scented woodruff and the fragrant melilot
have been alluded to as used for the same purpose,
also the dried leaves of some species of orchis
( Orchis fusca, cfc.J
As a substitute for snuff, either in preference
or in cases where tobacco snuff could not be readily
obtained, different vegetable productions have come
into use. In India the powdered rusty leaves of
a species of rhododendron (R : ccimpanulatum),
and in the United States the brown dust found
adhering to the petioles of several species of kalmia
and rhododendron, all of which possess narcotic
properties, are used for this purpose. The pow-
deied leaves of asarabacca have been named as
the base of some kind of cephalic snuff. “ Grim-
stone’s eye snuff” has long enjoyed a certain
amount of popularity, although, it does not con-
tain a particle ot tobacco, but is composed mainly
ot such harmless ingredients as powdered orris
root, savory, rosemary, and lavender.
But to return to the subject of deleterious
adulteration, we find in Dr. Hassell’s “Adultera-
tions detected in Food and Medicine” several
pages occupied with this really important subject.
. ust comes the narration of a case of slow poison-
ing, on the authority of Professor Erichsen bv
means of snuff containing as an adulteration D2
RfV <Ue °1 Then folloWB ««»
Ji. nosbioke, of injuries sustained from snuff
containing lead. These are followed by other
ms anccs showing that all the combinations of
symptoms^ Ui)1|ed dangerous and disastrous
y l toms, if indulged m, when mingled with
g 2
84
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
snuff, as too often, unfortunately, is the case, as
an adulteration, or, as before shown, liable as a
result of packing tke snuff in lcad; or keeping in
boxes lined with lead. .
Advice Gratis. — Give up taking snuff , or, it
you should propose slight objections to this course,
then purchase leaf tobacco, and manufacture your
own snuff, and having done so, keep it in a gold
snuff-box, or if you have weighty reasons for pre-
ferring silver, there is no objection to that metal,
or even the homely horn of the Franciscan ot
Oalais
Our forefathers thought of the box, as wed as of
the snuff, and sometimes paid for their thought.
In the early part of the eighteenth century, fashion-
able snuff-boxes had reached the highest point of
luxury and variety. The Toiler of Marc 7, < >
notices several gold snuff-boxes which ‘- came out
last term,” but that “ a new edition would be put
out on Saturday next, which would be the only
one in fashion until after Easter. The gentle-
man,” continues the notice, “that gave £50 for the
box set with diamonds, may show it till Sunday,
provided he goes to church, but not after that
time, there being one to be published on Mon .-y
that will cost fourscore guineas. These costly
articles, so happily satirized by Steele, aie lepie-
sented as the productions of a fashionable toyman,
named Charles Mather, popularly known under
the name of “ Bubble Boy. «
Nor must we forget the amber snuff-box ot
which Sir Plume, in the “ Rape of the Lock, was
so justly vain ; in 1711 he “ spoke, and rapped the
hnl ” In 1733, Dodsley mentions boxes made of
shell mounted in gold and silver. Latterly^
have’ made tile acquaintance of several sheU snuff-
boxes • some of these were made of the tiger
cowry,’ mounted in silver; of a small species of
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
85
Turbo, cleaned and polished, and of harp shells,
either mounted in silver or in baser metal. In
different parts of the globe, tastes differ as to the
materials of which snuff-boxes should be composed.
A gentleman sent a piece of cannel coal from Eng-
land to China, to be there carved by the ingenious
Chinese into a snuff-box; this task was accom-
plished, and the box was shown in the Exhibition
of 1851 ; also, in the Turkish department, a snuff-
box of bituminous shale. Perhaps in the new
Exhibition of 1862, there may be found a similar
article, carved out of Gravesend flint, by natives of
the Orange Eiver Territory; or one of Suffolk
coprolite, executed by rebellious sepoy women
imprisoned in the hulks at Portsmouth.
In India, snuff-boxes are made of polished
cocoa-nut shell, or of the seeds of Entada gigalo-
bium, or purscetha ; or in Nepal, of a small kind of
calabash or gourd, apparently resembling those
used for the same purpose, at the distance of 5,000
miles, in the South of Africa ; excepting, that in
some instances, the gourds of Nepal and of Scinde,
are ornamented with mountings of gold or silver,
a luxury in which the African dobs not indulge!
In the same part of Africa, among the Zoolu
-Kaffirs, other kinds of snuff-boxes, of smaller size
are m common use. _ These are made of the seeds
oi a species of Zamia, ornamented with strings of
small beads, and are worn suspended as earrings,
from the. ears of the natives.
In China, flasks are used, the form and size of a
smelling bottle; these are of different kinds of
aterial, some being cut out of rock crystal, and
ners made of porcelain and similar plastic sub-
ances. bnuff-takers are less numerous in China
_ an smokers of tobacco; in powder, or as the
evineftSaI’ “smoke for the no< is little used,
ept by the Mantchoo Tartars and Mongols, and
86
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
among the Mandarins and lettered classes. The
Tartars are real amateurs, and snuff is with them
an object of the most important consideration.
For the Chinese aristocracy, on the contrary, _ it is
a mere luxury — a habit that they try to aequo e
a whim. The custom of taking snuff was intro-
duced into China by the old missionaries who
resided at the Court. They used to get the snuff
from Europe for themselves, and some ot the
Mandarins tried it, and found it good. . l>y
degrees the custom spread; people who wished
to appear fashionable, liked to be taking tins
“smoke for the nose;’1 and Pekm is stdlpur
excellence, the locality of snuff-takers. The hist
dealers in it made immense fortunes. The French
tobacco was the most esteemed ; and as it hap-
pened at this time, that it had for a stamp the
ancient emblem of the three fieur de hs, the mark
has never been forgotten, and the three jiewr de Its
are stiff in Pekin, the only sign of a dealer m
tobacco. The Chinese have now, for a long time
manufactured their own snuff, but _ they r do not
subject it to any fermentation, and it is not . worth
much. They merely pulverize the leaves, sift the
powder tiff it is as fine as flour, and afterward^
perfume it with flowers and. essences A curious
method of snuffing, requiring neither box no
flask is noticed in the “Voyages and Researches of
the Adventure and Beagle ” At Otaheite, a su -
stance not unlike powdered rhubarb m apix.n
-nice but of a very pleasant fragrance, is rubbed
on a' niece of shark's skin stretched on wood , and
■m old man who had one of these snuff sticks in
r^on, valued it. so highly, that he could
not be induced to part with it.
Boxes of very rude construct 101 J mai-e jn
France and Germany from birch barl^ and ^
in the streets of Paris and other continental cities,
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
87
for about one halfpenny each. These have lately
been seen in the shops of London tobacconists,
under the name of “ German boxes,” at about three
times the above price. They are used abroad
either for tobacco or snuff. Boxes are also made
of horn, either black buffalo or transparent pressed
horn — the latter at a much cheaper rate than the
former. St. Helena contributed to the Great
Exhibition snuff-boxes made from the willow
under which the remains of Napoleon reposed,
until their removal to France, and also from a
willow planted by him at Longwood. Van .Die-
man’s Land contributed a box made from the
tooth of the Sperm whale, as well as boxes from
several native woods.
The Scotch snuff-boxes are justly celebrated for
the perfection of their hinge, and close fitting
cover. They were originally made at Lawrence-
kirk, but the manufacture has now spread to
various parts of Scotland. The wood employed
principally in the manufacture of these boxes is
the sycamore (or plane of the Scotch). Mr.
W. Chambers states, “ that from a rough block of
this wood, worth twenty-five shillings, snuff-boxes
may be made to the value of three thousand
pounds.”
The modus operandi in making these boxes is
described as follows : — The box is made from a
solid block of wood ; the first operation consists in
making a number of circular excavations in close
contiguity to each other, by means of a centre-bit,
or a clrill running in a lathe ; the interior is then’
squared out by means of gouges and chisels, and
is afteT wards smoothed with files and glass-paper,
-the celebrated hinge is formed partly out of the
substance of the box, and partly out of that of the
tu, the greatest attention being paid in its con-
struction to the accurate fitting of the various parts
88
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
one into the other. The box is lined in the inside
with stout tin-foil, and is painted on the outside
with several coats of colour, each of which is rubbed
down smooth with glass-paper before the succeed-
ing coat is applied. It is then ready to receive the
various styles of ornament, which, in some cases,
are produced by the hand of the artist, and in
others by mechanical means. The most usual
decoration consists of the tartan patterns, the com-
ponent lines of which are drawn separately, by
pens fixed in a ruling machine, on to the box itself,
if bounded by planes or slightly curved surfaces ;
although such lines were also formerly drawn by
means of a rose engine on circular boxes, it is now
found a more convenient practice to rule the lines
on paper, and then to attach the paper to the
boxes. Another style of ornamentation, known as
the Scoto-Russian, is of more recent introduction,
and imitates, in a remote degree, the beautiful
enamelled silver snuff-boxes for which Russia has
long been famous. In these, the outside of the
box is first covered with stout tin-foil, then com-
pletely painted all over the surface, and afterwards
placed in the ruling machine, which traces upon it
an intricate pattern of curved and straight lines,
by means of a sharp flat tool. This instrument
penetrates completely through the paint, hut only
scrapes the tin-foil, which is left very bright, and
resembles inlaid silver. Several coats of copal
varnish, each of which is successively polished
down, are then applied to complete the snuff-
box.
Box-wood, box-root, king-wood, ebony, and all
kinds of hard wood ; tin, brass, pewter, lead, silver,
and all sorts of metals, are used for snuff-boxes,
some of these cheap and rudely fashioned, others
elaborate and expensive ; some lined with tortoise-
shell or horn, others with tin or lead-foil ; and
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
89
invention has been taxed to produce all kinds of
ornamentation.
The practice of using snuff is said to have come
into England after the Eestoration, and to have
been brought from France ; but it is well known
that the habit of mere snuff-taking did not ori-
ginate with the introduction of tobacco, since there
are recipes for making snuff from herbs in the
oldest medicinal works extant. The use of tobacco
snuff has been referred to the age of Catherine
de Medicis, and it was recommended to her son,
Charles IX., for his chronic headaches. Snuff-
taking was formerly characteristic of the medical
piofession ; and the gold-headed cane and gold
snuff-box came to be the peculiar emblems of those
who were learned in the healing art.
There are almost an endless variety of snuffs
as of noses, the. purest kind being the cc Scotch ”
made either entirely from the stalks removed from
the leaf in the course of its preparation for the cigar
f C? stalks with a small quantity of leaf. The
Welsh and “ Lundyfoot” are affirmed to owe their
qualities chiefly, if not altogether, to the circum-
stance of then’ being dried almost to scorching *
hence they have received the appellation of “ high-
dried snuffs. The “ Kappees” and other dark snuffs
are manufactured from the darker and ranker leaves,
ocenting, which the dark snuffs undergo, also fur-
nish names and procure customers for numerous
varieties There is a story current, that the cele-
biated Lundyfoot” had its origin in an accident
one version affirming that the man who was attend-
ing to the batches got drunk, neglected his dutv
and made his master’s fortune; another, that an
accidental fire did that for the firm which in the
o her case it is affirmed that an extra glass of grog
Accomplished. There is nothing surprising in this
and either narrative may be true ; mosSS
90
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
of this kind, like the claying of sugar, had their
origin in accidents. A certain quantity of snuff,
in the preparation, gets overdone in some of the
steps of the process, at some time or other, and
the firm resolves, perhaps, as it is not altogether
useless, to try and realize something for it. The
peculiarity just tickles certain noses, and for the
future they wish for none but spoilt snuff ; that
which was at first spoilt accidentally, is now spoilt
for the purpose, to supply the demands of the
market at even a higher rate than ordinary, and
the name of Lundyfoot becomes immortalized
amongst old ladies through all succeeding genera-
tions. What other experiments and other acci-
dents of over-salting or over-liming may have
done, has not transpired; and who may be the
next so to turn circumstances to account, that
what would ordinarily be considered a misfortune,
shall be turned to good fortune, time alone will
1 John Hardham was Garrick’s under-treasurer,
and kept a snuff-shop in Fleet Street, at the sign
of the Red Lion, where he contrived to get into
hio'h vo<me, a particular poudre de tcibac, still known
as°Hardham?s 37. Stevens, while daily visiting
Johnson in Bolt Court, on the subject of their joint
editorship of Shakespeare, never failed to replenish
his box at the shop of a man who was for years
the butt of his witticisms. Hardham died a
bachelor, September 20, 1772 and bequeathed
£(5000 — the savings of a busy life — for the benefit
of the poor ot his native city, Chestei .
As a pinch of snuff ends in a sneeze, so sniffing
ends in sneezing, and with a hearty sneeze we
brinn' our pinch ot snuff to a sudden ending.
What comfort and consolation there is sometimes
in a hearty sneeze, no one knows better than him
who has ‘just made two or three attempts, and
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
91
ingloriously failed. With half closed eyes, and open
mouth, and bated breath — once — twice — thrice — •
no ! it will not he beguiled — psh-h-h-h-haw ! “ God
bless you ! ”
“ The year 750,” says a writer in the Gentlemans
Magazine , “is commonly reckoned the era of the
custom of saying God bless you to one who hap-
pens to sneeze.” It is said that, in the time of the
pontificate of St. Gregory the Great, the air was
filled with such a deleterious influence, that they
who sneezed immediately expired. On this the
devout pontiff appointed a form of prayer, and a
wish to be said to persons sneezing for averting
them from the fatal effects of this malignancy.
A fable contrived against all the rules of proba-
bility, it being certain that this custom has from
time immemorial, subsisted in all parts of the
known world. According to mythology, the first
sign of life Prometheus’s artificial man gave, was
by sternutation. This supposed creator is said to
have stolen a portion of the solar rays, and filling
a phial with them, sealed it up hermetically. He
instantly flew back to his favourite automaton, and
opening ■ the phial, held it close to the statue, the
rays still retaining all their activity, insinuated
themselves through the pores, and set the facti-
tious man a sneezing. Prometheus transported
with success, offered up a prayer with wishes for the
preservation of so singular a being. The auto-
maton observed him, remembering his ejaculations,
was careful, on like occasions to offer these wishes
in behalf of his descendants, who perpetuated it
from . father to son in all their colonies. The
Pabbis, also, fix a very ancient date to the custom.
Pliny says, that to sneeze to the right was deemed
fortunate ; to the left, and near a place of burial,
the reverse. Tiberius, otherwise a sour man, would
perform this right of blessing most punctually to
92
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
others, and expect the same from others to himself.
Aristotle has a problem, “ Why sneezing from noon
to midnight was good, but from night to noon
unlucky.” St. Austin tells us that the ancients
were accustomed to go to bed again, if they sneezed
while they put on their shoe.
When Themistocles sacrificed in his galley be-
fore the battle of Xeres, one of the assistants upon
the right hand sneezed, Euphrantides the sooth-
sayer, presaged the victory of the Greeks, and the
overthrow of the Persians.
When the Greeks were consulting concerning
their retreat in the time of Cyrus the Younger, it
chanced that one of them sneezed, at the noise
whereof, the rest of the soldiers called upon Jupiter
Soter.
Brand tells us, that when the king of Mesopo-
tamia sneezes, acclamations are made in all parts
of his dominions. The Siamese wish long life to
persons sneezing. And the Persians look upon
sneezing as a happy omen, especially when re-
peated often.
A writer lately gives us the following “ Philo-
sophy of a sneeze” for which he alone is responsible.
“ The nose receives three sets of nerves — the nerves
of smell, those of feeling , and those of motion. The
former communicate to the brain, the odorous pro-
perties of substances with which they may come
in contact, in a diffused or concentrated state ; the
second, communicate the impressions of touch ;
the third, move the muscles of the nose ; but the
power of these muscles is very limited. When a
sneeze occurs, all these faculties are excited to a
high degree. A grain of snuff excites the olfactory
nerves, which despatch to the brain the intelligence
that : snuff has attacked the nostril.’ The brain
instantly sends a mandate through the motor
nerves to the muscles, saying ‘ cast it out 1 ’ and
SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
93
the result is unmistakable. So offensive is ■ the
enemy besieging the nostril held to be, that the
nose is not left to its own defence. It were too
feeble to accomplish this. An allied army of mus-
cles join in the rescue — nearly one-half the body
arouses against the intruder — from the muscles of
the lips to those of the abdomen, all unite in the
effort for the expulsion of the grain of snuff.”
CHAPTER VII.
QUID PEO QUO.
“A third party sprang up, headed hy the descendants of Eobert
Chetvit, the companion of the great Hudson. These discarded pipes
altogether, and took to chewing tobacco; hence, they were called •
Quids." — Knickerbocker's New York.
'r'i H
Any one who will take the trouble to read through
the “Curiosities of Food,” will soon become con-
vinced, from the examples which Mr. P. L. Sim-
monds has collected so assiduously from all parts
of the world, that there is no accounting for tastes.
What extraordinary tilings men will admit between
their teeth to gratify their appetites, is almost
enough to set one’s own teeth on edge. Tobacco is
certainly not more nauseous or revolting, than to
us would be many of the delicacies dished up tor
dinner by some of the bipedal race. “ Some Euro-
peans,” observes the author, “chew tobacco, the
Hindoo takes to betel nut and lime, while the
Patagonian finds contentment in a bit of guano,
and "the Styrians grow fat and ruddy on arsenic.
English children delight in sweetmeats and sugar-
candy, while those of Africa prefer rock salt. A
Frenchman likes frogs and snails, and we eat cels,
oysters, and whelks. To the Esquimaux, train oil
is your only delicacy. The Russian luxuriates
upon his hide and tallow; the Chinese upon iats,
puppy dogs, and shark’s fins;, the Kaffir upon
elephant’s foot and trunk or lion steaks , wni e
QUID PRO QUO.
95
the Pacific islander places cold missionary above
every other edible. Why then should we be sur-
prised at mens feeding upon rattle snakes and
monkeys, and pronouncing them capital eating ?”*
Nothing is more extraordinary than the habit of
dirt-eating and chewing of lime, either by them-
selves or in combination with other substances.
But more of this anon. Tobacco, as a masticatory,
might equally cause surprise did it not daily occur
at our doors. The quantity used in this form will
not bear comparison with that consumed in smoke,
but even this is considerable. In America, the
custom is carried to a very unpleasant extent, and
were it the only form in which the plant could be
indulged, there is good ground for presuming that
it would fall very far short of the popularity which
it has attained.
Somebody, with a strong antipathy to pig-tail and
fine cut, has entered into certain investigations
and calculations in the Philadelphia Journal , which
has resulted in this wise. It a tobacco chewer
chews for fifty years, and uses each day of that
peiiod two inches of solid jilug, he will consume
nearly one mile and a quarter in length of solid
tobacco, half an inch thick and two inches broad
costing 2,094 dollars, or about £500. Plug ugly’
sure enough ! By the same process of reasoning’
s statist calculates, tliat if a man ejects one pint
ot saliva per day for fifty years (a feat, one would
presume, it would require a Yankee to accomplish)
the total would swell into nearly 2,300 gallons’
quite a respectable lake, and almost enough to
float the “ Great Eastern” in! Truly, Brother
Jonathan, there are more things in heaven and
earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy
Another calculation shows, that if ah the tobacco
Curiosities of Food, by P. L. Sirumonds. Bentley, 1859.
96 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEF.
which the British people have consumed during
the last three years were worked up into pig-tail
half an inch thick, it would form a line 99,470
miles long; or enough to go nearly four times
round the world ;* or if the tobacco consumed by
the same people in the same period were to he
placed in one scale, and St. Paul’s Cathedral and
Westminster Abbey in the other, the ecclesiastical
buildings would kick the beam.
“ Oh, the nasty creatures 1” some lady exclaims.
“Who could suppose that they would do such a
thing, and to such an extent too, as to burn and
chew and smoke in three years enough tobacco to
reach round the world four times !” It is astonish-
ing, my dear Mrs. Partington, we must confess ;
but let us compare therewith the tea consumption!
for the same period, and we shall find that during
the past three years, we have consumed about
205,500,000 of pounds of tea, which, if done up in
packages containing one quarter of a pound each —
such packages being 4\ inches in length and 2^
inches in diameter — these placed end to end, would
reach 59,428 miles ; or, upon the same principles
as those adopted for the pig-tail, would girdle the
earth twice with a belt of tea 21 inches in
diameter, or twenty-five times that of the aforesaid
pig-tail. Enough to make rivers ot tea strong
enough for any old lady in the kingdom to enjoy,
and deep enough for all the old ladies in the king-
dom to bathe in.
* Tobacco entered for Lome consumption-
1856 1857 1858
32,579,166 lbs. 32,851,365 lbs. 34,110,850 lbs.
Total 99,541,381 lbs.— or 44,43S tons.
t Tea entered for home consumption in-
1856 1857 1858
63,295,643 lbs. 69,159,640 lbs. 73,217,483 lbs.
QUID PKO QUO.
97
All this, we are free to confess, does not make
the habit of quidding either more justifiable or re-
spectable, although indulged in by some of the mem-
bers of the gentler sex. In Paraguay, for instance,
an American traveller informs us that everybody
smokes, and nearly every woman and girl more than
thirteen years old chews tobacco. A magnificent
Hebe, arrayed in satin and flashing in diamonds,
puts you back with one delicate hand, while with
the fair taper fingers of the other she takes the
tobacco out of her mouth previous to your saluting
her. An over delicate foreigner turns away with a
shudder of loathing under such circumstances, and
gets the epithet of “the savage” applied to him by
the offended beauty for his sensitive squeamishness.
However, one soon gets used to these things in
Paraguay, where one is, per force of custom,
obliged to kiss every lady one is introduced to, and
one half of those you meet are really tempting
enough to render you reckless of consequences.
Suppose not that Paraguay is a solitary instance
in which ladies have a predilection for this mas-
ticatory. In Siberia, which is far enough geogra-
phically to prevent any collusion, or the influence
of example to exert its power, Captain Cochrane
says that the Tchuktchi eat, chew, smoke, and
snuff at the same time. He saw amongst them,
boys and girls of nine or ten years of age who put
a large leaf of tobacco into their mouths without
permitting any saliva to escape, nor would they put
aside the tobacco should meat be offered to them,
but continued consuming both of them together.
The Mintira women and other races of the great
Indian Archipelago are addicted to chewing tobacco.
Amongst the Nubians, the custom is more common
than smoking. Of the South American tribes, the
Sercucumas of the Erevato, and the Caura neigh-
bours of the whitish Taparitos, swallow tobacco
n
98
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
chopped small, and impregnated with some other
stimulant juices.
In Africa, the habit is not at all an uncommon
one. The Turks and Arabs of Egypt, are great
smokers, but not so with the other tribes. The
Mongrabins, scarcely know the use of a pipe, or
the method of manufacturing a cigar, yet tobacco
is well known, and chewing is the order of the day.
With them each piece of tobacco is mixed with a
portion of natron. Master and servant, rich and
poor, all carry about them a pouch of tobacco, with
pieces of natron in it. These people do not carry
the quid in their cheek, as do the Europeans who
indulge in the habit, but in front, between the
teeth and the upper lip. I
The blacks of Gesira have another method of
enjoying this luxury. They make a cold infusion
of tobacco, and dissolve the natron in it. This
mixture is called “ bucca.” The natives take a
mouthful of it from the bucca cup, which they
keep rinsing and working about in their mouths
for a quarter of an hour before they eject it. So
much do they delight in it, that it is considered the
highest treat a man can offer to his dearest friends,
to invite them to sip the bucca with him. Bucca
parties are given, as in some localities tea parties
are honoured. All sit in solemn silence as the cup
goes round, each taking a mouthful, and nothing
is heard save the gurgling and working inside the
closed mouths. On such occasions the most impor- •
tant questions receive no reply, for to open the i
mouth and answer would be to lose the cherished
“ bucca.”
In Iceland, tobacco is chewed and snuffed as
assiduously as it is smoked in other countries ; and I
in the northern states of Europe, or some of them,
the powdered leaf, which, with most people is-
deemed a preparation for the nose, is placed, a
QUID PRO QUO.
99
pinch at a time, upon the tongue. Of Joubert’s
statement we scarce know what opinion to hold.
He says, “ When a stranger arrives in Greenland,
he is immediately surrounded by a crowd of the
natives, who ask the favour of sucking the
empyreumatic oil in the reservoir of his pipe. And
it is .stated that the Greenlanders smoke only for
the pleasure of drinking that detestable juice which
is so disgusting to European smokers.” The Fin-
lander delights in chewing. He will remove his
quid from time to time, and stick it behind his
ear, and then chew it again. This reminds us of
a circumstance narrated by a friend, which occurred
when he was a boy. His master was a chewer.
After a “quid” had been masticated for some time,
it was removed from his mouth, and thrown
against the wall, where it remained sticking ; the
apprentice was then called to write beside it the
date at which it was flung there, so that it might
be taken down in its proper turn, after being
thoroughly dried, to be chewed over again.
“ And then he tried to sing All’s well,
But could not though he tried ;
His head was turned, and so he chewed
His pig-tail till he died.”
Of all tobacco chewers, none can compete with
the Yankee — not even our own Jack Tars. They
are the very perfection of masticators, and of
spitters, also, if the narratives of travellers in
general, and of Dickens in particular, are to be
relied on. “As Washington may be called the
head-quarters of tobacco-tinctured saliva, the time
is come when I must confess, without any disguise,
that the prevalence of these two odious practices
of chewing and expectorating began, about this
time, to be anything but agreeable, and soon
became most offensive and sickening. In all the
h 2
100 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
public places of America, this filthy custom is
recognized. In the courts of law, the judge has
his spittoon, the crier his, the witness his, and the
prisoner his, while the jurymen and spectators are
provided for, as so many men who, in the course
of nature, must desire to spit incessantly. In the
hospitals, the students of medicine are requested
by notices upon the wall, to eject their tobacco '
juice into the boxes provided for that purpose, and
not to discolour the stairs. In public buildings *
visitors are implored, through the same agency, to
squirt the essence of their ‘quids’ or ‘plugs,’ as
I have heard them called by gentlemen learned in
this kind of sweetmeat, into the national spittoons,
and not about the bases of the marble columns.
But in some parts this custom is inseparably mixed
up with every meal and morning call, and with all
the transactions of social life! The stranger who
follows in the track I took myself, will find it in its
full bloom and glory at Washington; and let him
not persuade himself (as I once did to my shame)
that previous tourists have exaggerated its extent.
The thing itself is an exaggeration of nastiness
which cannot be outdone.
“ On board the steamboat there were two young
gentlemen, with shirt collars reversed, as usual,
and armed with very big walking sticks, who
planted two seats in the middle of the deck, at
a distance of some four paces apart, took out their
tobacco boxes, and sat down opposite each other
to chew. In less than a quarter of an hour’s time,
these hopeful youths had shed about them on the i
clean boards, a copious shower of yellow rain, .
clearing by that means a kind of magic circle,
within "whose limits no intruders dared to come,
and which they never failed to refresh and!
refresh before a spot was dry. This being before
breakfast, rather disposed me, I confess, to
QUID PKO QUO.
101
nausea, ; but looking attentively at one of the
expectorators, I plainly saw that he was young at
chewing, and felt inwardly uneasy himself. A
glow of delight came over me at this discovery,
and as I marked his face turn paler and paler, and
saw the ball of tobacco in his left cheek quiver
with his suppressed agony, while yet he spat and
chewed, and spat again, in emulation of his older
friend, I could have fallen on his neck and
implored him to go on for hours.
“ The , senate is a dignified and decorous body,
and its proceedings are conducted with much
gravity and order. Both houses are handsomely
•carpetted ; but the state to whicli these carpets
are reduced by the universal disregard of the
spittoon, with which every honorable member is
accommodated, and* the extraordinary improve-
ments on the pattern which are squirted and
dabbled upon it in every direction, do not admit
of being described. I will merely observe, that I
strongly recommend all strangers not to look at
the floor ; and if they happen to drop anything,
though it be their purse, not to pick it up with an
ungloved hand on any account. It is somewhat
remarkable, too, to see so many honorable mem-
bers with swelled faces; and it is scarcely less
remaikable to discover, that this appearance is
caused by the quantity of tobacco they contrive
to stow within the hollow of the cheek. It is
strange enough, too, to see an honorable gentle-
man leaning back in his tilted chair, with his le°-s
on the desk before him, shaping a convenient
plug with his penknife, and when it is quite
ready for use, shooting the old one from his mouth
as from a pop-gun, and clapping the new one in
its place I was surprised to observe, that even
steady old chewers of great experience are not
always good marksmen, which has rather inclined
102 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
me to doubt that general proficiency with the rifle
of which we have heard so much in England.
Several gentlemen called upon me, who, in the
course of conversation, frequently missed the
spittoon at five paces ; and one (hut he was cer-
tainly short-sighted) mistook the closed sash for
the open window at three. On another occasion
when I dined out, and was sitting with two ladies
and some gentlemen round a fire before dinner, one
of the company fell short of the fireplace six dis- j
tinct times. I am disposed to think, however, that j
this was occasioned by his not aiming at that oh- j
ject, as there was a white marble hearth before the
fender, which was more convenient, and may have
suited his purpose better.”
At the Cape of Good Hope grows a plant, allied
to the iceplant of our greenhouses, and which is a
native of the Karroo* which appears to possess
narcotic properties. The Hottentots know it under ;
the name of Kou, or Kauw-goed. They gather and (
beat together the whole plant, roots, stem, and <
leaves, then twist it up like pig-tail tobacco , alter |
which they let the mass ferment, and keep it by
them for chewing, especially when they are thirsty.
If it be chewed "immediately after fermentation, it
is narcotic and intoxicating. It is called cannar
root by the colonists.
In Lapland, Angelica-root {Archangehca ojficu J
nalis, Linn.) is dried and masticated in the same
way and answers the same purpose as tobacco. It
is warm and stimulating, and not narcotic, nor
does it leave those unpleasant and unsightly evi-
dences of its use which may be observed about the
mouth of the true votary ot the quid.
Theareca nut and the betle-pepper, which m
the Malayan Peninsula and other parts ot the
* Mesembryanthemum tortuosum, Linn.
QUID PRO QUO.
103
East, are used as a masticatory, will receive special
notice hereafter.
Lightfoot says that the Scotch are very fond of
“dulse,” but they prefer it dried and rolled up,
when they chew it like tobacco, for the pleasure
arising from the habit. This is the only reference
to the custom that we have met with, and requires
further confirmation.
The Duke of Marlborough has the credit of
being the first distinguished man who made the
chewing of tobacco famous; who was the last is
not so readily declared, since distinguished men
generally do not distinguish themselves much in
this department of the “fine arts.” It is related
of a monkey, that while on the voyage home from
some tropical clime in which he had been made a
prisoner, he noticed a sailor who was in the habit
of going to his trunk and taking out a quid, roll it
up, and place it in his mouth. Finding, one day,
that the course was clear, and the box unfastened,
Jocko helped himself to a very respectable twist,
which he put into his mouth, and scampered there-
with upon deck. He soon commenced chewing
and spitting, and, unsuccessful in the experiment,
the quid, which was not found to be so pleasant as
was anticipated, was thrown away. The poor
animal soon became dreadfully sick, held its
stomach, and moaned piteously, but ultimately
recovered. He learnt a lesson, however, the impres-
sion of which never passed away ; for ever after he
shunned the box, and the sight or smell of tobacco
sent him scampering into the shrouds.
CHAPTER VIII.
A RACE OP PRETENDERS.
“ I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir ; but yet. Heaven
forbid, sir, but a knave should have some countenance at his friends
request. An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave
is not.” — King Henry IV., part 2.
It is the misfortune of kingdoms to be subject to j
rebellions, and of monarchs to behold the advent
of pretenders, as it is the fate of gold to be
imitated in baser metals, and bank notes to be
forged. A rule is supposed to be strengthened by
an exception, and tried gold to shine in greater
splendour beside its counterfeit —
“ Than that which hath no foil to set it off.”
So, tobacco, in the midst of all its success and
prosperity, has been envied and imitated by duller
pretenders to the virtue it boasts, from among tire
meaner denizens of the vegetable world. Of course
these pretenders have been unsuccessful ; for had
they been successful, they had no longer been
branded with the baser name, but had risen to
the rank of benefactors and patriots. Such is the
custom of the world.
The following are the substances which arc
A RACE OF PRETENDERS.
105
stated to be used for the adulteration of tobacco,
principally in the form of “ cut” and “ roll.” Dr.
Hassell divid.es them —
First, into vegetable substances, as the leaves of
the dock, rhubarb, coltsfoot, cabbage, potato,
chicory, endive, elm, and oak; malt cummings,
that is the roots of germinating malt ; peat, which
consists chiefly of decayed moss ; seaweed, roasted
chicory root, wheat, oatmeal, bran, catechu or terra
japonica, oakum, and logwood dye.
Secondly, into saccharine substances, as cane-
sugar, treacle, honey, liquorice, and beetroot dregs.
Thirdly, into salts and earths, as nitre, common
salt, sal ammoniac, or hydrochlorate of ammonia,
nitrate of ammonia, carbonate of ammonia, the
alkalies, as potash, soda, and lime ; sulphate of
magnesia, sulphate of soda or glauber salts, yellow
ochre, umber, fuller’s earth, Venetian red, sand,
and sulphate of iron.
And the experience of the excise, as may bo
gathered from the evidence of Mr. Phillips before
the committee of adulteration, harmonizes with
the above list. “ With regard to tobacco,” he says,
“we have found in cut tobacco, sugar, liquorice,
gum catechu, saltpetre, and various nitrates ; yellow
ochre, Epsom salts, glauber salts, green copperas,
red sandstone, wheat, oatmeal, malt cummings,
chicory, and the following leaves — coltsfoot, rhu-
barb, chicory, eudive, oak, elm; and in fancy
tobacco, I once found lavender, and a wort called
mugwort. It is a fragrant herb, suggestive rather
of the nutmeg. In roll tobacco we have found
rhubarb leaves, endive and dock leaves, sugar,
liquorice, and a dye made of logwood and sulphate
of iron."
Let consumers of tobacco console themselves,
however, in the face of this formidable list, by the
assurance of the eminent experimenter on articles
106 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
of food, &c., before named, that “ not one of the
forty samples of manufactured cut tobacco which
he examined was adulterated with any foreign
leaf, or with any insoluble or organic extraneous
substance of any description other than with sugar,
or some other saccharine matter, which was pre-
sent in several instances.”
Leaving adulterations to take care of themselves,
we find that an article, of very ancient use, is still
occasionally smoked instead of the Virginian weed.
The plant referred to is coltsfoot ( Tussilago farfar ,
Linn), a very common weed on chalky and gravelly
soils. Pliny refers to it, and directs that the foliage
should be burned, and the smoke arising from it
drawn into the mouth through a reed and swal-
lowed. These leaves have long been smoked for
chest complaints, and are said to form the chief
ingredient in British herb tobacco.
The leaves of milfoil or yarrow ( Achilloea mille-
folium)), another plant equally common with the
last, have been recommended to smokers in lieu of
tobacco, and occasionally used for that purpose.
Added to beer, they render it heady or more
intoxicating.
Leaves of rhubarb are occasionally smoked by
those who are too poor to furnish themselves with
a regular supply of tobacco, and those who have
used them state, that, although devoid of strength,
they are not a bad substitute when tobacco is not
to be obtained. For the same purpose they are
collected and used in Thibet, and on the slopes of
the Himalayas.
The leaves of a plant common in marshes and
boggy soils in Europe and North America, called
Bogbean ( Menyanthes trifoliata , Linn.) are used in
the north of Europe when hops are scarce, to give
a bitter flavour to beer, and have been recom-
mended and adopted as a tobacco substitute.
A RACE OF PRETENDERS.
107
An agricultural labourer near Blois, pretends
that the leaves of the beet make an excellent
tobacco.
Undescribed plants called Aldl and Trouna, are
used by the Arabs of Algeria to render their
tobacco milder.
In some parts of Europe, the leaves of the com-
mon garden sage has served the same purpose ;
whilst in some parts of Switzerland, the leaves of
mountain tobacco ( Arnica montana , Linn.) are
collected for use as tobacco, or dried and powdered
to be used as snuff. This is no doubt a virulent
plant, and has the reputation of being a powerful
acrid narcotic.
The tobacco substitutes in North America are
more numerous than we should have expected to
have found in the native land of the true tobacco.
A decoction of the holly-leaves ( Ilex vomitoria,
Linn.) are drunk by the native Creek Indians,
under the name of “ black drink,” at the opening
of their councils, on account of its peculiar pro-
perties. This shrub is also called Cossena by the
Indians, and the leaves are used for smoking as a
substitute for tobacco. “Often,” says one of the
early settlers, “ I have smoked a pipe of cossena
with their majesties Toma Chaci and Senoaki his
queen, at their mud-palace, about three miles from
Savanacke.”
The Virginian or Stag’s Horn Sumach,* which
is met with almost over the whole of the United
States, supplies leaves which are dried and used
by some of the native tribes as tobacco.
The Indians of the Mississippi and Missouri use
the leaves of another Sumach ( Rhus copallina ) and
Indian tobacco ( Lobelia inflata, Linn.) is supposed
to be indebted for its name to the fact that it was
Rhus typhina.
108 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
one of the plants smoked by the Indians instead of
the geuuine <c weed.” Under the name of a tom-
beki,” the leaf of a species of Lobelia is smoked in
parts of Asia. It is smoked in a narghile, and is
exceedingly narcotic, so much so, that it is usually
steeped in water to weaken it before being used ;
and it is always smoked whilst damp.
Not many years since, a patent was taken out at
Washington for fabricating tobacco from maize-
husks, steeped in a solution of cayenne. It was
stated to be equal in flavour to true tobacco, and
without any of the deleterious properties which
have been attributed to that plant.
The Miliceti Indians, New Brunswick, scrape
the bark from the young twigs of the birch, and
when dry, mix it with their tobacco for smoking.
They are very partial to the admixture, the odour
of which, it is affirmed, is much more agreeable than
that of pure tobacco.
Mr. Molhausen smoked willow-leaves among the
Bocky Mountains ; and the use of these leaves for
the same purpose is mentioned in “ Hiawatha.”
The Bearberry ( Arctostaphylus uva ursi ) com-
mon in many parts of North America, is found in
the valley of the Oregon, where the leaves are
collected by the Chenook Indians, who mix them
with their tobacco. The Crees also use them for
the same purpose, and with them it is called
Tchakaslie-pukh. The Chepewyans, who name it
Kleh, and the Eskimos north of Churchill (by
whom it is termed Attung-a-wi-at) turn it to a
like account. From the custom of the Hudson’s
Bay Company’s officers carrying it in bags for the
same use, the voyagers gave it the appellation of
Sac-a-commis.
Latterly a writer in a West Indian paper, called,
attention to a novel application of the berries of
the Pimento (. Eugenia pimento), known commerci-
A RACE OP PRETENDERS.
109
ally by tliat name or as Allspice. “I have been,”
he says, “ a smoker for the past twenty years, and
have consumed many pounds of honey-dew within
that period ; but it was only a short time ago that
I discovered that Pimento forms by far a more
agreeable article for smoking ; and any person who
knows nothing of the fragrance of a Pimento walk
when in full bloom, may form some idea of it by
a pipe charged and lighted with the dried berry,
simply crushed in coarse bits. Every lady has a
dislike to the smell of tobacco. While she may
be driven by its fumes and smell from the draw-
ing-ioom, the Pimento would, on the contrary
■invite her presence. By way of experiment on the
taste of other smokers, I may mention that I had
the other day two men (great lovers of tobacco)
employed in my garden. £ J oseph,’ I said, ‘ where
is your pipe to-day?’ ‘Out of tobacco, massa'
was his reply. /Well, here is some very costly-
give me your opinion of it when you have tried it/
To prevent deception, I charged his pipe myself
and directed him to light it. He did so, and up
ascended a graceful curl of smoke. Joseph was
not a little pleased, and thanking me for this costly
tobacco, said it was ‘first-rate,’ and desired I
should inform him what per pound it could have
cost. I told him it grew pretty near his hut, and
on opening my pouch, and disclosing to him that
tills first-rate tobacco/ was nothing more than
aned pimento, you may imagine his surprise ‘ A
man is neber too old to larn,’ he exclaimed, and
soon imparted the good news to his fellow-labourer ”
t ltht a11 deference to the opinion of both
Joseph and his master, we have experimented on
this wonderful pretender, and hold the opinion that
is unworthy of their joint encomiums. A friend
! ha,s al®° tested it, thinks it, however, very
pleasant, and a fair substitute. It would appear,
110
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
therefore, that there is something to he said on both
sides
Cascarilla hark, the produce of the Croton elm-
teria in the Bahamas, was first used to mix with
tobacco, on account of the pleasing odour which it
diffuses in burning. It is supposed also to possess
narcotic properties, when used in this way. In
South America, Humboldt states that the leaves of
Polygonum hispida are used as a tobacco substitute.
The African contributions to our list are also
rather extensive, especially from the neighbourhood
of the Cape. The leaves of a certain plant (Tar-
chonanthus camphoratus , Linn.) possessing a cam-
phorated odour, are chewed by the Mahometans,
and smoked by the Hottentots and Bushmen, in-
stead of tobacco, and, like the uDagga;’ exhibit slight
narcotic symptoms. This may be owing to the
camphor which they contain. The common cam-
phor, in quantities a little beyond a . medium dose,
will produce indistinctness of ideas., incoherence, of
language, an indescribable uneasiness, shedding
of tears, a sensation of fear and dread ; then the
body feels lighter than usual — an idea exists that
flying will not only he easy, but a source of
1 rphe Wild Dagga (. Leonotis leonurus, P. Br.)
grows wild on the sandy Cape flats. It has a
peculiar scent, and a nauseous taste, and seems to
produce narcotic effects if incautiously used. The
Hottentots are particularly fond of it, and smoke
it as tobacco. In the eastern districts of the Cape,
an allied species (. Leonotis ovata ) has a similar
reputation, and is used for a like purpose.
In the Mauritius the leaves of the CulenlPso-
ralea glandulosa ) are dried and smoked, whale : on
the western coast of South America they are used
in decoction as a beverage, instead of tea.
In Asia, tobacco substitutes have but one or two
A RACE OF PRETENDERS.
Ill
representatives. One of these has been already
alluded to, auother consists of the long leaves of a
species of Tupistra , called “ Purphiok," which are
gathered in Sikkim, chopped up, and mixed with
tobacco for the hookah. The leaves of the water-
lily are dried, and used in China to mix with
tobacco for smoking, to render it milder.
Cigars of stramonium, henbane, and bella-donna,
may he purchased at the same rate as those made
of genuine tobacco, in chemists’ and herbalists’
shops— never having tried them, we have no ex-
perience of their flavour.
The majority of the substitutes for tobacco are,
after all, very poor pretenders — capable, perhaps, of
raising a smoke, but possessed of neither aro-
matic nor stimulating properties ; and those which
contain any active properties at all, are of a
character so dangerous, as to make their extensive
use extremely hazardous. In the former class, we
may rank coltsfoot, sage, milfoil, rhubarb, and
hogbean ; and in the latter, stramonium, henbane,
bella-donna, arnica, and lobelia. Those who have
been long accustomed to the use of tobacco, sel-
dom, except in times of scarcity or deprivation of
that plant, resort to the use of any other. This is
the case at home. In the Cape Colony, the united
testimony of travellers proves that the Kaffirs are
ready to make any sacrifices for tobacco, and
prefer it to any of their own indigenous substi-
tutes.
When the . tobacco has been found to be too
strong, incipient smokers have been known to
counteract its . effects, and lessen its power, by
mixing therewith the flowers of chamomile, which
once enjoyed great reputation as a useful medicine:
Others, in the absence of tobacco, have resorted to
brown paper or tow, which, being smoked through
an old or foul pipe, is said to carry with its smoke
112
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
some of the tobacco flavour, and to be infinitely
better than no smoke at all. Juveniles will some-
times, with a piece of cane, or a strip of clematis,
imitate their elders, and, in imagination, enjoy the
luxury of an Havannab cigar.
A curious anecdote of a Buckinghamshire parson
occurs in “ Lilly’s History of his Life and Times,”
to which we have before referred. “ In this year,
also, William Breedon, parson or vicar of Thornton
in Bucks, was living, a profound divine, but abso-
lutely the most polite parson for nativities in that
age, strictly adhering to Ptolemy, which he well
understood ; he had a hand in composing Sir
Christopher Heydon’s 4 Defence of Judicial
Astrology,' being at that time his chaplain; he
was so given over to tobacco and drink, that
when he had no tobacco (and I suppose too
much drink) he would cut the bell-ropes and
smoke them.”
Having unmasked the “ the race of pretenders,”
and shown the titles upon which they seek to
establish their claims, with Charles Lamb we now
bid farewell to Tobacco.
“ For I must, (nor let it grieve tliee,
Friendliest of plants, that I must) leave thee ;
For thy sake, Tobacco, I
Would do anything but die ;
And but seek to extend my days
Long enough to sing thy praise.
But as she, who once hath been
A king’s consort, is a queen
Ever after, nor will bate
Any tittle of her state,
Though a widow, or divorced,
So I, from thy converse forced,
The old name and style retain,
A right Katherine of Spain ;
And a seat, too, ’mongst the joys
Of the blest Tobacco boys ;
Where, though I, by sour physician,
A RACE OF PRETENDERS.
113
Am debarred the full fruition
Of thy favours, I may catch
Some collateral sweets, and snatch
Sidelong odours, that give life,
- Like glances from a neighbour’s wife ;
And still live in tbe by-places,
And the suburbs of thy graces ;
And in thy borders take delight,
An unconquered Canaanite.”
6
1
CHAPTER IX.
“MASH ALLAH !” — THE GIFT.
(i Farewell ye odours of earth that die,
Passing away like a lover’s sigh ;
My feast is now of the Tooba tree, *
Whose scent is the breath of eternity.”
Moore’s Lalla BooJch.
That opium is the milky juice of the capsules of a
species of poppy, evaporated by exposure to light
and air, is a tact so well kuown, as scarce to require
repetition. This species of poppy contains two
well marked varieties, the black and the white , a
circumstance noticed by Hippocrates long enough
ago. The black variety derives its name from the
colour of its seeds. The original home of the
poppy is Asia and Egypt. But jt is extensively
cultivated for the sake of its juice in British India,
Persia, Egypt, and Asia Minor, and might be cul-
tivated, were it more remunerative, in England,
France, and Germany, where good samples of
opium have been obtained experimentally. Dr.
Royle states that the black variety is cultivated in
the Himalayas, but generally the white is pre-
* “ The tree Tooba that stands in Paradise, in the palace of
Mahomet.” — Sale. “Tooba signifies beatitude or eternal
happiness." — D'Herbelot.
“mash allah!” — the gift.
115
ferred. The poppy is grown in Europe for the
sake of the capsules and seed : from the latter a
mild oil is extracted.
The cultivation of the poppy in British India is
confined chiefly to the large Gangetic tract, about
six hundred miles in length, and two hundred
miles in depth, extending from Goruckpore in the
north to Hazareebaugh in the South; and from
Dingepore in the East, to Agra on the West. This
extent of country contains the two agencies of
Behar and Benares, the former sending to the
market about treble the quantity of the latter. In
the Benares agency, there are about 21,500 culti-
ators, and the total number of under cultivators
of the opium poppy 106,147.
After all the preliminaries of preparing the land,
sewing, and cultivating the plant, all of which are
much more interesting to the parties concerned
than ourselves, if all goes well, the whole field of
poppies presents a sheet of white bloom, which
generally occurs about the month of February.
When nearly ready to fall, the white petals are
gathered, and made into circular cakes ; these are
preserved to form the outer coverings of the balls
of opium. In a few days after the “ leaves ” of the
flower are collected, the capsules or poppy heads
are ready for operation. At from three to form
o’clock in the afternoon, individuals go into the
fields and scratch or cut the poppy heads with iron
instruments called “nushturs.” This instrument
consists of three ov four thin narrow strips of iron
about six inches in length, and about the thickness
and width of a pen-knife at one end, but extending
m width to nearly an inch at the opposite ex-
tremity, where it is deeply notched. These plates
are bound together by means of thread, each plate
being kept a little distance from its neighbour bv
means ol thread passed between them. Thus com-
116
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
pleted, it has the appearance of a scarificator with
four parallel blades. This instrument, which has
the angles sharpened, has one of its sets of points
drawn down the poppy capsule from top to bottom,
or rather upwards from the base to the summit,
making three or four parallel incisions, correspond-
ing to the number of blades in the poppy head.
These only pass through the outer coating or peri-
carp. Each capsule is scarified from two to six
times, according to its size, two or three days inter-
vening between each operation. In Asia Minor, a
different course is pursued. One horizontal inci-
sion is made nearly round the capsule, with a
single blade. After the scarification of the capsules,
the juice exudes and thickens on them during the
night, which is collected early the next morn-
ing, by means of little iron instruments called
“ seetooahs,” and which resemble small concave
trowels. When sufficient is collected into the
trowel, it is emptied into an earthen pot which the
collector carries at his side.
When all the opium is collected which the
plants will yield, the capsules are gathered and
broken, and the seed preserved for the extraction
of their oil. Of these seeds comfits are also made
resembling carraway comfits, and, without doubt,
great comforts they are to naked little squalling
Hindoos whenever they can be obtained. After the
extraction of the oil, the dry cake, called Khari, is
either made into unleavened cakes for the very in-
digent, or cattle are fed upon them, or when neces-
sity requires, it is converted into poultices after the
manner of linseed meal.
In poor districts, where the people cannot aftoid
the luxury of opium, the broken capsules are made
into a decoction and drank instead, says Mr.
Impey. This liquid is termed “ post,' from the
Persian name of the capsule. There is also another
“mash allah!” — the gift. 117
use for the capsules. They are ground into fine
powder, and sold under the name of “ boosa,” and
sprinkled over the buttees of opium to prevent their
adhesion. In the Benares agency, the stems and
leaves, when perfectly dry, are collected and crushed
into a coarse powder called “ poppy trash” which
is employed in packing the opium cakes.”
One acre of well-cultivated ground will yield
from 70 to 100 lbs. of “chick” or inspissated
juice, the price of which varies from six shillings
to twelve shillings per pound ; so that an acre will
yield from twenty to sixty pounds worth of opium
at one crop. Three pounds of chick will produce
one pound of opium, from a third to a fifth of the
weight being lost in evaporation.
When freshly collected, the mass of juice is of
a pinkish colour. This is placed in shallow ves-
sels to drain. A coffee-coloured liquid, called
“ pussewah” is drained off, which is used to cement
the poppy-leaves round the cakes of opium, under
the name' of lewah. After exposure to the air in
the Benares agency, the opium is made up into
balls. In Turkey it is the custom to beat up the
juice with saliva. In Malwa it is immersed as
collected in linseed oil. In Benares it is brought
to the required consistence by exposure in the
shade only.
Opium is prepared in different forms, in the
various localities for market. Bengal opium is
made into balls of about 3 Jibs, weight, and packed
in chests, each containing forty balls. They are
about the size of a child’s head, coated externally
with poppy petals, agglutinated with lewah to the
thickness of about half an inch. Garden Patna
opium is in square cakes, about three inches in
diameter, and one inch thick, wrapped in thin
P ates of mica. Malwa opium is in round flat-
tened cakes, of about ten ounces in weight, packed
118 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
in “ boosa,” or in coarsely-powdered poppy-petals,
or in some instances without any coating at all.
Cutch opium is in small cakes, rather more than
an inch in diameter, enclosed in fragments of leaves.
Kandeish opium is imported in round flattened
cakes, of about half a pound weight. Egyptian
opium occurs in round flattened cakes, about three
inches in diameter, covered with the vestiges of
some leaf. This kind is very dry, but it is con-
sidered inferior in quality to the Turkish kinds.
Persian opium is in the form of sticks, about six
inches in length, and half an inch in diameter,
enveloped in smooth shining paper, and tied with
cotton. Smyrna opium occurs in regular rounded
or flattened masses, of various sizes, rarely exceed-
ing two pounds in weight, sometimes covered with
the capsules of a species of dock. Constantinople
opium is either in large irregular cakes, or small,
regular, lenticular-formed cakes, covered with
poppy-leaf, and from two to two and a half inches
in diameter.
Formerly the balls of Bengal opium were co-
vered with tobacco-leaves; but Mr. Flemming
introduced the practice of covering them with
poppy-petals, which service the Court of Directors
of the East India Company acknowledged by pre-
senting him with 50,000 rupees. Sometimes these
balls are so soft as to burst their skins, when much
of the liquid opium is lost. The quantity of opium
produced annually in Bengal exceeds five millions
of pounds, and the income derived by the Hon.
East India Company from this source is not less
than £5,003,162.
The kinds of opium most approved in the Eng-
lish market is the Smyrna, and in China and the
East generally, the preference is given to the pro-
duce of India. Before used by the opium-smoker,
the extract undergoes a course of preparation, the
“hash allah!” — the gift. 119
following being the method pursued in Singapore,
as described by Mr. Little.
Between three and four 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 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 operation moistening and
washing his hands in another vessel, the water of
which is carefully preserved. When all 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, con-
taining 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 quantity of water in a large, shallow,
iron pot, for such a length of time as may be requi-
site 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 flnid 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
refuse 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 attended to. It is dried and sold to the
Chinese going to China for from ten to seventeen
120 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
shillings the hundredweight, who pound it, and
adulterate good opium with it. The paper that has
been used in straining contains a small quan-
tity of opium, it is carefully dried and used
medicinally by the Chinese.
In the third operation, the dissolved opium being
reduced to the consistence of treacle, is seethed
over a fire of charcoal, of a strong and steady, but
not fierce temperature, during which time it is
most carefully worked, then spread out, then
worked up again and again by the superintending
workman, so as to expel the water, and, at the
same time, avoid burning it. When it is brought
to the proper consistence, it is divided into half-a-
dozen lots, each of which is spread like a plaister
on a nearly flat iron pot, to the depth of from half
to three-quarters of an inch, and then scored in all
manner of directions to allow the heat to be ap-
plied equally to every part. One pot after another
is then placed over the fire, turned rapidly round,
then reversed, so as to expose the opium itself to
the full heat of the red fire. This is repeated
mree times, the length of time requisite, and the
proper heat are judged of by the workman, from
the effluvium and the colour, and here the greatest
dexterity is requisite, for a little more fire, or a
little less would destroy the morning’s work, or
eighty or a hundred pounds’ worth of opium. The
head workmen are men who have learned their
trade in China, and from their great experience,
receive high wages.
The fourth operation consists in again dissolving
this fired opium in a large quantity of water, and
boiling it in copper vessels till it is reduced to the
consistence of the chandu used in the shops. The
degree of tenacity being the index of its complete
preparation, which is judged of by drawing it out
with slips of bamboo.
‘‘mash allah!” — the gift. 121
By this long process, many of the impurities in
the opium are got rid of, and are left in the refuse
thrown out, such as vegetable matter, part of the
resin and oil, with the extractive matter. By the
seething process, the oil and resin are almost en-
tirely dissipated, so that the chandu, as compared
with the crude opium, is less irritating and more
soporific. The quantity of chandu obtained from
the soft opium is about seventy-five per cent., but
from the opium, including the husk, not more than
50 to 54 per cent.
The heat to be endured by the men during this
operation is very great, and can only be tolerated
when custom has inured them to it. One of these
men, Mr. Little graphically describes. He was
quite a character in his way. “ From three in the
morning till ten in the forenoon he stands before
the boiling cauldron, with a fan in one hand, and
a feather in the other ; with the latter he scoops
off the scum that forms, while, with the fan, lie
prevents the fluid from boiling over. He never
speaks, but is always smiling ; nor does he move,
except to quench his thirst, from a bucket of water-
placed beside him. His trowsers are his only
article of dress, the floor his bed, a little rice his
food. When his labour is finished, his enjoyment
is to drink arrack till he is insensible, from which
he is wakened in the morning to his work. He
has but one idea, and that is, the prospect of get-
ting drunk on his favourite beverage ; for his work
is mechanically done, and costs him not a thought,
no more than it does the dog that turns the spit.
But he smiles, as he thinks of the revel for the
night; and with his whole soul wrapped up in
that fancied bliss, he heeds not the days that go by.
He is a singular being, and in another country
would be the inmate of a mad-house.”
The method of preparation in China and Hong-
122
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Kong, is identical with that pursued at Singapore.
When the chandu or prepared extract of opium ig
consumed, it leaves a refuse consisting of charcoal,
empyreumatic oil, some of the salts of the opium,
and part of the chandu not consumed. One ounce
of the chandu gives nearly half an ounce of the
refuse called Tye or Tinco. This is smoked or
swallowed by the poorer classes, who cannot afford
the pure extract, and for this they only pay half
the price of chandu. Wheu smoked, it yields a
further refuse called Samshing, which contains a
very small quantity of the narcotic principle. This
last is never smoked, as it cannot furnish any smoke,
but is swallowed, and that not unfrequently mixed
with arrack. Samshing is used by the very poorest
and most indigent class — by beggars and outcasts, |
and those who, from long habit, are unable to
exist without some stimulus from the drug, but
are unable to supply themselves with any but the
cheapest form in which any of the effects of the
narcotic can be obtained.
Opium is called in Arabic “ Afiyoon,” and the
opium-eater “ Afiyoonee." In the crude state, i
opium is generally taken by those who have not
long been addicted to its use, in the dose of three
or four grains, and the dose is increased by degrees.
The Egyptians make several conserves com-
posed of hellebore, hemp, and opium, and several
aromatic drugs which are in much more common
use than the simple opium. One of these con-
serves is called “magoon," and the person who
makes or sells it, is called “ magoongee” The
most common kind is called “ harsh'’ or “ berck.”
There is one kind which, it is said,' makes the
person who takes it manifest his pleasure by
singing, another which will make him chatter,
a third which excites to dance, a fourth which par-
ticularly effects the vision in a pleasurable manner,
“ MASH ALLAH I ” — THE GIFT.
123
and a fifth, which is simply of a sedative nature.
These are sold at certain kind of shops called
“ mahsheshehs,” solely appropriated to the sale of
intoxicating preparations.
Thus, in different countries, we find opium used
in different ways. In Great Britain, for instance,
it is either used in the solid state, made into pills,
in which form it is somewhat extensively employe
in certain of our manufacturing districts, where
druggists are affirmed to keep a supply of thes
pills ready made to meet the demand, or it i
used in the form of tincture in the common state
of laudanum, in which form it is not only used
medicinally, but to our knowledge, somewhat
largely as a means . of indulgence, or, we should
rather say, with somewhat of qualification, largely
for a country in which many are fain to suppose
that it is not used for those purposes at all. It is
also used in the form of Paregoric elixir, and is
given insiduously to children under a variety of
quack forms, such as Godfrey’s cordial, &c. Gn
the authority of a reverend gentleman, it is stated
that in the town of Preston, in 1843, there were
upwards of sixteen hundred families in which
Godfrey s cordial was habitually employed, or
some other equally injurious compound. Pro-
fessor J ohnston has noticed a communication which
appeared in the “ Morning Chronicle,” describing
the effects of opium upon the health of children
“ The child sinks into a low torpid state!
wastes away into a skeleton, except the stomach
producing what is known as pot-belly. One
woman said, £ The sleeping stuff made them that
toey were always dozing, and never cared for food
died7’ ”med aWay ’ theil’ heads g0t bigj ancl tbey
In India, the pure opium is either dissolved in
water, and so used, or rolled into pills. It is
124
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
there a common practice to give it to children
when very young, by mothers who require to work,
and cannot at the same time nurse their offspring.
The natives of the western coast of Africa have a
curious mechanical contrivance, by means of which
they get rid of the necessity for opium in these
cases. The girls wear a “ kankey,” or artificial
hump on their backs as soon as they can walk, in
order to learn betimes to carry their juniors, who
ride astride on the said projections. The useful-
ness of them consists in enabling the mothers to
work with their infants in this way on their bach,
while in England they excuse themselves from
work on the plea of an infant in arms , or else the
helpless little creatures are drugged with sleeping
stuff, and their heads grow big, and they die.
In China, opium is either swallowed or smoked
in the shape of Tye. In Bally it is first adulterated'
with China paper, and then rolled up with the
fibres of a particular kind of plantain. It is then
inserted into a hole made at the end of a small
bamboo and smoked. In Java ami Sumatra
it is often mixed with sugar and the ripe fruit of
the plantain. In Turkey it is usually taken in
pills, and those who do so, avoid drinking any
water after having swallowed them, as this, is said
. to produce violent colic ; but to make it more
palatable, it is sometimes mixed with syrups or
thickened juice ; in this form, however, it is less
intoxicating, and resembles mead. It is then
taken with a spoon, or is dried in small cakes,
with the words “Mash Allah,” the “Work ot
God,” or the “Gift of God” imprinted on them.
When the dose of two or three drams a day no
longer produces the beatific intoxication so eagerly
sought, they mix corrosive sublimate with the
opium till the quantity reaches ten grains a day.
In Singapore there are representatives ot almost
u MASH ALLAH ! ” — THE GIFT. 125
every Eastern nation, indulging in the luxury
according to the fashion of the country of which
he is a native. The Hindoo, fresh from the con-
tinent, prefers the mode there in use, and swallows
the soul-soothing pill ; while the Chinese, with a
gusto which no worshipper of the meerschaum can
compete with, inhales the smoke, not only into his
mouth, but into his lungs, where it becomes breath
of his breath, and where retained, it acts on the
nervous fibres that are spread over the extensive
membrane which lines every cell of the lungs
until exhaled through nose and mouth — yea, even
in some cases, through ear and eye, it is replaced
by another puff.
As the body becomes accustomed by habit to
bear larger doses of opium than before the habit
has been formed, the enormous quantity which
some persons have taken are startling and sur-
prising. Dr. Christison, in his work on Poisons,
refers to some of these cases. “ A female who died
of consumption at the age of forty-two, had taken
about a dram of solid opium daily for ten years. A
well-known literary character, about fifty years of
age, has taken laudanum for twenty-five years, with
occasional short intermissions, and sometimes an
enormous quantity, but enjoys tolerable bodily
health. A lady about fifty-five, who enjoys good
health, has taken opium many years, and at pre-
sent uses three ounces of laudanum daily. Lord
Mar, after using laudanum for thirty years, at
times to the amount of two or three ounces daily,
died at the age of fifty-seven, of jaundice and
dropsy. A woman who had been in the practice
oi taking about two ounces of laudanum daily for
very many years, died at the age of sixty or up-
wards. An eminent literary character who died
lately,- about the age of sixty-three, was in the
practice of drinking laudanum to excess from the
126
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
age of fifteen, and liis daily allowance was some-
times a quart of a mixture consisting of three parts
laudanum and one of alcohol. A lady now alive,
at the age of seventy-four, has taken laudanum in
the quantity of half an ounce daily between thirty
and forty years. An old woman died not long
ago at Leith at the age of eighty, who had taken
about half an ounce of laudanum daily for nearly
forty years, and enjoyed tolerable health all the
time. Visrajee, a celebrated Cutchee chief men-
tioned by Dr. Burnes, had taken opium largely all
his life, and was alive at the age of eighty, with
his mind unimpaired.” To these examples we may
add the confession of De Quincey : “ I, who have
taken happiness both in a solid and a liquid shape,
both boiled and unboiled, both East Indian and
Turkish — who have conducted my experiments
upon this interesting subject with a sort of gal-
vanic battery, and have, for the general benefit of
the world, inoculated myself, as it were, with the
poison of eight thousand drops of laudanum a day
— I, it will be admitted, must surely now know
what happiness is, if anybody does. Fifty and two
years’ experience of opium, as a magical resource
under all modes of bodily suffering, I may now
claim to have had. According to the modern
slang phrase, I had, in the meridian stage of my
opium career, used ‘fabulous’ quantities. Statiug
the quantities — not in solid opium, but in the tinc-
ture (known to everybody as laudanum) — my daily
ration was eight thousand drops. If you write
down that amount in the ordinary way as 8000,
you see at a glance that you may read it into eight
quantities of a thousand, or into eight hunched
quantities of ten ; or, lastly, into eighty quantities
of one hundred. Now, a single quantity of one
hundred will about fill a very old-fashioned ob-
solete teaspoon, of that order which you find still
MASH ALLAH ! ”■
•THE GIFT.
127
lingering amongst the respectable poor. Eighty-
such quantities, therefore, would have filled eighty
of such antediluvian spoons, that is, it would have
been the common hospital dose for three hundred
and twenty adult patients/' And he adds solemnly,
that “ without opium, thirty-five years ago, beyond
all doubt, I should have been in my grave.”
It is not a very easy task to ascertain the full
extent of opium indulgence at home ; but there is
more of truth than fiction in that passage in “ Alton
Locke,” where the hero, on his way to Cambridge,
meets with a ride in the vehicle of a certain yeo-
man of the Fen country, and enters into conversa-
tion with him, in the course of which the following
dialogue takes place.
“ Love ye, then ! they as dinnot tak’ spirits down
thor, tak' their pennord o’ elevation, then — women
folk especial.”
“ What’s elevation ?”
; “Oh! ho! ho! Yow goo into druggist’s shop
o’ market day, into Cambridge, and you'll see the
little boxes, doozens and doozens, a’ ready on the
counter ; and never a ven-man’s wife goo by, but
what calls in for her pennord o' elevation, to last
her out the week. Oh ! ho ! ho ! Well, it keeps
women folk quiet, it do ; and it’s mortal good agin
ago pains.”
“ But what is it ?”
“Opium, bor’ alive, opium !”
“But doesn’t it ruin their health? I should
think it the very worst sort of drunkenness.”
C< Ow, well, yow moi say that — mak’th 'em cruel
thin, then, it do ; but what can bodies do i’ th’
ago ? But it’s a bad thing, it is.”
The fact is well known, that in the Fen country
opium is extensively used under the presumption
or excuse that it is good for the ague. In VVis-
beach, as we ascertained from certain official
128
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
medical documents, more opium is sold and
consumed, in proportion to the population, than in
any other part of the kingdom. In other parts of
Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, large quantities
of opium are regularly and habitually sold in small
doses amongst the labouring population. In
Manchester some years ago, a similar run upon
opium was experienced, but not as a cure for ague.
Several cotton manufacturers stated to our autho-
rity, that their work-people were rapidly getting
into the practice of opium-eating ; so much so, that
on a Saturday afternoon the counters of the drug-
gists were strewed with pills of one, two, or three
grains, in preparation for the known demand of
the evening. The immediate occasion of this
practice was stated to be the lowness of wages,
which, at that time, would not allow them to in-
dulge in ale or spirits ; hence they adopted opium
as a substitute.
There was a sin of which we were guilty in the
age of Butler, and from which we are not yet freed ;
probably, it is somewhat of a universal one.
Whether or no, there are certainly not a few
who — •
“ Compound for sins they are inclined to,
By damning those they have no mind to.”
Opium indulgence is, after all, very un-English,
and never has been, nor ever will be, remarkably
popular ; and if we smoke our pipes of tobacco
ourselves, while in the midst of the clouds, wc
cannot forbear expressing our astonishment at the
Chinese and others who indulge in opium. Pity
them we may, perhaps, looking upon them as
miserable wretches the while, but they do not
obtain our sympathies. Philanthropists at crowded
assemblies denounce, in no measured terms, “ the
iniquities of the opium trade,” and then go home
to their pipe or cigar, thinking them perfectly
“mash allah!” — the gift.
120
legitimate, whether the produce of slave labour or
free. It is the same sort of feeling that the
Hashasheens of the East inspire, and indeed all,
who have a predilection for other narcotics than
those which Johnny Englishman delights in, come
in for a share of his contempt.
A carrion crow was once indulging in a feast
upon the carcase of a nice fat rat which had just
been caught in a neighbouring barn and thrown
out into the road. A wood pigeon, who had
finished his meal in a field of peas hard by, came
past at the time and saw his friend the crow in
full enjoyment of his rat. “I cannot imagine,”
said the pigeon, “ how you can eat such a disgust-
ing creature as that on which you are making your
breakfast — the sight of it turns my stomach.” “ It
is quite a matter of taste,” said the crow, “ and I
think that I have the advantage, my food is juicy
and sweet, this rat has lived upon the best of the
farmer’s corn, and the farmer would enjoy the treat
himself, I am confident, if he only knew what a
delicious breakfast it would make. You should
be welcome to an acre of peas every day, if you
would bring me such a dish as this. Besides, if I
did not eat it, it would soon putrefy, and fill the air
with disgusting smells, so that I am, in myself, a
perfect board of health, working for the good^of
society, you, no better than a vagabond, stealing
from society your daily bread.” “I have heard it
said,” added the pigeon, “ that it was you and your
companions that destroyed a whole field of turnips
in grubbing after the worms — I suppose that was
a benefit to society.” “ Go and eat your peas,”
said the crow, “and leave me to enjoy my rat in
peace."
Calculations as to the number of persons in-
dulging in the use of opium are necessarily liable to
objections ; one person asserting that in China, for
K
130
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
instance, not less than twenty millions of people
indulge in opium, whilst others consider that two
millions and a half are all that can he calculated
upon. The number which Johnston estimates as
the proportion of the human race using opium is
four hundred millions, or about half the number of
those who indulge in tobacco. This is, perhaps, as
near an approximation as can be made, but one
which must he based on the quantity produced,
deducing therefrom the number required to con-
sume it, rather than on any details of consumption,
which cannot he arrived at.
There is one important and well-authenticated
fact with regard to the Chinese consumption of
opium, that in the year 1854, the value of opium
imported into China exceeded the value of all the
tea and silk exported from China to Great Britain
and her colonies.
As we take farewell of the “ gift of God ” to pass
through the portals of Paradise, let us do so in the
words of that most celebrated of English opium
eaters, Thomas de Quincey : — “ 0 just, subtle, and
all-conquering opium ! that, to the hearts of rich and
poor alike, for the wounds that will never heal, and
for the pangs of grief that ‘tempt the spirit to
rebel/ bringest an assuaging halm ; eloquent
opium! that with thy potent rhetoric stealest away
the purposes of wrath, pleadest effectually foi re-
lenting pity, and through one night s heavenly
sleep, tallest hack to the guilty man the visions of
his infancy, and hands washed pure from blood.
0 just and righteous opium ! that to the clianceiy
of dreams, summonest for the triumphs of despair-
ing innocence, false witnesses, and confoundest
perjury, and dost reverse the sentences of un-
righteous judges ; thou buildest upon the bosom
of darkness, out of the fantastic imagery of t he
brain, cities and temples, beyond the art of Phidias
“MASH ALLAH I” — THE GIFT. 131
and Praxiteles — beyond the splendours of Babylon
and Hekatompylos ; and from the c anarchy of
dreaming sleep,’ callest into sunny light the faces
of long-buried beauties, and the blessed household
countenances, cleansed from the 1 dishonours of the
grave/ Thou only givest these gifts to man, and
thou hast the keys of Paradise, 0 just, subtle, and
mighty opium !”
CHAPTER X.
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
“ Thou only givest these gifts to man ; and thou hast the keys of
Paradise, O just, subtle, and mighty opium.” — Confessions of an
Opium-Eater.
According to the common opinion of the Arabs,
there are seven heavens, one above another. The
upper surface of each is believed to be nearly plaue,
and generally supposed to be circular, five hundred
years’ journey in width. The first is described to
he formed of emerald ; the second of white silver ;
the third of large white pearls ; the fourth of ruby;
the fifth of red gold ; the sixth of yellow jacinth ;
and the seventh of shining light. Some assert
Paradise to be in the seventh heaven ; others state
that above the seventh heaven are seven seas of
Ijo-ht, then an undefined number of veils, or separa-
tions of different substances, seven of each kind,
and then Paradise, which consists of seven stages,
one above another. The first is the mansion of
glory, of white pearls ; the second, the mansion of
peace, of ruby; the third, the garden of rest, of
green chrysolite ; the fourth, the garden of eternity,
of green coral ; the fifth, garden of delight, of white
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
133
silver ; the sixth, the garden of Paradise, of red gold;
the seventh, the garden of perpetual abode or Eden,
of large pearls — this overlooking all the former, and
canopied by the throne of the Compassionate.
The most direct road and speediest conveyance
to Paradise, according to the testimony of all con-
firmed opiophagi, is by means of that subtle drug,
opium. The most common form in which it is
taken is that of vapour, inhaled through a pecu-
liarly-constructed pipe. Those used by the Siamese
resemble in form the common narghile, or hubble-
bubble of the Levant. They consist of an empty
cocoa-nut shell, in an orifice in the top of which a
hollow wooden tube is inserted, and the opening
hermetically closed, so as to prevent the escape of
either air or smoke. In another hole in the side
of the cocoa-nut shell, a common little bamboo
tube, about eighteen inches long, is tightly fixed ;
a little earthen bowl, perforated at the bottom like
a sieve, is filled with opium, aud one or two pieces
of fire being placed thereon, this bowl is fitted on
the top of the wooden tube. The man who hands
round this pipe holds with one hand the bottom of
the cocoa-nut (which is half full of water), and
with the other hand he presents the bamboo tube
to the smoker, who, putting it to his mouth,
inhales three or four whiffs of this most intoxicating
narcotic. The effect is almost instantaneous. He
sinks gently against the cushion set at his back,
becomes insensible to what is passing around.
•The pipe is passed round from mouth to mouth,
so that half an hour generally intervenes be-
tween the first whiff taken by the first smoker,
and the last sigh heaved by the last man’
as he rev^ves/(om his short, pleasant dream, into
. uch the whiffing has thrown him. One old and
inveterate Siamese smoker declared to a recent
resident among them, that if he knew his life
134
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
would be forfeited by the act, he could no more
resist the temptation than he could curb a fiery
steed by a thread bridle. It carried him into the
seventh heaven — he heard and saw things no tongue
could utter, and felt as though his soul soared so
high above things earthly, during those precious
moments of oblivion, as to have flown beyond the
reach of its heavy, burthensome cage.
Opium smoking is not generally conducted on a
plan so social. The Siamese may be considered
as an exception to the general rule. The method
pursued at Hong-Kong, of which we have received
an account from a competent authority, is more a
type of the opium-smoker in general, and the
method he pursues.
In a reclining position, on boards placed on
tressels, ranged around long, disgustingly dirty
rooms, may be seen, at all hours of the day, hag-
gard beggars, with putrefying sores, whose miser-
able feelings of desperation and woe drive them
here to obtain a partial alleviation, by steeping
their senses in forgetfulness. The stem of the
pipe used for smoking is made of hard wood, and
would be taken for an English paper-ruler, about
eighteen inches long, and an inch in diameter. The
earthenware bowl or head screws on and off, at
about three inches from the end. An assistant of
the divan, sitting in a corner of the room, is con-
stantly engaged in scraping and cleaning these
heads, which, from the small size of the hole
through which the opium is inhaled (about the
size of a pin’s head), are apt to get clogged. The
quantity of opium intended to be smoked, varying
at a time from twenty to a hundred grains, is
dipped carefully out of small gallipots, laid on a
leaf, and charged for at the rate of a dollar per
ounce. The opium is used by dipping into it the
pointed end of a small wire, which is then applied
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
135
to the flame of a lamp. In ignition it inflates into
a bubble, and is then, with a dexterity obtained
only by constant practice, rolled on the pipe head
until it assumes the shape and size of a small
orange-pip cut in half, and of the hardness of
wax. It is then placed over the orifice in the head
of the pipe, like a small chimney, through which
the flame of the lamp is drawn into the bowl, con-
verting the opium, in its passage, into a blue smoke,
which is inspired by long continuous whiffs, and
without removal of the pipe from the mouth,
respired through the nostrils. Two or three pipes
m?y be taken by persons unaccustomed to the
habit without leaving any other unpleasant feeling
than a harshness in the. throat. There are in
Hong-Kong ten regular licensed divans for the
smoking of opium, and nearly all these are in the
Chinese portion of the town.
• 'This picture would, however, be incomplete,
without a few more particulars concerning the
individuals who give themselves up to indulgence
in the drug. And for this we must again seek
the aid of an experienced medical man, who for
years lived and laboured in the midst of opium
smokers. “Nothing on earth,” he states, “can
equal the apparent quiet enjoyment of the opium
smoker. As he enters the miserable scene of his
future ecstasy, he collects his small change, the
labour, or begging, or theft of the day, with which
he supplies himself with his quantity of Chandu ;
then taking the pipe, which is furnished gratis,
he reclines on a board covered with a mat, and
with his head resting on a wooden or bamboo
pillow, he commences filling his pipe. As he en-
tered, his looks were the picture of misery, his eyes
were sunk, his gait slouched, his step trembling,
and his voice quivering, with a sallow cast of
countenance, and a dull unimpressive eye. He
136
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
who runs might read that he is an opium-smoker,
and, diving still deeper below appearances, would
declare him an opium sufferer. But now with
pipe in hand, opium by his side, and a lamp before
him, his eye already glistens, and his features
soften in their expression, while he is preparing
the coming luxury. At last it is ready, and the
pipe being applied to the lamp, there is heard a
soughing noise, as with a full and hearty pull, he
draws in all that opium and air can give. Slowly
is the inspiration relaxed, but not until all the
opium that is in the pipe is consumed ; then,
allowing the vapour, impregnated with the narcotic
influence, to remain in his chest until nature com-
pels him to respire, he gently allows it to escape,
seeming to grudge the loss of each successive
exit, until all is gone, when exhausted and
soothed —
“ 1 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams,’
he withdraws the pipe, reclines his head, and gives
himself up to the first calming effect of the drug.
His next attempt confirms the comfort, and now-
no longer does he complain of racking limbs or
aching bones ) no longer does the rheum run from
his eyes, and relaxed is the tightness of the chest,
as he dwells with fond affection on the inspiring
pipe. His second pipe being finished, he can now
look round, and has time to gaze on what is going
on ; but his soul is still wrapped in the bliss that
is anticipated from what remains of his allowance,
for not until a third or fourth whiff do the feelings
of positive pleasure arise. Then is felt a lightness
of the head, a tingling in every limb— the eyes seem
to be enlarged, and the ears sharpened to hearing,
an elasticity, an inclination to mount on high is
experienced — all pains are gone, and pleasure now
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
137
remains — all weariness has left, and freshness takes
its place. The loathing of food that was lately-
experienced is changed to a relish for what is
piquant, and a great desire is frequently felt for
some particular food. The tongue is now loosened,
and tells its tale. For whatever is secret becomes
open, and what was intended for one becomes
known to all. Still there is no excitement, but a
calmness, soft, soothing, and sedative. He dreams
no dreams, nor thinks of the morrow but with a
smile in his eye ; he fills his pipe with the last of
his allowance ; slowly inhaling it, he 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 follow — 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. So he . passes into sleep, disturbed and
broken, from which the wretched being awakes to
a full conception of his misery. ‘ To sleep, per-
chance to dream!’— and what dreams ! — what
ecstatic delights ! — what ravishments ! — what illu-
sions !
‘“Things
Seen for the first time, and things, long ago
Seen, which lie ne’er again shall see, do blend
Strangely and brokenly with ghastly things
Such as we hear in childhood, scorn in youth,
And doubt in manhood, save when seen.’ ”
In the narrative of the voyage of H.M.S. Santa-
ran9 , ^r- A. Adams informs us, that in a large
138
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
caravansary belonging to the Malay village near
Singapore, he had an opportunity of observing the
effects of opium on the physical aspect of the
Malay. One of these was a feeble, worn out old
man, with an unearthly brilliancy in his eye. His
body was bent forwards and greatly emaciated —
his face was shrunken, wan, and haggard — his long
skinny arm, wasted fingers, and sharp pointed
nails resembled more the claw of some rapacious
bird, than the hand of a lord of the creation — his
head was nodding and tremulous — his skin wrinkled
and yellow, and his teeth were a few decayed,
pointed, and black stained fangs. As he was
approached, he raised his body from the mat
on which he was reposing. There was something
interesting and at the same time melancholy in
the physique of the old man, who now in rags,
appeared from the silver ornaments he wore, and by
his embroidered jacket, to have been formerly a
person of some distinction ; but the fascinating
influence of the deadly drug had fastened on him,
and a pallet in a caravansary was the reward of
self-indulgence. “In my experience of opium,”
says Mr. , “which has not, however, been very
extensive, I cannot say I have found as much
pleasure as the English opium-eater in his Confes-
sions would lead us to believe fell to his lot. After
three or four Chinese opium pipes, I found my
brain very much unsettled, and teeming with
thoughts ill-arranged, and pursuing each other in
wanton dreamy play, without order or connection,
the circulating system being at the time much
excited, the frame tremulous, the eyeballs fixed,
and a peculiar and agreeable thrilling sensation
extending along the nerves. The same succession of
image crowding upon image, and thoughts revelling
in strange disorder, continues for some time, during
which a person appears to be in the condition of
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
139
the madman alluded to by Dryden in his play of
the ‘ Spanish Fryar.’
“ ‘ He raves, his words are loose,
As heaps of sand, and scattering wide from sense
So high he’s mounted on his airy throne,
That now the wind has got into his head,
And turned his brains to frenzy.’
Unutterable melancholy feelings succeed to this
somewhat pleasurable period of excitement, but a
soft languor steals shortly across the senses, and
the half-poisoned individual falls asleep. The
next day there is great nausea and sickness of
stomach, headache, and tormenting thirst, which
makes you curse opium, and exclaim, with Shake-
speare’s £ King J ohn,’
“‘And none of you will bid the winter come
To thrust his icy fingers in my maw ;
Nor let my kingdom’s rivers take their course
Thro’ my burnt bosom, nor entreat the North
To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips,
And comfort me with cold.’ ”
Dr. Madden tried, experimentally, the effects of
opium — he commenced with a grain, which pro-
duced no perceptible effect, to this he afterwards
added another grain. After two hours from com-
mencing the operation, his spirits became excited.
“My faculties,” he writes, <£ appeared enlarged,
everything I looked at seemed increased in volume.
I had no longer the same pleasure when I closed
my eyes which I had when they were open ; it
appeared to me as if it was only external objects
which were acted on by the imagination, and
magnified into images of pleasure ; in short, it was
the faint exquisite music of a dream in a waking
moment. I made my way home as fast as possible,
dreading, at every step, that I should commit some
140 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
extravagance. In walking, I was hardly sensible
of my feet touching the ground — it seemed as if I
slid along the street, impelled by some invisible
agent, and that my blood was composed of some
ethereal fluid, which rendered my body lighter
than air. I got to bed the moment I reached
home. The most extraordinary visions of delight
filled my brain all night. In the morning I rose
pale and dispirited, my head ached, my body was
so debilitated, that I was obliged to remain on the
sofa all day, dearly paying for my first essay at
opium-eating.” Thus far, the opium-eater and the
opium-smoker seem to agree in the principal
results from the use of the drug.
From the communications of Dr. Medhurst
may be learnt many important facts relative to this
habit in China. Day by day, and year by year,
the practice of opium-smoking prevails more and
more among this people, and by and by it will
doubtless have a powerful effect upon the destinies
of the country. It is said, that the late Emperor
used the drug; it is certain that most of the
government officers do, and their innumerable
attendants are in the same category. Opium is used
as a luxury by all classes, and to a great extent,
indeed so great, that it cannot fail to exhibit its
effects speedily upon the mass of the inhabitants.
In rich families, even if the head of the house does
not use the drug, the sons soon learn to use it, and
almost all are exposed to the temptation of
employing it, as many of their friends and acquain-
tances are in the habit of smoking; and it is
considered a mark of politeness to offer the pipe
to a friend or visitor. Many persons fly to the use
of the pipe when they get into trouble, and when
they are afflicted with chronic or painful diseases,
sleeplessness, &c. Several persons who have been
attended for malignant tumours were made victims
THE GATES OF PARADISE. 141
of the drug, by the use of it to appease the pain
and distress they had to endure. The beggars are,
to a great extent, under its influence ; but they use
the dregs and scrapings only of the half-consumed
drug, which is removed from the pipe-head when
it is cleaned. The most common cause of the
Chinese resorting to the use of the opium-pipe is
their not knowing how to employ their leisure
hours when the business of the day is over — there
is no periodical literature to engage their attention.
Their families do not present sufficient attractions
to keep them at home, and sauntering about of an
evening, with nothing to employ the mind, they
are easily tempted into the opium shops, where one
acquaintance or another is sure to be found, who
invites to the use of the drug.
Many of the middling classes dissipate their
money in this indulgence, and, among the lower
classes, those who indulge in the use of opium are
reduced to abject poverty. Having no property,
furniture, or clothes to dispose of, their wives and
children are sold to supply their ever-increasing
appetite for the drug; and when these are gone
with greatly diminished strength for labour, they
can no longer earn sufficient for their own wants,
and are obliged to beg for their daily bread. As
to the supply of opium, they must depend on the
scrapings of other men’s pipes, and as soon as they
are unable, by begging, to obtain the necessaries
ot life, together with the half-burnt opium, on
which their very life depends, they droop and die
by the roadside, and are buried at the expense of
the charitable.
Two respectable young men, the sons of an
officer of high rank, well informed, having received
a good education, accustomed to good society and
who excited great interest in the minds of those
with whom they came in contact, lately died. So
142
THE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
inveterate was tlieir habit of opium-smoking, and
so large the quantity necessary to keep up the
stimulus, that their funds were exhausted. Friends
assisted them, and relieved their necessities again
and again; but it was impossible to give them
bread and opium too, and they subsequently died,
one after the other, in the most abject and destitute
condition.
At Shanghae, just inside the north gate, in front
of a temple, one of such destitute persons, unable
to procure either food or opium, was lying at the
last gasp, while two or three others with drooping
heads were sitting near, who looked as if they
would soon be prostrated too. The next day, the
first of the group lay dead and stiff, with a coarse
mat wound round his body for a shroud. The rest
were lying down unable to rise. The third day
another was dead, and the remainder nearly so.
Help was vain, and pity was the only feeling that
could be indulged.
It may be judged of the extent of opium-smoking
in China from the reports of the native Teapoas,
inclosures in Sir J. Bowing’s Report. The
inhabitants in the Chung- wan (Centre bazaar)
are about 5,800. The number that smoke opium,
merely because they like it, are upwards ot
2,600. In the Hall-wan (Canton bazaar) there are
upwards of 1,200. The number that smoke
opium, merely because they like it, are upwards
of 600. At Sheong-wan the number of male resi-
dents are 13,000; there are 3,000 opium-smokers.
At Tai-ping-shan the number of inhabitants are
5,300 men ; of these upwards of 1,200 smoke opium
because they like it. The number of inhabitants
in Ting-loong- chow are 2,500; the number of
opium-smokers are reported at 400. Thus, out of
27,800 inhabitants, 7,800 of whom, or 26 per cent.,
are smokers of opium.
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
143
Dr. McPherson, in writing of the Shikhs, informs
us that most of the Shirdars are under the influ-
ence of spirits or of opium for eighteen hours out
of the twenty-four. Their early use, both of the
spirit and the drug, renders them indispensable
through life. If deprived of their usual dose, the
Shikh is one of the most wretched beings imagin-
able. Before engaging in any feast, the Shikh
takes his opium, by which he is for a time excited,
and this is soon followed by languor and inactivity.
Talking of Runjeet Sing, who was at that time
labouring under paralysis, from which eventually
he died, he says he still used opium, so that little
could be expected from remedial means.
The Shikhs are forbidden the use of tobacco by
the tenets of their religion, but find a ready sub-
stitute for it in opium, which is consumed in great
quantities throughout the whole of the Punjaub,
as well as among the protected Shikh states. While
under the effects of this drug, the Shikh is a very
different person to the same individual before* he
has taken it. In the former instance, he is active
and talkative ; in the latter, lazy and stupid.
It has been imagined that the preparation of
opium has an injurious effect upon those engaged
therein ; but Dr. Eatwell, of the Benares Agency
states that, “ amongst the thousands of individuals
cultivators, and employes , with whom the factory
is filled during the receiving and manufacturing
seasons, no complaints are ever heard of any in-
jurious effects resulting from the influence of the
drug, whilst they all remain quite as free from
general sickness as persons unconnected with the
general establishment — in fact, if anything, more
®°. It occasionally happens that a casual visitor
to the factory complains of giddiness or headache •
out the European officers employed in the depart-
ment, who pass the greater part of the day with
144
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEI\
the thermometer between 95° and 105° Fah.
amongst tons of the drug, never experience any
bad effects from it. The native purkhea sits
usually from six a.h. to three p.m. daily, with his
hand and arm immersed nearly the whole time in
the drug, which he is constantly smelling, and yet
he feels no inconvenience from it. He has informed
me, that at the commencement of the season, he
experiences usually a sensation of numbness in the
fingers ; but I believe this to be more the result of
fatigue, consequent upon the incessant use of the
arm and fingers, than of any effect of the opium.
In the large caking-vats, men are employed to
wade knee-deep through the drug for several hours
during the morning, and they remain standing in
it during the greater part of the rest of the day,
serving out the opium by armsful, their bodies
being naked, with the exception of a cloth about
the loins. These men complain of a sensation of
drowsiness towards the end of their daily labours,
and declare that they are overpowered early in the
evening by sleep, but they do not complain of the
effect as being either unpleasant or injurious.
“ Infants, of a few months old, may be frequently
seen lying on the opium-besmeared floor, under the
vats, in which dangerous position they are left by
their thoughtless mothers; but, strange to say,
without any accident ever occurring. Here are
abundant facts to show that the health ot those
emplo3Ted in the opium-factory, and in the manipu-
lation of the drug, is not exposed to any risk what-
ever ; whilst the impunity with which the drug is
handled by hundreds of individuals, for hours
together, proves that it has no endemic action ,
for I am inclined to consider the soporific eilect
experienced by the vat-treaders as produced through
the lungs, and not through the skin/ This may
he considered, therefore, as setting the question
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
145
entirely at rest, and demonstrating the fact that
the factory labourers are not sufferers.
According to a Chinese petition presented on
one occasion to the Emperor, it is believed that the
English, by introducing opium into that country,
did so as a means of its subjugation, presuming,
we may suppose, that the Celestials were invincible,
except by some such cabalistic means. “In the
History of Formosa,” says this document, “ we find
the following passage : ‘ Opium was first produced
in Kaoutsinne, which by some is said to be the
same as Kalapa or Batavia. The natives of this
place were at the first sprightly and active, and,
being good soldiers, were always successful in
battle. But the people called Hung-maou (red-
haired) came thither, and having manufactured
opium, seduced some of the natives into the habit
of smoking it. From these, the mania for it spread
rapidly through the whole nation; so that in
process of time the natives became feeble and
enervated, submitted to foreign rule, and ultimately
were completely subjugated. Now the English/
it continues, t are of the race of foreigners called
Hung-maou. In introducing opium into this
country, their purpose has been to weaken and
enfeeble the Central Empire. If not early aroused
to a sense of our danger, we shall find ourselves,
ere long, on the last step towards ruin.’ ”
. 1'he degradation or subjugation of the Chinese
is much more likely to be affected by a habit con-
cerning which we hear less, but which is infinitely
more . disastrous than the indulgence in opium,
xhis is the brandy-drinking customs of the north.
Ihis horrible drink, distilled from millet, is the
Chinaman's delight, and he swallows it like water.
Many ruin themselves with brandy, as others do
2fr Sammg- In company, or even alone, they
wnl pass whole days and nights in drinking suc-
L
146
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
cessive little cups of it, until their intoxication
makes them incapable of carrying the cup to their
lips. “Gambling ancl drunkenness” says Abbe
Hue, “ are the two permanent causes of pauperism
in China.”
It is unfortunately the custom for the distillers
to supply brandy on credit for a whole year, so
that a tippler may go on for a long time drawing
from this inexhaustible spring. His troubles will
only begin in the last moon — the legal period of
payment. Then, indeed, he must pay, and with
usury ; and as money does not usually become
more plentiful with a man from the habit of getting
drunk every day, he has to sell his house and his
land, if he has any, or to carry his furniture and
his clothes to the pawnbroker’s. In the south,
there is less brandy-drinking, and more gambling;
but between the two there is little to choose, as
either impoverishes those Vvlio devote themselves
to its service, and to which even opium-smoking
is preferable.
Mr. Meadows, the Chinese Government Inter-
preter at Hong-Kong, says, “ As to the morality of
the opium question, I am fortunately able to give
the home reader, by analogy, and in a few words,
as exact an idea of it as I have got myself. Smok-
ing a little opium daily, is like taking a pint or
two of ale, or a few glasses of wine daily; smoking
more opium is like taking brandy as well as beer
and wine, or a large allowance of these latter;
smoking very much opium is like excessive brandy
and gin-drinking, leading to delirium tremens and
premature death. After frequent consideration of
the subject during thirteen years, the last two spent
at home, I can only say that, although the sub-
stances are different, I can, as to the morality of
producing, selling, and consuming them, see no
difference at all ; while the only difference I can
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
147
observe in the consequences of consumption is, that
the opium-smoker is not so violent, so maudlin, or
so disgusting as the drunkard. The clothes and
breath of the confirmed and constant smoker are
more or less marked by the peculiar penetrating
odour of opium, and he gets careless in time of
washing from his hands the stains from his pipe.
But all this is not more disagreeable than the beery,
vinous, or ginny odour, and the want of cleanliness
that characterize the confirmed drunkard. In all
other respects, the contrast is to the disadvantage
of the drunkard.”
Without pursuing this question further, there is
evidently a fascination in the pipe to the opium-
smoker, to a degree of which the most ardent lover
of a pipe of tobacco has but a faint idea. In pro-
portion as the indulgence in the drug produces a
state of happiness far transcending all that the
votary of the weed experiences, so does its influ-
ence over him increase ; and if it is difficult for
the habitual smoker of tobacco to forego the plea-
sure of his accustomed pipe, it is therefore ten
times more difficult for the smoker or eater of
opium to renounce for ever, a custom which brings
with it, even in imagination though it may be,
tenfold more pleasures, and a more ecstatic enjoy-
ment. This is the universal evidence of all who
have been inquired of, and of all who have had
intercourse with opiophagi in all parts of the world.
What fascinating influence this Paradise in pro-
spect has upon those who indulge in journeys
thither, may be imagined from the notorious fact,
that in Bristol, Coleridge went so far as to hire
men porters, hackney-coachmen, and others — to
oppose by force his entrance into any druggist’s
shop. But as the authority for stopping him was
derived only from himself, so these poor men found
themselves in a fix; for when the time and the
l 2
148
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
inclination arrived, he proceeded to the shop, and
on their offering resistance, he, the same who had in-
structed them to prevent his entrance, now insisted
on their allowing him to pass, annulled all former
instructions, and on the authority of one who paid
for their services, demanded its exercise as he
thought fit, and the gates of Paradise were opened.
According to Darwin, even poultry have mounted
the ladder to within a few steps of Elysium ; for
that worthy informs us, that they were fed for the
London market by mixing gin and opium with
their food, and keeping them in the dark, but that
cc they must he killed as soon as they are fattened,
or they become weak and emaciated, like human
drunkards." We have no recording pullet to in-
form us of the visions of the barn-door family
under the influence of the beatific drug, nor “ Con-
fessions of a Chanticleer," to tell of the pains that
succeeded a too-free indulgence in the little pills ;
all we learn from the account is, that the vision of
Paradise very closely preceded its reality, for the fea-
thered bipeds were dosed and killed. The human
biped for half a century continues his dream — and
all through that period it is but a dream — yet
that he is happy while under its influence there
can be no doubt ; and when he has reclined on his
couch, obtained his pipe, and sunk into the beatific
oblivion so coveted by the Asiatic, we may imagine
his exclaiming with the Peri, after obtaining the
trickling tear,
“ Joy, joy for ever ! my task is done ;
The gates are passed, and heaven is won.
Oh ! am I not happy 1 I am — I am.
To thee, sweet Eden ! how dark and sad
Are the diamond turrets of Shadukram,
And the fragrant bowers of Amberabad.
Joy, joy for ever ! my task is done ;
The gates are passed, and heaven is won !”
CHAPTER XI.
REVELS AND REVERIES.
“ That juice of earth, the bane
And blessing of man’s heart, and brain —
That draught of sorcery, which brings
Phantoms of fair forbidden things
Whose drops, like those of rainbows, smile
Upon the mists that circle man
Brightening not only earth, the while
But grasping heaven, too, in their span.”
Lalla liookh.
The Mahometan legend of their prophet’s ascent
into heaven, where he received instructions for the
iaith and conduct of his followers, is thus current
amongst them.
. Mahomet was reclining on the sacred stone
m the temple of Mecca, Gabriel came to him, and
opened his breast from the breastbone to the groin
and took out his heart, and washed it in a golden
basin, full of the water of Faith, and then restored
« to its place. Afterwards a white beast was
Drought to him, less than a mule, and larger than
an ass, called Al-Borak. It had a human face,
„r, ,i ae cheeks a horse, its eyes were jacinths
1^ian^ as stars. It had eagle’s wings all
rys;f light’ “d its -Me8 ft™
Unnr i)-enCfenJ mth Sems and precious stones
Upon this Mahomet was borne. Gabriel pro-
150
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
ceeded with him to the first heaven of silver, and
knocked at the door, after some conversation he
was welcomed, and the door opened. Here Maho-
met saluted Adam. They then proceeded to the
second heaven, all of polished steel and dazzling
splendour, and saluted Noah. They then entered
the third heaven, studded with precious stones, and
too brilliant for mortal eyes. Here was seen
Azrael, the Angel of Death, writing continually
in a hook the names of those who are to be born,
and blotting out those who are to die. They
mounted to the fourth heaven, of the finest silver,
where they saw the Angel of Tears, who was
appointed to weep over the sins of men, and
predict the evils that awaited them. The fifth
heaven was of purest gold. Here Mahomet was
received and saluted by Aaron. This heaven was
inhabited by the Avenging Angel. He sat on a
tbrone surrounded by flames, and before him was
a heap of red hot chains. The sixth heaven was
composed of a transparent stone, where dwelt the
guardian angel of heaven and earth. Here Moses
wept at the sight of the prophet who was to have
more followers than himself. Mahomet then
entered the seventh heaven of divine light, where
he saw many marvellous things, which he related
for the instruction of the faithful. He entered Al
Mainour, the house of Adoration, and as he entered,
three vases were offered him, one containing wine,
another milk, and a third honey. He drank ot the
milk, “ Well hast thou done !” exclaimed Gabriel.
“ Ha’dst thou drunk of the wine, thy people had
all gone astray.” The Prophet then returned to
earth, as he had ascended to heaven.
The Al-Borak of modern Moslems is opium, by
means of this most miraculous of vehicles they
mount to the heaven of heavens.
What are the true effects of opium are best
REVELS AND REVERIES.
151
described by an eminent physician, who has studied
well the results produced by all such influences
upon the brain. The imagination appears to be
acted upon, independent of the peculiar torpor,
accompanied by sensations of gratification, and the
absence of all communication with the external
world. The senses convey no false impressions to
the brain ; all that is seen, heard, or felt, is faithfully
delineated, but the imagination clothes each object
in its own fanciful garb. It exaggerates, it multi-
plies, it colours, it gives fantastic shapes ; there is a
new condition arising out of ordinary perception,
and the reason, abandoning itself to the imagina-
tion, does not resist the delight of indulging in
visions. If the eyes are closed, and nothing pre-
sented to excite the external senses, a whole train
of vivid dreams are presented. A theatre is lighted
up in the brain — graceful dancers perform the
most captivating evolutions— music of an unearthly
character floats along — poesy, whose harmonious
numbers, and whose exciting themes, are far beyond
the power of the human mind, is unceasingly
poured forth. Memory is, however, generally
asleep— all the passions, affections, and motions
have lost their sway. It is all an exquisite indo-
lence, during which dreams spontaneously arise,
brilliant, beautiful, and exhilarating. There is
order, harmony, tranquillity. If a single object
has been vividly impressed upon the eye, it is mul-
tiplied a thousand times by the imagination — vast
processions pass him in his reveries in mournful
pomp.
That this is the doctrine of the true church on
the subject of opium, we may learn from De
tjuincey, of which church he acknowledges himself
to be the Pope, and self-appointed legate a latere to
all^ degrees of latitude and longitude.
“I often fell into such reveries after taking
152 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
opium, and many a time it has happened to me on
a summer night, when I have been seated at an
open window, from which I could overlook the sea
at a mile below me, and could, at the same time,
command a view of some great town standing on
a different radius of my circular prospect, but at
nearly the same distance — that from sunset to
sunrise, all through the hours of night, I have con-
tinued motionless, as if frozen, without conscious-
ness of myself as of an object anywise distinct
from the multiform scene which I contemplated
from above. Such a scene in all its elements was
not unfrequently realised for me on the gentle
eminence of Everton. Obliquely to the left, lay
the many languaged town of Liverpool ; obliquely
to the right,- the multitudinous sea. The scene
itself was somewhat typical of what took place in
such a reverie. The town of Liverpool represented
the earth, with its sorrows and its graves left
behind, yet not out of sight nor wholly forgotten.
The ocean, in everlasting but gentle agitation, yet
brooded over by dove-like calm, might not unfitly
typify the mind, and the mood which then swayed
it. For it seemed to me as if then first I stood at
a distance aloof from the uproar of life, as if the
tumult, the fever, and the strife were suspended ;
a respite were granted from the secret burdens of
the heart, some sabbath of repose, some resting
from human labours. Here were the hopes which
blossom in the paths of life, reconciled with the
peace which is in the grave ; motions of the intel-
lect as unwearied as the heavens, yet for all
anxieties a halcyon calm ; tranquillity that seemed
no product of inertia, but as if resulting from
mighty and equal antagonisms, infinite activities,
infinite repose.”
And now let us follow him to the Opera. dhe
late Duke of Norfolk used to say, ‘ Next Monday
REVELS AND REVERIES.
153
wind and weather permitting, I propose to be
drunk ; ’ and, in like manner, I used to fix before-
hand how often, within a given time, when, and
with what accessory circumstances of festal joy, I
would commit a debauch of opium. This was
seldom more than once in three weeks, for at that
time I could not have ventured to call every day (as
afterwards I did) for 1 a glass of laudanum negus,
warm, and without sugar/
“No : once in three weeks sufficed ; and the time
selected was either a Tuesday or a Saturday night, my
reason for which was this — Tuesday and Saturday
were for many years the regular nights of perfor-
mance at the opera house, and there in those times
Grassini sang, and her voice was delightful to me
beyond all that I had ever heard. Thrilling was the
pleasure with which almost always I heard her.
Shivering with expectation I sat, when the time
drew near for her golden epiphany, shivering I rose
from my seat, incapable of rest, when that heavenly
and harp-like voice sang its own victorious welcome
in its prelusive threttanelo — threttanelo. The choruses
were divine to hear ; and, when Grassini appeared
in some interlude, as she often did, and poured forth
her passionate soul as Andromache at the tomb of
Hector, &c., I question whether any Turk, of all that
ever entered the paradise of opium-eaters, can have
had half the pleasure I had. But, indeed, I honour the
barbarians too much, by supposing them capable of
any pleasures approaching to the intellectual ones
of' an Englishman. A chorus of elaborate harmony
displayed before me, as in a piece of arras work, the
whole of my past life — not as if recalled by an act of
memory, but as if present, and incarnated in the
music; no. longer painful to dwell upon, but the detail
of its incidents removed, or blended in some hazy
abstraction, and its passions exalted, spiritualized,
and sublimed. And over and above the music of
154
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the stage and the orchestra I had all around me, in
the intervals of the performances, the music of the
Italian language talked by Italian women — for the
gallery was usually crowded with Italians — and I
listened with a pleasure, such as that with which
Weld, the traveller, lay and listened in Canada, to
the sweet laughter of Indian women ; for the less
you understand a language, the more sensible you
are to the melody or harshness of its sounds.”
Let the reader who seeks to know of his other
Saturday evenings’ experiences, wandering about in
the market-places, and threading the intricate
mazes of bye-lanes and alleys, seek it in his “Con-
fessions.”
An Englishman awaking one morning finds
himself at Hong-Kong, in the midst of opium
and opium-smokers. He is astonished that the
Chinaman loves opium as he loves nothing else ;
he cannot think why his vitiated taste had not
settled upon something nobler, why he does not take
a fancy to British Brandy ? But no ! he loves
opium. And a Parsee takes him to see the
lions, and is so civil as to convey the stranger
into his warehouse and open two chests of opium,
that he may seo the drug as it passes into com-
merce. Of these, the first consisted of balls,
which he describes as of the size of a large apple
dumpling, and when cut open the mass is found to
be solid. The other was full of objects which a
commander in the navy ordered his men to return
to the owners of a captured junk, “ Ar’nt you
ashamed, my lads, to loot a lot of miserable Dutch
cheeses ? ” The “ Dutch cheeses ” were Patna
opium, worth about £5 each. Globes of thick
dark jelly enclosed in a crust not unlike the riud
of a cheese. The Parsee tapped one with a frag-
ment of an iron fastening of a chest, and drew
forth about a spoonful of the drug. It was not
EEYELS AXD REVERIES.
155
the opium which engaged the traveller’s attention,
it was the effect it produced upon the surrounding
coolies. He had never before seen excitement in a
Chinaman’s face. He had seen them tried for their
lives, and condemned to death. He had seen them
test the long-suffering patience of Mr. Tudor Davies
in the Hong-Ivong police court, where that gentle-
man was daily engaged in laborious endeavours
to extract truth out of conflicting lies. He had
seen them laugh heartily at a gesture at a sing-
song ; and he once saw a witness grin with great
delight, as he unexpectedly saw his most intimate
friend, a tradesman of reputed wealth, among a
crowd of prisoners in the dock. But these coolies,
when they saw that opium opened their horizontal,
slit-shaped eyes, till they grew round and starting,
their limbs, so lax and limpid, when not in actual
strain of labour, were stiff from excitement, every
head was pressed forward, every hand seemed ready
to clutch. There was a possibility that it would be
put down upon the window-sill, near which the
stranger and his Parsee friend were standing — and
there could be seen the shadow of fingers ready to
slide in. It was almost certain that it would be
thrown aside — and there was the grand hope of an
opium debauch gratis, and this was the state of mind
that hope created. And oh what raptures, what
delights, what dreams ! Already, in imagination,
they revelled in scenes such as the wakeful eye of
mortal man ne’er saw, and such as never did the
mind of man conceive.
“ A paradise of vaulted bowers
Lit by downward gazing flowers,
And watery paths that wind between
Wildernesses calm and green,
Peopled by shapes too bright to see
And rest, having beheld ; somewhat like thee
Which walk upon the sea, and chaunt melodiously.”
156 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
We cannot understand this fascination in which
opium holds its devotee to its full extent ; and yet,
in some sort, the lover of tobacco, deprived of his
pipe or quid, can in some sort understand it better
than any other Englishman, the opiophagi excepted.
Let the admirer of his weed be placed in circum-
stances wherein he cannot indulge in that luxury,
and the inward longings for his cherished com-
panion are akin to those of the smoker of opium
without his drug. Some inveterate smokers of
tobacco have been known to declare that they would
rather forego their accustomed meal than their
whiff ; this they will sometimes profess, but this
the opium devotee often accomplishes. Instances
are far from rare of opium-smokers dying of starva-
tion, having denied their bodies the sustenance
they required, to procure their much loved chandu.
Martyrs to their love of opium.
As opium is generally indulged in by the lower
classes, in establishments called Opium Shops,
otherwise Papan • Mera, a word or two belongs to
them. In Singapore, these shops are limited by
the regulations to forty-five in town and six in the
country. Each has a red board, which the vendor
ought to hang up outside his shop, with the
number thereon, as received from the opium
farmer. Hence the name of Papan Mera, or
‘•'red board,” and the shops are known by that
name by 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 is
most interested in the sale of opium, and the
extension of shops, and of the trade. A man
goes to him generally, either previously known
or recommended, and says he wishes to open a
Papan Mera ; of course, the opium farmer wishes
that he may do so, and be successful, and vend
BEVELS AND REVEKIES.
157
plenty of. opium, all the opium being purchased
of the opium , farmer, no one else being allowed
to sell opium in the island, and for which privilege
he contracts annually with the Government in a
handsome sum. The man gets the red board, for
which he pays, two shillings. If the limited number
of forty-five is completed he does not require a
board, but he is not refused the privilege of opening
a shop. In this case, he hangs a mat in the place
of the door, by which an opium shop is known to
all,, while the fact is announced by a Chinese in-
scription. Nothing is paid for a licence, no secu-
rities are entered into, but the new man purchases
of the farmer a certain quantity of chandu, or pre-
pared opium, . and according to his facilities for
selling it so is the price. If the shop is to be
opened in town, where there are more customers,
and if near to where Chinese artificers abound,
then he pays about , eight shillings a tael (1£ oz.),
or at the rate of six shillings an ounce. If at a
little distance, about five shillings and sixpence an
ounce. . Still further from town, five shillings, then
four shillings and sixpence. Nay, it even descends
to a fraction beyond three shillings an ounce.
JLhe last, is the sum paid by the Nacodah of a
Chinese junk, who takes a large quantity at a time,
as two-thirds of his crew are generally consumers,
and the facility for illicit consumption is great.
1 he proprietor s of the Papan Mera are expected to
retail it to their customers at a little above the
price at which they have purchased it. If in town,
where they pay tenpence a cheen or six shillings
an ounce, then they charge elevenpence a cheen or
scarcely seven shillings an ounce, to those who
come to buy or use it on the premises. The
opmm farmer receives nothing from the owner of
the shop, except the money for his opium ; the
ner receives nothing from the farmer but the
158
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
opium for his money, and sometimes a discount of
eight per cent. Nor do the opium-smokers pay
more at the shops for their opium than if they
purchased it direct from the farmer. How, then,
does the owner of the “red hoard” manage to
live ? How does he pay rent, sometimes to the
extent of £2 or £3 per month ? How can he keep
his wife, and the little “ red boards,” and one or
two coolies ? Ecce ! He does all this on the
refuse of the chandu, the Tye or Tinco, sold to the
poor.
On the Tinco and Samshing, the owners of many
of the opium shops almost entirely depend for their
living. By their sale the rent is paid, the family
supported, and the servants kept. If a man sells
three taels, or three ounces and three-quarters of
chandu a day, there will be about half that quan-
tity of Tinco, or one ounce and three-quarters,
this is the unconsumed refuse left in the pipe after
smoking, and which is the property of the owner of
the Papan Mera, and from the consumption of this
he gets a further refuse of little more than three-
quarters of an ounce, which is called Samshing.
If he sells his Chandu for twenty-five shillings, by
his Tinco and Samshing he will realize nearly
twelve shillings and sixpence a day, and this is his
income. Few, however, sell so much, and fewer
still receive as much.
The “ Papan Mera ” is of all kinds, from a hovel
to a brick house of two stories, for which £3
monthly is paid for rent. Generally speaking, the
luxury of the pipe is all that the smoker cares for,
and all other things, such as commodious _ apart-
ments, elegant furniture, and proper ventilation are
disregarded. In some houses there are apartments
beside those entered from the street. The police
regulations ordain that at nine f.m. all shall give up
their pipes. But is the sound of the curfew always
REVELS AND REVERIES.
159
heeded ? “ Sooner would the panting traveller,
under a burning sun, when hours have elapsed,
since his parched lips were moistened, dash from
his mouth the goblet before his thirst was half
quenched, than the opium-smoker be the slave of
time.” If nine o’clock comes, and he has not
reached his climax, he then retires to an inner
chamber, where, at ease and undisturbed, he may
realize that enjoyment, and consummate that bliss,
of which the owner of “ blue coat and bright
buttons ” would deprive him. Thus he slips intp
Paradise whilst the Peri and the lC peeler ” remain
outside disconsolate.
Our Papan Mera man is a good man, and his
wife is a good woman, so we get a peep indoors,
upstairs, behind the scenes, the apartment where
laches are at home de jure , not being allowed per-
haps to smoke at home de facto. Of course, the
general visitor has no admittance. In the centre
stands a large bed, sitting up thereon a female, her
back supported with cushions. She is young, she
is fair — yea; passing fair, and dressed in the habili-
ments of the floWery land. Near her stands a
table, on which are tea and sweetmeats. She, too,
is a votary to the drug ; with dreamy eyes half
closed, she draws in the inspiring vapour, then
sinks back upon the cushions, unconscious that we
are gazing upon her, her dark dishevelled tresses
hanging over, but scarce concealing the heaving
bosom, the only sign of life.
Although there are supposed to be but forty-five
licensed opium shops in Singapore town, there are
upwards of eighty ; wherever there are Chinese,
there may also be found the Papan Mera. Certain
trades are congregated together — you have car-
penters in one street, blacksmiths in another, gold
and silver smiths in a third, and so on. Amongst
some trades, the habit of opium-smoking is more
160
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
common than in others, the principal consumers
will be found amongst carpenters, blacksmiths,
barbers, huxsters, coolies, boatmen, gambier
planters, and gardeners. Full eighty-five per cent,
of the persons engaged in these callings are devoted
to the drug. Shoemakers, tailors, and bakers, are
generally less addicted to the habit ; amongst the
two first-named, not more than twenty per cent, are
smokers. Wherever you have carpenters, black-
smiths, &c., in abundance, there will you have
opium shops in abundance also. In many streets
there are six of these shops. In one street there
are twelve. In Canton Street there are eight
houses, and two of them are licensed for opium.
At Hong-Kong and at Canton, the same thing
occurs. Certain streets are devoted to certain
trades, and certain trades devoted to opium.
M. Abbe Hue communicates a few additional
facts concerning opium in China. At present this
country purchases annually of the English, opium
to the amount of seven millions sterling ; the
traffic is contraband, but it is carried on along the
whole coast of the Empire, and especially in the
neighbourhood of the five ports which have been
opened to Europeans. Large fine vessels, armed
like ships of war, serve as depots to the English
merchants, and the trade is protected, not only by
the English Government, but also by the manda-
rins of the Chinese Empire. The law which for-
bids the smoking of opium under pain of death,
lias, indeed, never been repealed; but everybody
smokes away quite at his ease notwithstanding.
Pipes, lamps, and all the apparatus are sold publicly
in every town, and the mandarins themselves
are the first to violate the law, and give this bad
example to the people, even in the courts of justice.
During the whole of the Abbe’s long journey
through Cliina, he met with but one tribunal
REVELS AND REVERIES.
161
where opium was not smoked openly and with
impunity.
The Chinese prepare and smoke their opium
lying down, sometimes on one side, sometimes on
the other, saying that this is the most favourable
position ; and the smokers of distinction do not
give themselves all the trouble of the operation, but
have their pipes prepared for them.
. For several years past some of the southern pro-
vinces have been actively engaged in the cultivation
of the poppy, and the fabrication of opium. The
English merchants confess that the Chinese product
is of excellent quality, though inferior to that of
Bengal ; but the English opium suffers so much
adulteration before it reaches the pipe of the smoker,
that it is not in reality so good as what the Chinese
themselves prepare. The latter, however, though
deliveied perfectly pure, is sold at a low price, and
2?^" consumed by smokers of the lowest class.
I hat of the English, notwithstanding its adultera-
tion, thus writes Abbe Hue, is very dear and
reserved to smokers of distinction; a caprice
winch can only be accounted for from the vanity
ot the rich Chinese, who would think it beneath
them to smoke opium of native production, and
not of a ruinous price ; that which comes from
a long way off must evidently be preferable. It
is very probable that the Chinese will soon culti-
vate the poppy on a large scale, and make at home
all the opium necessary for their consumption.
ns certain that the English cannot offer an
qually good article at the same price ; and, should
the fashion alter, British India will suffer a great
everse in her Chinese opium trade. The Abbe
makes reference to the increased consumption of .
opium m England, both, in the liquid and solid
form, the progress of which he characterised „
alarming, and then concludes the subject with the
M
162
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
following extraordinary paragraph: — “ Curious and
instructive would it be, indeed, if we should one
day see the English going to buy opium in the
ports of China, and their ships bringing back from
the Celestial Empire this deleterious stuff, to poison
England. Well might we exclaim in such a case,
c Leave judgment to God.’ ”
CHAPTER XII.
PANDEMONIUM.
“ Sights of woe,
Kegions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never conics,
That conies to all.” — Milton.
The night side of opium-eating and smoking
must be seen, as well as the bright and sunny day,
before we lavish upon it encomiums, such as some
of its votaries have indulged in. There may be a
paradise to which the Theriaki can rise, but there
is also an abyss into which he may fall. Lord
Macartney informs us that the Javanese, under an
extraordinary dose of opium, become frantic as
well as desperate. They acquire an artificial
courage ; and when suffering from misfortune and
disappointment, not only stab the objects of their
hate, but sally forth to attack in like manner every
person they meet, till self-preservation renders it
necessary to destroy them. As they run they
shout Amok, amok , which means kill, kill! and
hence the phrase running a muck. The practice
ot running amok is hardly known at Pinang or
any of the three Straits settlements. Captain Low
cud. not recollect more than two instances at that
place, including Province Wellesley, within a period
m 2
1G4 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
■9
of seventeen years, and 'the last he had heard of,
which took place on shore at Singapore, was many
years ago- A man ran amok — or, as the Malays
term it, meng amok. He had gambled deeply, it
was said, and had killed one or more individuals of
his family. He next dosed himself with opium
and rushed through the streets with a drawn
kris or dagger in his hand, and pursued by the
police. Major F arquhar, the then resident, hearing
the uproar, went out of liis house, where the infu-
riated man, who was just about to pass it, dashed
at him, and wounded him in the shoulder ; but a
sepoy, who was standing as sentry at the door,
received the desperado on his bayonet at the same
instant, and prevented a second blow.
Captain Beeckman was told of a Javanese who
ran a muck in the streets of Batavia, and had killed
several people, when he was met by a soldier, who
ran him through with his pike. But such was the
desperation of the infuriated man, that he pressed
himself forward on the pike, until he got near
enough to stab his adversary with a dagger, when
both expired together.
But the worst Pandemonium which those who
indulge in opium suffer, is that of the mind. Opium
retains at all times its power of exciting the
imagination, provided sufficient doses are taken ;
but when it has been continued so long as to bring
disease upon the constitution, the pleasurable
feelings wear away, and are succeeded by others of
a very different kind. Instead of disposing the
mind to be happy, it acts upon it like the spell of
a demon, and calls up phantoms of horror and
disgust. The fancy, still as powerful, changes its
direction. Formerly it clothed all objects with the
light of heaven — now.it invests them with the
attributes of hell. Goblins, spectres, and every
kind of distempered vision haunt the mind, peopling
PANDEMONIUM.
165
it with dreary and revolting imagery. The sleep
is no longer cheered with its former sights of hap-
piness. Frightful dreams usurp their place, till
at last the person becomes the victim of an almost
perpetual misery.
The truth of all this is acknowledged by De
Qumcey, when writing of the pains of opium.
Almost every circumstance becomes transformed
into the source of terror. Visions of the past are
still present m dreams, but not surrounded by a
halo of pleasure any longer. The outcast Ann and
the wandermg Malay come back to torment him
with their continued presence. All this is told in
auguage so graphic, that it would be almost
criminal to attempt its description in any other.
Ihe Dream of Piranesi is cited as a type of those
he n°w suffered : “ Many years a go, as I was
lookmg over Piranesis ‘ Antiquities of Pome,’
eridge, then standing by, described to me a set
of plates from that artist, called his ‘ Dreams,’ and
which record the scenery of his own visions during
vha tde^r f u fcver* 1Some of these represented
niSlUv thl°- m 'S; T the floor of wllicl1 stood
catar nh,eTlneS ^ 1.nacll^ery— wheels, cables,
catapuhs, &c — expressive of enormous power put
S’ n°pr Resistance overcome. Creeping along the
unon tbif6 ^ ? -U perceived a staircase ; and
himself 5 #nUPingnhlS Tay Upwards> wa« Piranesi
jumseff. follow the stairs a little farther and
without^a'nt^T rfaC}ing an abrapt termination,
any balustrade, and allowing no sten
“ ? hr V\shaald ^ch the°extomtf
bSVn^° tlie dePths teW. Whatever is to
twT® f P°or l iranesi ! At least, you suppose
But rn-8 aboiUS mus^ now *u some way terminate,
stairs !n/urv eyeS’ and behold a second flight of
fc bl °\wldch again P™i Per-
, by this time standing on the very brink of
MG’ THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the abyss. Once again elevate your eye, and a
still more aerial flight of stairs is descried ; and
there again, is the delirious Piranesi, busy on his
aspiring labours ; and so on, until the unfinished
stairs and the hopeless Piranesi both are lost in
the upper gloom of the hall. With the same
power of endless growth and self-reproduction did
my architecture proceed in dreams. In the early
stage of the malady, the splendours of my dreams
were, indeed, chiefly architectural, and I beheld
such pomp of cities and palaces as. never yet was
beheld by the waking eye, unless in the clouds.
From a great modern poet, I cite the part of a
passagevwhich describes as an appearance actually
beheld in the clouds, what, in many of its circum-
stances, I saw frequently in sleep
“ ‘ The appearance, instantaneously disclosed,
Was of a mighty city— boldly say
A wilderness of building, sinking far
And self-withdrawn into a wondrous depth,
Far sinking into splendour without end !
Fabric it seem’d of diamond and of gold,
With alabaster domes and silver spires,
And blazing terrace upon terrace, high
Uplifted ; here, serene pavilions bright,
In avenues disposed ; there, towers begirt
With battlements, that on their restless fronts
Bore stars— illumination of all gems !
By earthly nature had the effect been wrought
Upon the dark materials of the storm
Now pacified ; on them, and on the coves
And mountain-steeps and summits, whereuuto
The vapours had receded— taking there
Their station under a cerulean sky.’ ”
Further confessions describe the characteristics
of some of these opiatic visions in connection with
tropical lands. “Under the connecting feeling
of tropical heat and vertical sunlights, 1 brought
all creatures— birds, beasts, reptiles ; an
together
PANDEMONIUM.
167
trees and plants, usages and appearances, that are
found in all tropical regions, and assembled them
together in China or Hindostan. From kindred
feelings, I brought Egypt and her gods under the
same law. I was stared at, hooted at, grinned at,
chattered at by monkeys, by paroquets, by cocka-
toos. I ran into pagodas, and was fixed for centuries
at the summit, or in secret rooms. I was the idol —
I was the priest — I was worshipped — I was sacri-
ficed. I fled from the wrath of Brama through
all the forests of Asia — Vishnu hated me — Seeva
lay in wait for me. I came suddenly upon Isis
and Osiris. I had done a deed, they said, which
the ibis and the crocodile trembled at. Thousands
of years I lived, and was buried in stone coffins,
with mummies and sphinxes, in narrow chambers,
at the heart of eternal pyramids. I was kissed
with cancerous kisses by crocodiles, and was laid,
confounded with all unutterable abortions, amongst
reeds and Nilotic mud.”
Again he says: “The cursed crocodile became
to me the object of more horror than all the rest.
I was compelled to live with him, and (as was
always the case in my dreams,) for centuries.
Sometimes I escaped, and found myself in Chinese
houses. _ All the feet of the tables, sofas, &c., soon
became instinct with life ; the abominable head of
the crocodile, and his leering eyes, looked out at
me, multiplied into ten thousand repetitions ; and
I stood loathing and fascinated. So often did this
hideous reptile haUnt my dreams, that many times
the very same dream was broken up in the very same
way. I heard gentle voices speaking to me (I
hear everything when I am sleeping), and instantly
I awoke ; it was broad noon, and my children were
standing, hand in hand, at my bedside, come to
show me their coloured shoes, or new frocks, or
let me see them dressed for going out. ’ No
168 , THE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
experience was so awful to me, and at the
same time so pathetic, as this abrupt translation
from the darkness of the infinite to the gaudy-
summer air of highest noon, and from the un-
utterable abortions of miscreated gigantic vermin,
to the sight of infancy and innocent human
creatures.” •
And yet again : “ Somewhere, but I knew not
where — somehow, but I knew not how — by some
beings, but I knew not by whom — a battle, a strife,
an agony was travelling through all its stages —
was evolving itself like the catastrophe of some
mighty drama, with which my sympathy was the
more insupportable, from deepening confusion as
to its local scene, its cause, its nature, and its un-
decipherable issue. I had the power, and yet had
not the power to decide it. ' I had the power, if I
could raise myself to will it ; and yet again had
not the power, for the weight of twenty Atlantics
was upon me, or the oppression of inexpiable guilt.
c Deeper than ever plummet sounded/ I lay inactive.
Then, like a chorus, the passion deepened. Some
greater interest was at stake— some mightier cause
than ever yet the sword had pleaded, or trumpet
had proclaimed. Then came sudden alarms,
hurryings to and fro, trepidations of innumerable
fugitives, I knew not whether from the good cause
or" the bad ; darkness and lights ; tempest and
human faces ; and at last, with the sense that all
was lost, female forms, and the features that were
worth all the world to me; and but a moment
allowed, and clasped hands, with heart-breakings, *
partings, and then— everlasting farewells ! And •
with a sigh such as the caves of hell sighed when
the incestuous mother uttered the abhorred name
of Death, the sound was reverberated— everlasting
farewells ! And again and yet again, reverberated
— everlasting farewells !
PANDEMONIUM.
169
“ And I awoke in struggles and cried aloud, ‘ I
will sleep no more ! ’ ”
These visions, and those of a like character, in
which the Malay and the outcast girl appear and
re-appear, are almost repeated again in a work of
more recent years, the production of another mind
and of a widely different character. Whoever lias
read Kingsley’s “ Alton Locke,” cannot fail to have
been struck with the vivid opium-like dreams
which pass through the brain of the hero when
struck down by fever. One could almost imagine
that its author had himself suffered some of the
fearful experiences which De Quincey narrates.
In these the place once occupied by the two persons
above named, are usurped by the cousin and
Lillian ; change the names, and apart from the
intimate connection of the two with each other, one
could almost believe himself reading a continuation
of those dreams which an unfortunate accident
prevented the English opium-eater giving to the
world.
“ I was wandering along the lower ridge of the
Himalaya. On my right the line of snow peaks
showed like a rosy saw against the clear blue
morning sky. Raspberries and cyclamens were
peeping through the snow around me. As I looked
down the abysses I could see far below, through the
thin veils of blue mist that wandered in the glens
the silver spires of giant deodars, and huge rhodo-
dendrons, glowing like trees of flame. The longing
of my life to behold that cradle of mankind was
satisfied. My eyes revelled in vastness, as they
swept over the broad flat jungle at the mountain
toot, a desolate sheet of dark gigantic grasses
furrowed with the paths of the buffalo and rhino-
ceros, with barren sandy water courses, desolate
pools, and here and there a single tree, stunted with
malaria, shattered by mountain floods; and far
170
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
beyond the vast plains of Hindostan, enlaced with
myriad silver rivers and canals, tanks and rice
fields, cities with their mosques and minarets,
gleaming among the stately palm-groves along
the boundless horizon. Above me was a Hindoo
temple, cut out of the yellow sandstone. I climbed
up to the higher tier of pillars among monstrous
shapes of gods and fiends, that mouthed and
writhed and mocked at me, struggling to free
themselves from their bed of rock. The bull
Nundi rose and tried to gore me ; hundred-handed
gods brandished quoits and sabres around my
bead ; and Kali dropped the skull from her gore-
dripping jaws to clutch me for her prey. Then my
mother came, and seizing the pillars of the portico,
bent them like reeds ; an earthquake shook the
bills — great sheets of woodland slid roaring and
crashing into the valleys. A tornado swept through
the temple balls, which rocked and tossed like a
vessel in a storm : a crash — a cloud of yellow dust
which filled the air — choked me — blinded me —
burned me —
• * * * * * * *' ^ * I
“ And Eleanor came by and took my soul in the
palm of her hand, as the angel did Faust’s, and
carried it to a cavern by the sea-side and dropped
it in ; and I fell and fell for ages. And all the
velvet mosses, rock flowers, and sparkling spare
and ores, fell with me, round me, in showers of
diamonds, whirlwinds of emerald and ruby, and
pattered into the sea that moaned below and
were quenched ; and the light lessened above me
to one small spark, and vanished ; and I was in
darkness, and turned again to my dust.
• ••••**
“ Sand — sand — nothing but sand ! The air was
full of sand, drifting, over granite temples, and
painted kings and triumphs, and the skulls of a
PANDEMONIUM.
171
former world, and I was an ostrich, flying madly
before the simoon wind, and the giant sand pillars,
which stalked across the plain hunting me down.
And Lillian was an Amazon queen, beautiful, and
cold, and cruel ; and she rode upon a charmed
horse, and carried behind her on her saddle, a
spotted ounce, which was my cousin ; and, when I
came near her, she made him leap down and course
me. And we ran for miles and for days through
the interminable sand, till he sprang on me, and
dragged me down. And as I lay quivering and
dying, she reined in her horse above me, and looked
down at me with beautiful pitiless eyes ; and a
wild Arab tore the plumes from my wings, and she
took them and wreathed them in her golden hair.
The broad and blood-red sun sank down beneath
the sand, and the horse and the Amazon and the
ostrich plumes shone blood-red in his lurid rays.
• *•••••«•
“ I was a baby ape in Borneon forests, perched
among fragrant trailers and fantistic orchis flowers ;
and as I looked down, beneath the green roof, into
the clear waters, paved with unknown water-lilies
on which the sun had never shone, I saw my face
reflected in the pool — a melancholy, thoughtful
countenance, with large projecting brows — it might
have been a negro child’s. And I felt stirring in
me, germs of a new and higher consciousness —
yearnings of love towards the mother ape, who
fed me, and carried me from tree to tree. But I
grew and grew ; and then the weight of my des-
tiny fell upon me. I saw year by year my brow
recede, my neck enlarge, my jaw protrude, my
teeth became tusks — skinny wattles grew from
my cheeks — the animal faculties in me were
swallowing up the intellectual. I watched in
myself, with stupid self-disgust, the fearful degrada-
tion which goes on from youth to age in all the
172 THE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
monkey race, especially in those which approach
nearest to the human form. Long melancholy
mopings, fruitless stragglings to think, were
periodically succeeded by wild frenzies, agonies of
lust, and aimless ferocity. I flew upon my
brother apes, and was driven off with wounds. I
rushed howling down into the village gardens,
destroying everything I met. I caught the birds
and insects, and tore them to pieces with savage
glee. One day, as I sat among the houghs, I saw
Lillian coming along a flowery path — decked as
Eve might have been the day she turned from
Paradise. The skins of gorgeous birds were round
her waist ; her hair was wreathed with fragrant
tropic flowers. On her bosom lay a baby — it was
my cousin’s. I knew her, and hated her. The
madness came upon me. I longed to leap from
the bough and tear her limb from limb ; hut brutal
terror, the dxead of man which is the doom of
beasts, kept me rooted to my place. Then my
cousin came, a hunter missionary; and I heard him
talk to her with pride of the new world of civilisa-
tion and Christianity, which he was organising
in that tropic wilderness. I listened with a dim
jealous understanding — not of the words, hut of
the facts. I saw them instinctively, as in a dream.
She pointed up to me in terror and disgust, as I
sat gnashing and gibbering overhead. He threw up
the muzzle of his rifle carelessly and fired — I fell
dead, but conscious still. I knew that my carcase
was carried to the settlement; and I watched while a
smirking, chuckling, surgeon dissected me, bone by
bone, and nerve by nerve. And as he wa£ fingering
at my heart, and discoursing sneeringly about Van
Helmont’s dreams of the Archmus, and the animal
spirit which dwells within the solar plexus, Eleanor
glided by again like an angel, and drew my soul
out of the knot of nerves, with one velvet finger tip.”
PANDEMONIUM.
173
Here are dreams which, however natural in their
realisation to the opiophagi, are enough to cause a
hearty utterance of those lines by Keats : —
“ 0 dreams of day and night !
0 monstrous forms ! 0 effigies of pain !
0 spectres busy in a cold, cold gloom !
0 lank-eared Phantoms of black weeded pools !”
The “dream fugue ” of the author of the “ con-
fessions ” is a day dream — a splendid one — but the
type of many another dream, perhaps, that had
coursed through the mind of its writer while under
the influence of the subtle drug. One might al-
most venture the assertion that none but the
“ opium-eater ” could have conceived and written
that “fugue.” But “shadows avaunt,” we have
stern realities yet from the Pandemonium of opium.
The mind suffers and it re-acts upon the body!
Although pictures of both the mental and bodily
afflictions of indulgers in opium are likely to be
gazed upon with somewhat of scepticism, and justly
too, in these times of prejudice and outcry against
opium trading, yet the stubborn fact stares the
scepticism out of countenance, in many of the details
of the excesses of the victims of the insinuating
P°PPy joico- Some of these facts come to us with
so high an authority and are so often repeated
that the eye and ear refuse to close and be blind and
deaf to the pains which succeed the pleasures of
opium.
A young eagle said to a thoughtful and verv
studious owl “ It is said there is a bird called
Merops which, when it rises into the air, flies with
he tail first and the head looking down to the
earth. Is it a fact ?”
‘•'By no means ” (said the owl), “it is onlv a
si y fiction of mankind. Man himself is the
Merops, for he would willingly soar to heaven,
174
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
without losing sight of the world for a single
instant.”
Dr. Medhurst thus describes the opium-smoker
of China: — “ The outward appearances are sallovv-
ness of the complexion, bloodless cheeks and lips,
sunken eye, with a dark circle round the eyelids,
and altogether a haggard countenance. There is a
peculiar appearance of the face of a smoker not
noticed in any other condition ; the skin assumes a
pale waxy appearance, as if all the fat were re-
moved from beneath the skin. The hollows of the
countenance, the eyelids, fissure and corners of the
lips, depression at the angle of the jaw, temples,
&c., take on a peculiar dark appearance, not like
that resulting from various chronic diseases, but as
if some dark matter were deposited beneath the
skin. There is also a fulness and protrusion of the
lips, arising perhaps from the continued use of the
large mouth-piece peculiar to the opium-pipe. In
fine, a confirmed opium-smoker presents a most
melancholy appearance, haggard, dejected, with
a lack-lustre eye, and a slovenly, weakly, and feeble
gait.”
Mustapha Shatoor, an opium-eater of Smyrna,
took daily three drachms of crude opium. The
visible effects at the time were the sparkling eyes
and great exhilaration of spirits. He found the
desire of increasing his dose growing upon him. He
seemed twenty years older than he really was — his
complexion was very sallow — his legs small — his
gums eaten away, and his teeth laid bare to the
sockets. He could not rise without first swallow-
ing half a drachm of opium. This case is
detailed in the “ Philosophical Transactions,” and
for its veracity the Philosophers are responsible.
Pouqueville says, “Always beside th.mselves,
the Theriakis are incapable of work, they seem no
more to belong to society. Toward the end of
PANDEMONIUM.
175
their career, they, however, experience violent
pains, and are devoured by constant hunger, nor
can their paregoric in any way relieve their suffer-
ings ; they become hideous to behold, deprived of
their teeth, their eyes sunk in their heads, in a con-
stant tremour, they cease to live long before they
cease to exist.
Heu Naetse, a native Celestial, in his address to
the Sacred Emperor, the brother of the Sun and
Moon, informs his imperial majesty, that ££ when
any one is long habituated to inhaling opium, it
.becomes necessary to resort to it at regular intervals,
and the habit of using it, being inveterate, is destruc-
tion of time, injurious to property, and yet dear to
one even as life. Of those who use it to great
excess, the breath becomes feeble, the body wasted,
the face sallow, and the teeth black. The indivi-
duals themselves clearly see the evil effects of it,
yet cannot refrain from it. It will be found on
examination that the smokers of opium are idle,
lazy vagrants, having no useful purpose before
them ”
Hr. Ball states, “that throughout the districts of
China may be seen walking skeletons — families
wretched and beggared by drugged fathers and
husbands — multitudes who have lost house and
home dying in the streets, in the fields, on the
banks of the river, without even a stranger to care
for them while alive, and when dead left exposed
to view till they become offensive masses.’’
A Pinang surgeon says, “that the hospitals and
poorhouses are chiefly filled with opium-smokers.
In one that I had charge of, the inmates averaged
sixty daily, five-sixths of whom were smokers of
chanclu. . The effects of this habit on the human
constitution are conspicuously displayed by stupor,
forgetfulness,, general deterioration of all the
mental faculties, emaciation, debility, sallow com-
176 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
plexion, lividness of lips and eyelids, langour and
lack lustre of eye ; appetite either destroyed or
depraved. In the morning these creatures have a
most wretched appearance, evincing no symptoms
of being refreshed or invigorated by sleep, how-
ever profound. There is a remarkable dryness or
burning in the throat, which urges them to repeat
the opium-smoking. If the dose be not taken at
the usual time, there is great prostration, vertigo,
torpor, and discharge of water from the eyes. If
the privation be complete, a still more formidable
train of phenomena takes place — coldness is felt*
all over the body, with aching pains in all parts,
the most horrid feelings of wretchedness comes on,
and if the poison be withheld, death terminates
the victim’s sufferings. The opium-smoker may
be known by his inflamed eyes and haggard coun-
tenance, by his lank and shrivelled limbs, tottering
gait, sallow visage, feeble voice, and the death
boding glance of his eye. He seems the most
forlorn creature that treads the earth.”
The Abbe Hue writes, “nothing can stop a
smoker who has made much progress in this habit,
incapable of attending to any kind of business,
insensible to every want, the most hideous poverty;
and the sight of a family plunged into despair and
misery, cannot rouse him to the smallest exertion,
so complete is the disgusting apathy to which he
is sunk.”
The evidence of Ho King Shan is, that “it
impedes the regular performance of business ;
those in places cf trust who smoke fail to attend
personally even to their most important offices.
Merchants who smoke fail to keep their appoint-
ments, and all their concerns tall behind hand.
For the wasting of time and the destruction of
business, the pipe is unrivalled.”
Oppenheim declares “that when the baneful habit
PANDEMONIUM.
177
lias become confirmed, it is almost impossible to
break it off. His torments, when deprived of the
stimulant, are as dreadful as bis bliss is complete
when be has taken it. Night brings the torments
of hell, day the bliss of paradise ; and after long
indulgence, he becomes subject to nervous pains,
to which opium itself brings no relief. He seldom
attains the age of forty, if he has begun the
practice early/'
Also Dr. Madden : — “ The debility, both moral
and physical, attendant on the excitement produced
by opium is terrible ; the appetite is soon destroyed,
every fibre in the body trembles, the nerves of the
neck become affected, and the muscles get rigid.
Several of these I have seen in this place at
various times, who had wry necks and contracted
fingers, but still they cannot abandon the custom ;
they are miserable until the hour arrives fox-
taking their daily dose ; and when its delightful
influence begins, they are all fire and animation/’
A native literati of Hong-Kong affirms, “ that
from the robust who smoke, flesh is gradually con-
sumed and worn away, and their skin hangs down
like bags ; the faces of the weak who smoke are
cadaverous and black, and their bones naked as
billets of wood.”
Also Dr. Oxley of Singapore “ The inordinate
use of the drug most decidedly does bring on
Gaily decrepitude, destructive of certain powers
connected with the increase of the species, and a
morbid state of all the secretions. But I have
seen a man who had used the drug for fifty years in
moderation without evil effects, and one I recollect
in Malacca who had so used it was upwards of
eighty. Several in the habit of smoking assured
me, that in moderation, it neither impaired the
functions nor shortened life, at the same time they
fully admitted the deleterious effects of too much.”
178
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Dr. Little visited on one occasion an opium shop,
and found there two women smoking the drug
— one had been a smoker for ten years. <c In the
morning when she awakes she Says, ‘ I feel as
one dead. I cannot do anything until the pipe
is consumed. My eyelids are glazed so that they
cannot be opened, my nose discharges profusely. I
feel a tightness in the chest, with sense of suffoca-
tion. My bones are sore, my head aches and is
giddy, and I loathe the very sight of food/ Within
an hour I could produce a thousand of those crea-
tures ; and if I stood at the door of an opium shop,
and watched those that entered, out of the hundred
would be found at least seventy-five or eighty
whose appearance would not require the confession
that their health was destroyed, and their mind
weakened, since the day that they were cursed
with the first taste of an opium-pipe. To finish
this subject let me record my opinion, the result
of extensive investigation. That the habitual use
of opium not only renders the life of the man
miserable, but is a powerful means of shortening
that life.”
To the last conclusion there are many objectors ;
and this subject has been canvassed as much as any
in connection with the habit. Some years ago a
trial took place in consequence of the death of the
Earl of Mar, who was an opiophagi, and the insu-
rance society on this ground objected to pay the
money to his representatives. Dr. Christison, after
detailing the facts, adds, “they would certainly
tend on the whole rather to show that the practice of
eating opium is not so injurious, and an opium-
eater’s life not so uninsurable, as is commonly
thought.” The result of the above-named trial
was that the money had to be paid..
Before passing from this Plutonian region, the
evidence of a good authority may be taken to show
PANDEMONIUM.
179
how apt prejudice is to impute even worse effects
to the “subtle drug” than circumstances will
warrant. An opium den is visited ; the members
of this convivial society are good-humoured and
communicative. “ One was a chair-cooly, a second
was a petty tradesman, a third was a runner in a
mandarin’s yanum ; they were all of that class of
urban population which is just above the lowest.
They were, however, neither emaciated nor infirm.
The chair-cooly was a sturdy fellow, well capable
of taking his share in the porterage of a sixteen-
stone mandarin ; the runner seemed well able to
run, and the tradesman, who said he was thirty-
eight years old, was remembered by all of us to
be a singularly young-looking man of his age. He
had smoked opium for seven years. As we passed
from the opium-dens, we went into a Chinese tea-
garden— a dirty paved court, with some small trees
and flowers in flower-pots — and a very emaciated
and yawning proprietor presented himself. ‘ The
man has destroyed himself by opium-smoking,’
&nd an English clergyman who accompanied us.
The man being questioned, declared that he had
never smoked an opium-pipe in his life,— a bad
shot, at which no one was more amused than the
reverend gentleman who had fired it.
,“I on]y take the experiment for what it is worth.
There must be very many most lamentable speci-
mens.of the effects of indulgence in this vicious
practice, although we did not happen to see any of
them that morning. They are not, however, so
universal, nor even so common, as travellers who
wide in support of some thesis, or who are not
above truckling to popular prejudices in England
^e pleased to say they are. But if our visit was
a failure in one respect, it was fully instructive in
another. In the first house we visited, no man
spent on an average less than 80 cash a-day on his
N 2
180
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
opium-pipe. One man said he spent 120. The
chair-cooly spends 80, and his average earnings
are 100 cash a-day. English physicians, uncon-
nected with the missionary societies, have assured
me that the cooly opium-smoker dies, not from
opium, hut from starvation. If he starves himself
for his pipe, we need not ask what happens to his
family." (Times.)
■
CHAPTER XIII.
OPIUM MORALS.
Fal. No abuse, Hal.
Poins. No abuse !
Fo.1. No abuse, Ned, in the world ; honest Ned, none. I dispraised
him before the wicked, that the wicked might not fall in love with him ;
in which doing, I have done the part of a careful friend, and a true sub-
ject. No abuse, Hal ; none, Ned, none no, boys, none.— Amo Henry
PP., part II.
Scarce a flower that graces the earth, or a tree
waving in the forests, has had its character assailed
so mercilessly as the poppy. Hot one of the simples
or compounds of the chemist’s store, even including
arsenic and strychnine, has been so strictly interro-
gated as to the honourable and dishonourable of
hs intentions. It is matter of surprise that the
East India Company has not been obliged, by
authority of Act of Parliament, to imprint the
decalogue, at least in the Chinese language, upon
every cake or ball of opium leaving their stores,
lake upon credit all that some men would tell
yon, and there would not be room for doubt, were
the next informant to state that on the arrival of
a cargo of opium, at such a port, on such a day,
182 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the entire population cut each other’s throats, on
account of the pestilential miasma diffused by the
said cargo. What are really the moral effects of
opium-smoldng, can best he collected from a state-
ment of facts, the reader drawing his own infer-
ences : they are, at any rate, bad enough without
the aid of exaggeration.
At Singapore stands a house of correction, in
which, during the month of July, 1847, might he
found forty-four Chinese criminals ; and of these,
thirty-five were opium-smokers — not moderate
smokers, hut indulgers to excess — not confining
themselves to what they could obtain with such
money as they could spare from their wages, hut
in some instances, swallowing or smoking them all
up, and in certain instances, even more than their
wages.* The aggregate amount of the monthly
wages of seventeen of these men was £16 Os. 10d.,
or individually 18s. 10|d. The monthly consump-
tion of opium of these men amounted in value to
£20 16s. 3d,, or individually to £1 4s. 5|d., so
that each of these men, in addition to spending all
his wages, begged, borrowed, or stole 5s. 7cL
monthly, to make up his quantity of opium alone,
without reference to any other necessaries. One
of these men, who spent £1 5s. monthly, and
whose wages only reached half of that amount,
was asked to explain how it was to be accounted
for. WTas there not some error in the calculation,
or was he deceiving the person to whom the cir-
cumstances were being detailed ? How was it
possible that, with an income of only 12s. 6d.. he
could spend £1 5s.? The answer was a graphic
one and much to the point : — “ What am I in here
for ?” Of course, the tenants of a jail can account
for such discrepancies in arithmetic. The offences
* See Table XY. in the Appendix.
OPIUM MORALS.
183
for which these persons were confined were such
as would stand in a calendar under the rank of
vagrants, suspicious characters, persons attempting
to steal, and such like — the crimes committed being
against property and not persons. This distinction
deserves notice, as it will serve as the bases of
some future suggestions.
In looking down the column of the table in
which the above instances occur, it will be seen
that one planter, whose income was twelve shillings
and sixpence, expended in opium six times that
amount ; and another, whose income is not stated,
but which would not far exceed the former, ex-
pended twelve times that amount in the drug.
Occasional instances occur in which, where the
income, reached twelve shillings and sixpence, the
expenditure amounted only to a trifle beyond ; and
where the income was sixteen shillings and eight-
pence, the expenditure was only eight shillings and
fourpence or ten shillings.
The inspector of the above institution states:
“During the course of these investigations, I found
some opium-smokers, who declared that their
wages only equalled the value of the opium con-
sumed, and in the majority of cases but little
exceeded their consumption; yea, I found instances
and these not. few, where the value of the opium
consumed monthly, was more than the whole wages
received. The idea then suggested itself to me
that there must be an affinity betwixt opium-
smoking, and crime; for when once the habit is
formed, it cannot be broken off, while the desire
increases with the consumption. It must happen
that the wages of the individual will at last be
inadequate to supply his desire, even supposing
that, after a lengthened career of indulgence he
was able to earn the same amount of money as
when, strong, vigorous, and unimpaired, he com-
184
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
menced his dissipation. I, therefore, was not at
all surprised when I went to the house of correction,
to find that three-fourths of the prisoners were
opium-smokers.”
An examination of the prisoners in jail in July
of the same year, under different sentences, showed
that out of fifty-one Chinese prisoners, fifteen only
were not opium-smokers. Seventy per cent, were
addicted to the vice, each consuming quantities
ranging from twelve to one hundred and eighty
grains per day. The same jail was again visited,
and the prisoners examined a month after-
wards, several fresh criminals had entered,
others had been enlarged. At this time, there
were sixty-nine criminals, and of these only
thirty-one were opium-smokers, being only forty-
five per cent, against the seventy per cent, of the
former visit.
A quantity of criminals from Pinang under
sentence of transportation showed, on examination,
the following results : — Out of twenty-one crimi-
nals, Chinese and Malays, eight did not smoke.
The crimes of these men were murder, stabbing
with intent to murder, burglary, and larceny. Ten
of these men were Chinese, all of whom smoked
but one. Of these nine, eight were condemned for
offences against property, one only against the
person. Of the nine persons out of the twenty-one
who were convicted for offences against the person,
four did not smoke, three smoked but little. _ Hence
the conclusion is inevitable, that the criminals of
the worst degree, or those committing offences
against the person, are either not Smokers at all,
or are so only to a moderate extent. Other
statistics show that, for crimes of this character,
highway robbery, and burglary, forty to fifty per
cent, only indulge in opium ; whilst for vagrancy,
misdemeanour, and petty larceny, seventy to eighty
OPIUM MORALS.
185
per cent, indulged in the use of the drug, and often
to a very extraordinary extent.
Why do we find that those charged with the
gravest offences are the least addicted to opium ?
May it not be that this class of criminal requires
a certain ingenuity, an amount of method and
calculation, and mental vigour and excitement of
the passions, greater than the debased opium-
smoker is possessed of, the want of which, there-
fore, unfits him for carrying out any such enterprise
requiring such adjuncts, leaving him only capable
of being a criminal on a small scale. It is well
known that the Chinese are inveterate gamblers ;
but it is not in connexion with the pipe, but with
the arrack-cup, that this vice is indulged in. The
influences of opium are sedative and soothing,
those of arrack stimulating and exciting ; the latter,
therefore, as may be supposed, is the companion of
the gambler, rather than the former. There are
other phases in which the two vices of opium-
smoking and intoxication may he compared. The
abuse of ardent spirits leads to crimes against
the person ; the abuse of opium leads to crimes
against property. The victim of ardent spirits
commits his crimes while under their influence ;
the devotee to opium, while under its influence, is
at peace with all mankind, and dreams only of his
own happiness. The drunkard, when not under
the influence of liquor, may he a moral member of
society, and often a contrite one; the opium-smoker
at that time is often scheming the violation of moral
and social laws, which, when effected, makes him a
criminal, hut enables him to gratify his appetite.'*
* Dr. Ilobson states, in an official communication to the
Government, “ I do not know of any mortal disease from opium
corresponding to delirium tremens from alcohol. I have never
been called to attend to any accidents resulting from opium
similar to those occurring so frequently from habits of in toxica-
186 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
De Quincey compares the two habits, not so
much for the purpose of showing the tendency of
either of them to crime, hut for the proving that
opium does not produce intoxication any more than
would a rump steak. “ The pleasure given by wine
is always rapidly mounting, and tending to a crisis,
after which as rapidly it declines ; that from opium,
when once generated, is stationary for eight or ten
hours. The first — to borrow a technical distinc-
tion from medicine — is a case of acute, the second
of chronic pleasure ; the one is a flickering flame,
the other a steady and equable glow. But the
main distinction lies in this, that whereas wine
disorders the mental faculties, opium, on the con-
trary (if taken in a proper manner) introduces
amongst them the most exquisite order, legislation,
and harmony. Wine robs a man of self-possession ;
opium sustains and reinforces it. Wine unsettles
the judgment, and gives a preternatural brightness
and a vivid exaltation to the contempts and the
admirations, to the loves and the hatreds of the
drinker ; opium, on the contrary, communicates
serenity and equipoise to all the faculties, active or
passive, and with respect to the temper and moral
-feelings in general, it gives simply that sort of vital
warmth which is approved by the judgment, and
which would probably always accompany a bodily
constitution of primeval or antediluvian health.
Wine constantly leads a man to the brink of
absurdity and extravagance, and beyond a certain
tion from liquor. The opium-smoker, when under the full
influence of his delicious drug, brawls and swaggers not in the
public streets, like a drunkard, to the annoyance of bystanders,
but reposes quietly on his couch, without molesting those
around him.”
Also Dr. Traill, of Singapore, from his own experience, has
not found opium-smoking in any way so powerful a promoter of
disease as the habitual use of intoxicating liquors.
OPIUM MORALS.
187
point, it is sure to volatize and disperse the intel-
lectual energies; whereas opium always seems to
compose what had been agitated, and to concentrate
what had been distracted. In short, to sum up all
in one word, a man who is inebriated, or tending
to inebriation is, and feels that he is in a con-
dition which calls up into supremacy the merely
human, too often the brutal part ot his nature ;
hut the opium-eater, simply as such, assuming that
he is in a normal state of health, feels that the
divine part of his nature is paramount, that is,
the moral affections are in a state of cloudless
serenity, and high over all, the great light of the
majestic intellect/’
It is not to be wondered at that the abuse of
opium should be a fertile source of poverty, when
so much of the wages of many of its votaries are
devoted to it. This diseased habit is progressive,
and the quantity taken must be daily increased to
produce the necessary effects ; but the capability
of furnishing the means does not keep pace with
the desire of consumption. The cooly, who, when
strong and vigorous, could earn twenty-five shil-
lings per month, has only to commence opium-
smoking, and in two years he will not receive more
than two-thirds of that amount, whilst he still
smokes his quantity of opium; and as years roll
on, he finds that, mainly on account of the vice he
has adopted, he can no longer endure the toil
that formerly was to him only as child’s play,
the amount of excitement having still to be
kept up under a decreased income, he has to
lessen his expenditure for clothes, and then for
food, and lastly, the quantity of opium itself;
until worn out, exhausted, and diseased, he
finds himself the inmate of a jail or a poor-
house. A sad reflection, truly, but a history
repeated over and over again, with but little
188
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
variation, in the lives of thousands of Chinamen
and Malays.
Were poverty to be succoured in places where
this description of persons most do congregate, as
it is at home, thousands would become public
burdens ; but there the hand of charity has been
closed, and the springs of compassion for the poor
dried up. In Singapore, it was not until the horrid
spectacle of miserable Chinese daily crawling in front
of their doors, exposing their loathsome sores and
leprous bodies, and polluting the air they breathed ;
it was not until these wretched beings, without food
or friends, and deprived of the power of sup-
porting themselves, laid them down to die in the
streets, of disease and starvation, that by the active
philanthropy of two or three individuals a shed was
erected to keep these paupers out of sight. When
the novelty passed away, the philanthropy declined,
and the monthly contribution dwindled down to
about three pounds, which was the sum total of
the public charity of the European residents in
behalf of the diseased poor of Singapore. In this
shed were to be found two classes of persons, united
in the same individuals, the diseased poor. These
are the only kind of poor that excite any sympathy
in such places, and an examination of the inmates
of the shed will give some insight into the pro-
pensities of this class. Out of 125 under relief at
the time, 70 were opium-smokers and 55 were not
(or would not acknowledge it). Of these 70, some
before their admission, were reduced to the alterna-
tive of Tye or Sams /tiny, or no opium at all. The
total consumption of these paupers before their
admission amounted to upwards of four pounds
(2022 grains) daily, giving an average daily con-
sumption to each smoker of upwards of 28 grains,
being nearly the average consumption of the
opium smoker in general, under more favourable
OPIUM MORALS.
189
circumstances. The greatest consumption of any
one of these individuals had amounted to 120
grains, hut at that rate his finances soon failed
him, and he had to be content with one fourth of
that amount shortly before he became an invalid.
Sixty-two of these men consumed opium to the
monthly value of £38 7s. 6d., while their aggre-
gate income amounted in the same period to but
£50 11s. 3d. ; or, individually, the value of each
man’s monthly consumption of opium was 12s. d.,
and his income was but 16s. 6d., leaving only about
4s. monthly, or Is. per week to feed, clothe, and
house himself, and in fact, for every other purpose
for which money is required. Some of these did
not confine themselves to this. Fifteen of them
(as will be seen from Table XVI.) consuming all,
or more than their income in opium. Surely such
men were worthy not only of a pauper hospital,
but also of a jail.
These paupers at one time all received even more
than the average amount of wages, sufficient to
have clothed and fed them and their families, and
kept them comfortable, whilst at that time they
were dependent on a charity which allowed them
to exist on the rice which was supplied to them,
and five doits a day or about a shilling per month.
Thousands more, not incapacitated so much by
disease as to be unable to work and not therefore
inmates of the hospital, were no better off, for what
they had they spent in chandu.
The Dutch Commissioners report that, “the
use of opium is so much more dangerous, because
a person who is once addicted to it can never
leave it off. To satisfy that inclination he will
sacrifice everything, his own welfare — the sub-
sistence of his wife and children, and neglect
his work. . Poverty is the natural consequence,
and then it becomes indifferent to him by what
190
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
means he may content his insatiable desire after
opium ; so that at last he no longer respects either
the property or life of his fellow creature.”
A Chinaman, who himself is a smoker and
consumes opium to the monthly value of £2, says,
that in one hundred Chinese about Hong-Ivong
and Singapore, seventy of them smoke, and that all
the coolies do so more or less. If a cooly earns
£1 monthly, 4s. goes for food, lOd. for house
rent, a small outlay for a jacket and trowsers once
in six months, and all the rest goes in opium.
From his own experience, and what he has seen
of others, he would say if a man had been
accustomed to smoke opium for seven or eight
years, and gives it up for a day he is attacked
with diarrhoea, while during the time he is smoking
the opposite is the case. And he who usds six
grains a day will soon require twelve.
To give up opium-smoking, after it has once been
commenced, all declare to be a very difficult achieve-
ment. A Malay who was apprehended on some
criminal charge some years ago, when locked up,
previous to examination was, as a matter of course,
deprived of opium for some days, he pined away so
rapidly that, although only four or five days in
the lock-up house, he could not leave it when re-
leased, but was carried out, having entered the place
as strong and muscular a man as can be met with.
Dr. Oxley states, “ that the lower class of Chinese
when deprived of their allowance, are very liable to
become dropsical. The effect of deprivation at
first appears to produce desperation, a heart-rend-
ing despondency, something like the low state of
delirium tremens, hut differing in many respects
from that malady. Death certainly does occur
from deprivation, and generally by dropsy.”
A great many women smoke, generally the
wives of opium-smokers. A woman was dis-
OPIUM MORALS.
191
covered by a surgeon in Singapore in an opium
shop up stairs smoking away, as she had done for
three years, at the rate of thirty-six grains a day.
She stated that she had two children, but that they
were very sickly and always crying. And how
did she stifle their cries ? She conveyed from her
lips to those of the child the fresh drawn opium
vapour, which the babe inspired. This was repeated
twice, when it fell back a senseless mass into its
mother’s arms, and allowed her quietly to finish her
unholy repast. This practice she had often recourse
to, as her child was very troublesome, adding that it
was no uncommon thing for mothers to do so.
Another inveterate opium-smoker makes his
“confession,” that after his quantity is consumed,
he feels no desire for sleep until twelve or two in
the morning, when he falls into disturbed slum-
bers, which last till eight or nine. When he
awakes, his head is giddy, confused, and painful —
his mouth is dry, he has great thirst, he has no
appetite, can neither read nor write, suffers pains
in all his bones and muscles, gasps for breath ; he
wishes to bathe, but cannot stand the shock. This
state continues till he gets his morning pipe, when
he can eat and drink a little, and after that attend
to his business. The force of example taught him
this habit, and he knows no class of people exempt
from it except Europeans. “Look,” says he,
appealing to himself, u I was, ere I gave way to
this accursed vice, stout, strong, and able for any-
thing. 1 loved my wife and children, attended to
my business, and was happy ; but now I am thin,
meagre, and wretched. I can receive enjoyment
from nothing but the pipe, my passions are gone,
and if I am railed at, and abused like a dog, I
return not an angry word.”
Although opium-smoking is carried to such an
excess among some of the Chinese coolies, yet there
192 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEI*.
is no. gambling amongst them at the opium shops
at Singapore. It is true that this vice has been
suppressed, but it is not secretly indulged in ; and
a gentleman who was formerly the opium farmer,
says, “ that the consumption of opium is but little
affected by gambling, from arrack or samshu being
the intoxicating medium used, a much better
instrument for raising excitement and stimulating
to excessive play than opium, whose effects are
much more sedative than exciting.”
The consideration of the morals, and influence
of these customs leads us to a remarkable passage
in one of M. Quetelet’s works, it refers to the cer-
tainty of natural laws in states as well as indivi-
duals : — “ All those things which appear to be left
to the free will, the passions, or the degree of in-
telligence of men, are regulated by laws as fixed,
immutable, and eternal as those which govern the
phenomena of the natural world. No one knows
the day or the hour of his own death ; and nothing
appears more entirely accidental than the birth of
a boy or of a girl in any given case. But how many
out of a million of men living together in one
country, shall have died in ten, twenty, forty, or
sixty years, how many boys and girls shall be bom
in a million of births ; all this is as certain, nay,
much more certain, than any human truth.”
The statistics of courts of justice have disclosed
to us the regular repetition of the same crimes,
and have established the fact — incomprehensive to
our understandings, because we do not know the
connecting links — that in every large country, the
number of offences, and of each land of offence,
may be predicted for every coming year, with
the same certainty as the number of the births
and of the natural deaths. Of every 100 persons
accused before the supreme tribunal in France, 61
are condemned ; in England, 71. The variations,
OPIUM MORALS.
19S
on an average, amount hardly to yloth part of the
whole. We can predict with confidence, for fifteen
years to come, the number of suicides generally —
that of the cases of suicide by fire-arms, and that
of the cases of suicide by hanging.
Every large number of phenomena of the same
‘kind, which rise and fall periodically, leads to a
fixed proportion. This is the law of large num-
bers to which all things and all events without ex-
ception, are subject. These laws have nothing to
do with the essence of vice and virtue in the moral
world, but with the external causes, and the effects
they produce in human society. No one denies the
influence of education, and of habits of labour and
order on the conduct of men, but no one thinks
of regarding this moral conduct as a mere result
of those habits. Good education and improved
cultivation diminish the number of offences, as
well as that of the annual deaths in our tables of
mortality.
The results, therefore, of a collection of statis-
tical information carefully arranged for Singapore,
one of the most inveterate of opium localities,
should, on comparison with the results obtained
from other quarters, show that the per centage of
deaths is greater, the per centage of births less ;
the per centage of criminals higher, and of suicides
larger, in this population of opium-smokers, than
in. any other equally conditioned country in which
opium is indulged, or it is not proven that the
habit tends to shorten life, decrease production,
increase crime, and induce suicide, all of wliic
charges have been made against it.
With this evidence we are not at present satis-
factorily supplied. That opinion has an influence,
though probably only a minor one, on moral and
social, development, is not to be denied. Because
man is so entirely a creature of relation, that
o
194
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
nothing is unimportant to him. “If the move-
ments of the remotest star that glitters in the
heavens affect those of our earth, assist in deter-
mining its position in space, its climate, its pro-
ductions, and thus influence the lot of man, who
is the creature of these circumstances ; what
combinations subsisting upon the surface of the*
earth, or developing themselves in the bosom of
society, can he deemed wholly indifferent to his
conduct, and without power over his well being
and happiness ? ” . •
If, as Dr. Lyon Playfair recently noticed, it is
worthy of observation, that the character of the
nations through which Dr-. Livingstone passed in his
recenttravels.dependeduponthe habitsof the people,
in the acquisition of their food, as well as upon the
food itself, we may expect to find opium exerting
also its influence. If, for instance, the Kaffirs who
lived by hunting, and were flesh-eaters, were wild
and warlike ; and the Wampoos, who lived princi-
pally on grain, wrere of a more quiet and peaceable
disposition. Then again, the Bechuanos, who
lived upon grain, were more civilized than the
Kaffirs, and the Macololas, who combined as
their food both grain and flesh, did not lose the
warlike character, and made incursions upon their
more feeble neighbours. It was an axiom amongst
the latter people, that if it were not for the gullet
(alluding to their appetites) there wrould be no war
or fighting amongst mankind. In those parts,
such as Loando, where the people lived upon
starchy varieties of food, they had become diminu-
tive in their stature ; and this applied not merely
to the natives, but also to the Portuguese settlers
there, for they had lost the physical characters of
their ’ancestors, and had become feminine in t heir
frames and habits, and this extended even to • their
handwriting. Where more nitrogenous food vas
OPIUM MORALS.
195
taken, the physical character of the people had not
undergone that very marked change. If food
exerts this influence upon the people of a country
or district, we cannot doubt that any habit, such
as smoking tobacco or opium, chewing betel or
coca, must exert some influence upon the nations
so indulging, whether that influence be good or
bad.
Who will say that tobacco has no portion in the
formation of the German character ? Yet the
subtle and profound Germans exhibit no extraor-
dinary evidence in their national character of the
baneful influences on their moral and social de-
velopment, by their indulgence in this habit.
Compare with them the Turks and Chinese, and
let the balance be shown iu favour of the most
elevated in the ranks of civilization. Yet the
most deficient must claim the influence of other
equally potent circumstances in extenuation, for
neither opium nor tobacco moulds the entire
national character, it is only one of many in-
fluences. Let the Papuan stand beside the China-
man and the Turk, and in spite of opium, the
Papuan standard will exhibit a woeful short-com-
ing. The waters of the great Amazon river must
exert some influence on the currents of the Atlantic,
but none will venture to assert that therefore the
influx of such a body of water, vast in itself, but
small in comparison to the whole, is the cause of
the gulf stream. The drinking of tea will bear
just such a relation to the currents in the life of
nations who indulge in that luxury, but who will
declare that the Chinese soldiers fly from the
points of the British bayonets, or are expert in the
carving of ivory balls, because they indulge in a
beverage admired by other old ladies who can
neither run nor carve. Neither because certain
Javanese or Malays, under the influence of an over
o 2
19G THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
dose of opium, will £‘ run amok ,” or other Arabs,
intoxicated with “haschish,” have made the name
of assassin to become an object of dread, is it to be
concluded hence that all men who indulge in the
use of either of these narcotics will be dangerous
members of society, or that they will rush into the
jaws of death without a shudder at the sight of his
fangs.
Is it because the Scot loves whisky that he is
generally so cautious and shrewd in his business
transactions as to win himself a name ? Is it because
the Cockney imbibes sundry deep potations of
London porter or gin, that the enterprise and com-
merce of those great citizens of the world have
become the envy of surrounding nations ? Or is it
because the Russian persisted in his love of raw
turnip and sour quass, that the Malakoff and
Sebastopol passed into the hands of the frog-eating
Frenchman, and the beef-eating Englishman ?
May we not impute to beef and tobacco, gin and
opium, porter and hemp, results infinitely in ad-
vance of their power ?
Dr. Eatwell writes, “ It has been too much the
practice with narrators who have treated on the
subject, to content themselves with drawing the
sad picture of the confirmed opium debauchee,
plunged in the last stage of moral and physical
exhaustion, and having formed the premises of
their argument of this exception, to proceed, at
once to involve the whole practice in one sweeping
condemnation. But this is not the way in. which
the subject can be treated ; as rational would it
be to paint tbe horrors of de'irium tremens, and
upon that evidence, to condemn at once the entire
use of alcoholic liquors. The question for deter-
mination is not what are the effects of opium used
to excess, but what are its effects on the moral
and physical constitution of the mass of the
OPIUM MORALS.
197
individuals who use it habitually, and in modera-
tion, either as a stimulant to sustain the frame
under fatigue, or as restorative and sedative after
labour, bodily or mental. Having passed three
years in China, I may he allowed to state the
results of my observation, and I can affirm thus
far, that the effects of the abuse of the drug do
not come very frequently under observation ; and
that when cases do occur, the habit is frequently
found to have been induced by the presence of
some painful chronic disease, to escape from the
sufferings of which the patient has fled to this
resource. That this is not always the case,
however, I am perfectly ready to admit, and
there are, doubtless, many who indulge in the
habit to a pernicious extent, led by the same
morbid impulses which induce men to become
drunkards in even the most civilized countries;
but these cases do not, at all events, come before
the public eye. It requires no laborious search
in civilized England to discover evidences of the
pernicious effects of the abuse of alcoholic liquors :
our open and thronged gin-palaces, and our streets,
afford abundant testimony on the subject ; but in
China this open evidence of the evil effects of
opium is at least wanting. As regards the effects
ot the habitual use of the drug on the mass of
the people, I must affirm that no injurious results
are visible. The people generally are a muscular
and well-formed race, the labouring portion being
capable of great and prolonged exertion under a
fierce sun, in an unhealthy climate. Their dispo-
tion is cheerful and peaceable, and quarrels and
brawls are rarely heard amongst even the lower
orders, whilst in general intelligence, they rank
deservedly high amongst orientals.
“ The proofs are still wanting to show that the
moderate use of opium produces more pernicious
198
THE SEVEN SISTERS OE SLEEP.
effects upon the constitution, than does the
moderate use of spirituous liquors, whilst at the
same time, it is certain, that the consequences of
the abuse of the former are less appalling in their
effect upon the victim, and less disastrous to
society at large, than are the consequences of the
abuse of the latter. Compare the furious mad-
man, the subject of delirium tremens , with the
prostrate debauchee, the victim of opium; the
violent drunkard, with the dreaming sensualist
intoxicated with opium ; the latter is at least
harmless to all except to his wretched self, whilst
the former is but too frequently a dangerous
nuisance, and an open bad example to the com-
munity at large. ’
CHAPTER XiV.
FALSE PROPHETS.
“ If your wish be rest,
Lettuce and cowslip wine probatum est."
Pope.
Before describing any of the imitations of opium,
or substitutes for it in any form, it will not be out
of place to notice briefly the tinctures in popular
use in which that drug forms a prominent ingre-
dient. Laudanum is the spirituous infusion, and
contains the active ingredients of a twelfth part
of its weight of opium. Scotch paregoric elixir
is a solution in ammoniated spirit, and is only
one-fifth of the strength of laudanum, containing,
therefore, one part in sixty of opium. English
paregonc is a tincture of opium and camphor, and
is four times weaker still. The black drop, and
Battlers sedative liquor , are believed to be
solutions of opium in vegetable acids, and to
possess, the one of them, four, and the other, three
times the strength of laudanum. Although some
good authorities consider this an exaggerated
computation of the strength of the latter two, and
that they are not more than half that strength.
200 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
There are several other pharmaceutical prepara-
tions into which opium enters as a component,
but to which it is unnecessary to refer. Those
already named, as has before been intimated, are
used not a little, to still the sounds of those
miniature human organs so distasteful to bachelor
ears. The practice, unfortunately so prevalent,
of soothing infants with preparations of opium,
cannot be too strongly deprecated. We are ready
to express our surprise that oriental mothers
should transfer their cigars from their own mouths
to those of their infants, that the helpless little
creatures may enjoy the luxury of a suck, while,
at the same time, we are inuring them to the
use of a far more insidious and deadly poison.
Eather let us for the future, when inclined to
charge this as a crime upon others, remember
that scene which took place eighteen hundred
years ago, and the rebuke with which it closed,
in words written with the finger upon the ground,
“Let him that is without sin amongst you cast
the first stone at her.”
One of the most important of opium substitutes
is derived from a plant in itself not only harmless,
but extensively used as an article of food : it is
Lactucarium or Lettuce Opium, and is prepared
generally from the wild lettuce, although similar
properties exist to a more limited extent in the
cultivated varieties which find their way to our
tables.
There is no certainty about the period at which
lettuce was introduced into this country, although
the time has been fixed at 1520, when it is stated
to have been brought from Flanders. In the early
part of the reign of Henry VIII., when Queen
Katherine wished for a salad, she despatched a
messenger to Holland or Handers ; at that period,
therefore, very few English tables could ever boast
FALSE PROPHETS.
201
the honour of a salad. In the privy purse expenses
of Henry VIII., in 1530, an item occurs from
which we learn that the gardener of York Place
received a reward for bringing “lettuze” and
cherries to Hampton Court. This was policy on
the part of the King, his royal consort having a
liking for salads, for it was rather expensive as
well as tedious, to send for them to the gardens of
Brabant.* In 1600, peas, beans, and lettuce were
in common use in England ; and in 1652, a writer
of the time speaks of lettuce as a plant with which
the public generally had been long familiar. One
variety of the cultivated lettuce was doubtless de-
rived from the island of Cos, inasmuch as it still
bears that name.
Lettuces were known to the ancients. Dioscorides
and Theophrastus speak of them as cultivated by
the Greeks, and also used in medicine ; the prickly
lettuce is still found wild on the higher hills of
Greece, and was probably one of the species to which
the above-named ancient authors refer. Several
varieties of the garden lettuce were used in salads by
both Greeks and Eomans. The pride of the garden
of Aristoxenus was his lettuces, and he irrigated
them with wine.
Two species of wild lettuce are found in Britain,
the acrid and the prickly lettuce, both of which
possess similar properties, yielding a juice from
which lactucarium may be prepared. Two other
wild species are only occasional. The lactucarium
* Dr. Doran says that a salad was so scarce an article during
the early part of the last century, that George I. was obliged
also to send to Holland to procure a lettuce for his queen.
These vegetables must, therefore, have become unpopular
before that time, or the cultivation had been for some cause
discontinued, otherwise we cannot reconcile this with the fact
that lettuces were common enough a century before a George
sate upon the English throne.
202
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
of the London Pharmacopoeia is prepared only
from the garden lettuce, but the acrid lettuce is
stated to yield a much larger quantity and of supe-
rior quality. A single plant of the garden lettuce
will yield only 17 grains of lactucarium, on an
average, while a plant of the acrid lettuce yields
no less than 56 grains, or more than three times
that quantity ; and although the milkiness of the
juice increases till the very close of the time of
flowering, or till the month of October in this
climate, the value of the lactucarium is deteriorated
after the middle of the period of flowering, for
subsequently, while the juice becomes thicker, a
material decrease takes place in the proportion of
bitter extract contained in it.
Lactucarium is a reddish brown substance with
a narcotic odour and bitter taste, having a consider-
able resemblance to opium. On analysis it yields
a snow white crystalline substance called lactucin,
which is narcotic in its effects. Dr. Duncan
recommended the use of lactucarium as a substi-
tute for opium, the anodyne properties of which
it possesses, without being followed with the
same injurious effects. In France, a water is
distilled from lettuce, and used as a mild sedative.
Experiments of the effects of lettuce-opium upon
animals are detailed by Orfila, who states that
three drachms introduced into the stomach of a
dog killed it in two days, without causing any re-
markable symptoms ; two drachms applied to a
wound in the back induced giddiness, slight
sopor, and death in three days ; and thirty-six
grains injected, in a state of solution, into the
jugular vein caused dulness, weakness, slight con-
vulsions, and death in 18 minutes.
In North America the prickly lettuce is more
common than with us, and from it the American
lactucarium is extracted. In Guinea a species oi
FALSE PROPHETS.
203
lettuce is found wild, possessing precisely similar
properties, and applicable to a like use. This
plant is largely used by the negroes as a salad and
also as an opiate.
The plants cultivated for the sake of the juice
are grown in a rich soil, with a southern aspect.
In such a situation they thrive vigorously, and
send up thick, juicy, flower stems. As soon as
these have attained a considerable height, and
before the flowers expand, a portion of the top
is cut off. The milky juice quickly exudes from
the wound, while the heat of the sun renders it
so viscid that, instead of flowing down, it con-
cretes on the stem in a brownish flake. After
it has acquired a proper consistence it is removed.
As the juice closes up the vessels of the plant,
another slice is taken off lower down the stem,
and the juice again flows freely and another flake
is formed. The same process is repeated as long as
the plant affords any juice. To the crude juice, thus
obtained, the name of lactucarium has been given.
“This,” says Johnston, “is one of those nar-
cotics in which many of us unconsciously indulge.
The eater of green lettuce as a salad, takes a por-
tion of it in the juice of the leaves he swallows ;
and many of my readers, after this is pointed
out to them, will discover that their heads are
not unaffected after indulging copiously in a
lettuce salad. Eaten at night, the lettuce causes
sleep ; eaten during the day, it soothes and calms
and allays the tendency to nervous irritability.
And yet the lover of lettuce would take it very
much amiss if he were told that he ate his green
leaves, partly at least, for the same reason as the
Turk or the Chipaman takes his whiff from the
tiny opium pipe : that, in short, he was little better
than an opium-eater, and his purveyor than the
opium smuggler on the coast of China”
204
THE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
Lest this should occasion some alarm in the
breasts of those who prefer their lobsters with a
salad, let us strive to administer a little consola-
tion. We have seen that the cultivated or garden
lettuce does not contain so much as one third the
quantity of lactucarium yielded by the wild species,
ten good lettuces must therefore he eaten before
sufficient extract will have been consumed to have
killed a dog in two days. This is upon the pre-
sumption that the lettuces eaten as salad are in
precisely the same condition, and capable of
affording the same amount of the extract as when
cultivated specially for that purpose; but this is
not the case, it is not until just before flowering
that the full amount of juice is contained in the
plant, a per centage only of which exists in the
younger plants as gathered for the table. Nor is
that quantity of the same narcotic quality as in
the more matured plant, which has collected, at
that period, all its strength properly to produce, and
bring to perfection, its flowers and fruit.
“ Nothing hath got so far,
But man hath caught and kept it as his prey.
His eyes dismount the highest star.
He is in little all the sphere.
Herbs gladly cure our flesh, because that they
Bind their acquaintance there.
“More servants wait on man
Than he’ll take notice of : in every path
He treads down that which doth befriend him,
When sickness makes him pale and wan.
Oh, mighty love ! Man is one world, and hath
Another to attend him.”
The lacticiferous or milk bearing plants are
nearly all of them connected by very important
ties with man and civilization. The phenomena
themselves are welL worthy of study, and their
FALSE PKOPnETS.
205
association with humanity replete with interest.
These plants are by no means restricted to one
genus or family, nor are their properties of the
same character. The one circumstance of their
secreting a white juice resembling milk in appear-
ance is almost all they have in common. In the
poppy it becomes opium , in the lettuce lactucarium.
It constitutes refreshing beverages, obtained in
large quantities, in the sunny climes of Asia, from
the cow-tree of South America, the kiriaghuma
and hya-hya of British Guiana, the Euphorbia
balsamifera of the Canary Islands, the juice of
wliich as a sweet milk, or evaporated to a jelly, is
taken as a great delicacy, and the Banyan tree, all
of which, to a certain extent, supply the place of
the cow, in places and conditions wherein cows are
not to be found. Similar juices are collected in the
form of India rubber or caoutchouc, a substance so
invaluable in the arts of life. They exude from
figs, euphorbias, and cacti, in the East Indies,
South America, and Africa, from all of which
places a large quantity of the consolidated juice is
exported to the markets of Europe and North
America. The greater quantity of these lactescent
juices are elaborated in the Tropics. Gutta percha
and allied substances are similarly produced, and
indeed, numerous plants are possessed of this kind
of secretion, which have not yet been made avail-
able for economical purposes, but which may
become equally well known, and useful, to succeed-
lng generations. Narcotic properties do not appear
to be so common in these juices as the irritant or
acrid, which abound in some euphorbiaceous plants,
and the inert, and when coagulated and dry,
elastic properties found in the siphonias, figs, and
sapotaceous plants.
In St. Domingo, a species of Muracuja is be-
lieved to possess qualities very similar to opium,
206 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
from which, and from an allied plant, Dr. Hamilton
believes, that the concentrated sap, collected at a
proper time, strained, evaporated, and properly
prepared, would prove an excellent substitute for
the expensive opium, at a cheaper rate. The
species indigenous to Jamaica, is known as bull-
hoof or Dutchman’s laudanum. At a time when
opium was scarce, from some accidental cause, in
the island of Jamaica, a Dutch surgeon found in
this plant a successful substitute. The plant is
common in Jamaica and some other of the West
Indian islands. It is an elegant climber, bearing
bright scarlet blossoms, somewhat resembling a
passion flower. Browne says, that the flowe is are
principally employed, and when infused, or mixed
in a state of powder with wine or spirits, are re-
garded as a safe and effectual narcotic.
Dr. Landerer states that the Syrian rue is a
highly esteemed plant in Greece. This plant ap-
pears to have been known to the ancients, and
mentioned by Dioscorides. Its properties are
narcotic, resembling those of the Indian hemp.
The Turks macerate the seeds in scherbet or boosa,
administering the infusion internally. It also
serves in the preparation of a yellow dye. The
seeds are sometimes used by the Turks as a spice,
and the same people also resort to them to produce
a species of intoxication. The Emperor Solyman,
it is stated kept himself in a state of intoxication
by their use. The peculiar phenomena of this
intoxication has not, that we are aware, been
described, but we are informed that the property of
producing it exists in the husks of the seeds, from
which a chemical principle of a narcotic nature
has been obtained.
There is another plant, a native of Arabia, and
of the nightshade family, so prolific in narcotics, the
seeds of which are used by some of the Asiatics to
FALSE PROPHETS.
207
produce those mental reveries and excitement so
much coveted. These seeds, the produce of a plant
known to botanists under the name of Scopolia
muticci, are also roasted and infused to form a sort
of drink, in which the Arabs and some others
indulge.
The seeds of a species of Sterculia are said to be
used by the natives of Silhet as a substitute for
opium. The Cola nuts, so highly esteemed by the
negroes of Guinea, are the produce of a Sterculia.
The natives attribute very extraordinary properties
to these seeds, somewhat analogous to those claimed
by the Peruvians for the leaf of the coca, stating,
that if chewed, they satisfy hunger, and prevent
the natural craving for food, that for this purpose
they carry some with them when undertaking a
long journey. They are also affirmed to improve
the flavour of anything that may be subsequently
eaten, if a portion of one of them is taken before
meals. Formerly they were even more esteemed
than at the present day. In those times, fifty of
them were sufficient to purchase a wife. These
seeds are flat, and of a brownish colour and bitter
taste. Their tonic properties have been supposed
equal to those of the famed Cedron seeds of Guiana,
and the more famous Cinchona bark of the Andes.
Probably further and more elaborate investigation
will piove that these wonderful seeds possess
slightly beneficial properties as a tonic, it may be
even inferior to those of the roots of Gentian, or
other parts of some of our indigenous plants.
In the Straits, _ the leaves of the “ Beah” tree are
used by the opium-smokers as a substitute for
opium, when that drug is not procurable. These
serrated leaves, the produce of we know not pre-
cisely what tree, except under the above native
name, are occasionally sold in the bazaars or
markets at a quarter of a rupee per catty, or at
208
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the rate, Anglicised, of fourpence halfpenny per
pound.
In addition to the substances which do duty for
opium knowingly and wittingly, there are others
which enter into its composition in the form of
adulteration, to which writers on materia medica
have drawn attention, and ultimately Dr. Hassell.
These also deserve, with far greater appropriate-
ness, the designation of false prophets, since,
promising the glimpses of paradise which opium
is believed to give, they only
Keep the promise to the lip
And break it with the heart.
The first sophistication, says Pereira, which
opium receives, is that practised by the peasants
who collect it, and who lightly scrape the epi-
dermis from the shells or capsules to augment the
weight. This operation adds about one-twelfth
of foreign matters, which are removed by the
Chinese in their method of preparing the opium
and forming it into chandu.
According to Dr. Eatwell, the grosser impurities
usually mixed with the drug to increase its weight
are mud, sand, powdered charcoal, soot, cow dung,
pounded poppy petals, and pounded seeds of
various descriptions. All these substances are
readily discoverable in breaking up the drug in
cold water, decanting the lighter portion, and
examining the sediment. Flour is a very favourite
article of adulteration, but is readily detected.
Opium so adulterated becomes sour, breaks with
a short ragged fracture, the edges of which are
dull, and not pink and translucent as they should
be. The farina of the boiled potato is not un fre-
quently made use of ; ghee and ghour (an impure
treacle) are also occasionally used, as being articles
FALSE PROPHETS.
209
at the command of most of the cultivators. Their
presence is revealed by the peculiar odour and
consistence which they impart to the drug. In
addition to the above, a variety of vegetable juices,
extracts, pulps, and colouring matters are occa-
sionally fraudulently mixed with the opium, such
as the inspissated juice of the prickly pear, the
extracts prepared from the tobacco plant, the thorn
apple, and the Indian hemp. The gummy exuda-
tions from various plants are frequently used ; and
of pulps, the most commonly employed are those of
the tamarind, and of the Bael fruit. To impart
colour to the drug various substances are employed,
as catechu, turmeric, the powdered flowers of the
mowha tree, &c. Here is a list long enough to
satisfy any antiquarian, containing delicacies of
all kinds, the essence of which would improve any
soothing syrup or Godfrey’s cordial, with which,
under the name of opium, they may be incorpo-
rated, whether they may consist of tobacco juice,
cow dung, or bad treacle.
Let us still enlarge the collection from the
experience of Dr. Normandy, eminent in chemical
analysis— “ Opium is often met with in commerce
from which the morphine has been extracted ; on
the other hand, this valuable drug is often found
adulterated with starch, water, Spanish liquorice
lactucarium, extract of poppy leaves, of the sea-
side poppy, and other vegetable extracts, mucilage
of gum tragacanth, or other gums, clay, sand
gravel. Often the opium is mixed in Asia and
Lgypt, when fresh and soft, with finely bruised
grapes, from which the stones have been removed ■
sometimes also a mixture, fabricated by bruising
the exterior skins of the capsules and stalks of the
poppy together with the white of eggs, in a stone
mortar, is added in certain proportions to the
opium. In fact, this most valuable drug, certainly
210 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
one of the most important, and most frequently
used in medicine, is also one of the most extensively
adulterated.”
Dr. Landerer has described an adulteration of a
sample of opium obtained direct from Smyrna ; it
consisted of salep powder in large proportions,
and he was afterwards informed that this is a
very common adulteration, practised in order
to make the opium harder, and to hasten the
process of drying. Dr. Pereira speaks of an
opium which contained a gelatiniform substance,
and Mr. Morson met with opium in which a
similar substance was present. Dr. Landerer
also states that the extract obtained by boiling
the poppy plants is commonly added to Smyrna
opium.
Dr. Hassell found “that out of twenty-three
samples of opium analysed, nineteen were adul-
terated, and four only genuine, many of these as
shown by the microscope, being adulterated to a
large extent ; the prevailing adulterations being
with poppy capsules and wheat flour,” in addition
to which adulteration two samples of Smyrna
opium, and two of Egyptian opium were adul-
terated with sand, sugar, and gum.
From the analysis of forty samples of powdered
opium, he found also, “that thirty-three of the
samples were adulterated, and one only genuine ;
the principal adulterations, as in the previous case,
being with poppy capsule and wheat flour. That
four of the samples were further adulterated by the
addition of powdered wood, introduced, no doubt,
in the process of grinding.”
Dr. Thomson stated in his evidence before the
Parliamentary Committee, that he had known
extract of opium mixed with extract of senna,
and from thirty to sixty per cent, of water.
Dr. 0‘Shaughnessy found from 25 to 21 per
FALSE PJROPHETS.
211
cent, of water in Indian opium (Behar agency),
and 13 per cent, in Patna opium.
. Dr. Eatwell, the opium examiner in the Benares
district, finds that the proportion of water varies
from. 30 to 24-5 per cent, in the opium of that
district.
In 1838, a specimen of opium resembling that
of Smyrna was presented to the Societe de Phar-
macie of Paris, being part of a considerable quan-
tity .which had been introduced into commerce at
Paris and Havre. It did not exhibit the least
trace of morphia. It was in rolls, well covered
with, leaves, had a blackish section, and a slightly
elastic consistence. It became milky upon contact
with water. Its odour and taste were analogous to
opium, hut feebler. It was adulterated with so
much skill, that agglutinated tears appeared even
under a magnifier — a character which had hitherto
been regarded as decisive in detecting pure opium,
hut which with this occurrence lost its value. The
same article appears to have been met with also in
the United States.
A writer from Singapore states, “ I lately saw a
Chinaman brought to the police for fabricating
opium balls. The imitation balls were composed
of a skin. or . husk formed from the leaves of Madras
tobacco, inside was sand, which was evidently in-
tended to form the shape of the halls till the outer
covering, had sufficiently set, the whole was neatly
sewed with bandages of calico, which would be re-
moved when the tobacco was able to retain its
propei shape, the sand would then be abstracted
and a mixture of gambier and opium substituted,5
while the outside would be rubbed over with a
watery solution of chandu. By these means the
native traders are much and often imposed upon.”
CHAPTER XV.
NEPENTHES.
“ Bright Helen mixed a mirth-inspiring bowl,
Tempered with drugs of sovereign use, to assuage
The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage ;
To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care.
And dry the tearful sluice3 of despair.”
Pope’s Eomcr..
The influence of climate in modifying the cha-
racters of plants is a circumstance known to all
botanical students. The same plant, in temperate
regions and under the tropics, exhibits different pro-
perties, or, we should rather say, in one instance
developes more highly certain properties which
in the other lie nearly dormant. The newly-
introduced sorghum, from which we have been
promised an unfailing supply of excellent sugar,
fails in the North of France to reach that degree
of maturity, or to develope in such manner its
saccharine secretions as to be available for the
manufacture of a crystallizable sugar. The sweet
floating grass ( Glyceria fluitans) in Poland and
Russia supplies farinaceous seeds, which, under the
name of manna croup, are consumed as food ; but no
seeds at all available for that purpose are produced
at home from the same plant, although it grows
NEPENTHES.
213
freely. The flavour of the onion, as grown in
Egypt, is, we are assured, far milder, and vastly
different from the bulbs cultivated in Britain. The
odour of violets and other flowers grown for per-
fumery and other purposes at Nice, have a scent
more rich and delicious than when grown in Eng-
lish soil, subject to our variable climate. But the
most extraordinary effect of all, produced by these
influences upon plants, occurs in the case of hemp,
which in Europe developes its fibrous qualities to
such an extent as to produce a material for cordage
hitherto unsurpassed ; but in India, while deficient
in this respect, developes narcotic secretions to
such an extent as to occupy a prominent position
among the chief narcotics of the world.
It was for some time supposed that the Indian
or narcotic hemp was a different species to that
which is cultivated for textile purposes ; and even
now it is often characterised by a different specific
name, which would seem to assume that the species
are distinct. This, however, the most celebrated
of our botanists deny. The difference is declared
to. be, not one of species, but of climate, and of
climate only. The native home of the hemp plant
is assigned by Dr. Lindley to Persia and the hills
in the North of India, whence it has been intro-
duced into other countries. Burnett says, “ Hemp
seed is nutritious and not narcotic ; it has the very
singular property of changing the plumage of
bullfinches and goldfinches from red and yellow to
black, if they are fed on it for too long a time or
in too large a quantity.” Never having tried the
experiment, we have no ground for disputing or
authority for verifying these remarks. If such,
however, is the case, hemp seed possesses some
property, if not narcotic, which canary and poppy
seeds, we should presume, do not.
Johnny Englishman, with his usual genius for
214 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
discovery and invention, has been discovered filling
his pipe on board ship with oakum, when the
stores of tobacco have been exhausted, but not
being satisfied from his own experiments of the
superiority of hemp, in that form, to his brother
Jonathan’s tobacco, he therefore adheres to the
latter. He considers hemp an excellent thing
when twisted into a good hawser, but does not like
it as “ twist” in the masticatory acceptation of the
term ; nor does he at all admire the twist of Ben
Battle, when
“ Round his melancholy neck
A rope he did entwine,
And for his second time in life,
Enlisted in the line.
“ One end he tied around a beam,
And then removed his pegs ;
And as his legs were off, of course
He soon was off his legs.
“ And there he hung till he was dead
As any nail in town ;
For though distress had cut him up,
It could not cut him down.”
Hemp is one of those plants which adapts itself
well to any climate : there is scarce a country in
Europe where it cannot, or might not, be cultivated.
From Poland and Bussia in the North, to Italy in
the South, the fibre is supplied to our markets.
In North America it is grown for its fibre, and
in South America for its narcotic properties.
Throughout Africa, it may be found chiefly as an
article for the pipe. In most of Asia it is known,
and it has been cultivated in Australia. Thus, in
its distribution, it may now be considered as almost
universal.
Twenty-five centuries ago, Herodotus wrote of
its cultivation by the Scythians : — “ They have a
NErENTHES.
215
sort of hemp growing in this country very like
flax, except in thickness and height; in this respect
the hemp is far superior — it grows both spon-
taneously and from cultivation, and from it the
Thracians make garments very like linen, nor
Avould any one who is not well skilled in such
matters distinguish whether they are made of flax
or hemp; but a person who has never seen this
hemp, would think the garment was made of flax.”
Then follows a description of the use of the hemp
as a narcotic : “ The Scythians, transported with
the vapour, shout aloud.” Antiquity is in favour
of this narcotic, and its use for that purpose before
any other, except perhaps the poppy, was known,
or at least of those now in use. The nepenthes of
Homer has been supposed to have been this plant,
or one of its products. The use of hemp had
become so general amongst the Homans at the
time of Pliny, that they commonly made ropes and
cordage of it. The practice of chewing the leaves
to produce intoxication existed in India in very
early ages, whence it was carried to Persia, and
before the middle of the thirteenth century, this
custom was adopted in Egypt, but chiefly by per-
sons of the lower orders.
The narcotic properties of hemp become con-
centrated m a resinous juice, which in certain sea-
sons and in tropical countries exudes, and concretes
on the leaves, slender stems, and flowers. This
constitutes the base of all the hemp preparations
to which all the powers of the drug are attributable!
in Central India, the hemp resin called churrus , is
collected during the hot season in the following
manner. Men clad in leathern dresses run through
the hemp fields, brushing through the plants with
all possible violence ; the soft resin adheres to the
leather and is subsequently scraped off and
kneaded into balls, which sell at from five to
216
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
six rupees the seer, or about five or six shillings
per pound. A still finer kind, the momeca or
waxen churrus, is collected by the hand in Nepaul,
and sells for nearly double the price of the ordi-
nary kind. Dr. McKinnon says — “ In Nepaul, the
leathern attire is dispensed with, and the resin is
collected on the skin of naked coolies.” In Persia
the churrus is obtained by pressing the resinous
plant on coarse cloths, and then scraping it from
these and melting it in a pot with a little warm
water. Mirza considers the churrus of Herat the
most powerful of all the varieties of the drag. The
hemp resin, when pure, is of a blackish grey colour,
with a fragrant narcotic odour, and a slightly
warm, bitterish, acrid taste.
The dried hemp plant which has flowered, and
from which the resin has been removed, is called in
India gunjeh. It sells at from twelve annas to a
rupee the seer, or from ninepence to a shilling per
pound, in the Calcutta bazaars. It is sold chiefly
for smoking, in bundles two feet long and three
inches in diameter, containing twenty-four plants.
The colour is dusky green, the odour agreeably
narcotic, the whole plant resinous and adhesive to
the touch.
The larger leaves and capsules without the
stalks, are called Bang, Subjee, or Sidhee in India,
and have been brought into the London market
under the name of Guaza. They are used for
making an intoxicating drink, for smoking, and in
the conserve called Majoon. Bang is cheaper than
Gunjeh, and though less powerful, is sold at so low'
a price that for one halfpenny enough cau be pur-
chased to intoxicate an habituated person.
mes chiefly
extensively
loot. The
natives cut the plant when in flower, allow it to
The Gunjeh consumed in Bengal cc
from Mirzapore and Ghazeepur, being
cultivated near Gwalior and in Tir
NEPENTHES.
217
dry for three days, and then lay it in bundles
averaging two pounds each which are distributed
to the licensed dealers. The best kinds are brought
from Gwalior and Bhurtpore, and it is cultivated
of good quality in gardens around Calcutta.
The Majoon or hemp confection, is a compound
of sugar, butter, flour, milk, and bang. The mass
is divided into small lozenge-shaped pieces ; one
dram will intoxicate a beginner, three drams one
experienced in its use. The taste is sweet and
odour agreeable. Most carnivorous animals will eat
it greedily, and very soon become ludicrously drunk,
but seldom suffering any worse consequences.
The confection called el mogen in use amongst
the Moors appears to be similar to, if not identical
with, the majoon of India.
The ancient Saracens and modern Arabs in some
parts of Turkey and generally throughout Syria,
use preparations of hemp still known by the name
of haschisch or Hashash. M. Adolph Stuze, the
court . apothecary at Bucharest, thus describes the
haschisch, by which general name all intoxicating
drugs whose chief constituent is hemp, are well
known all over the East. The tops and all the
tender part of the hemp plant are collected after
flowering, dried and kept for use. There are
several methods of using it.
I. Boiled in fat, butter, or oil, with a little water ■
the filtered product is employed in all kinds of
pastry.
II. Powdered for smoking. Five or ten grains
of the powder are smoked from a common pipe
with ordinary tobacco, probably the leaf of a
species of Lobelia (Tombuki) possessing strong
narcotic properties.
III. Formed with tragacanth mucilage into
pastiles, which are placed upon a pipe and smoked
in similar doses.
218
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
IV. Made into an electuary with dates or figs
and honey. This preparation is of a dark brown
or almost black colour.
V. Another electuary is prepared of the same
ingredients, with the addition of spices, cloves, cin-
namon, pepper, amber, and musk. This preparation
is used as an aphrodisiac.
The confection most in use among the Arabs is
called Daivamese. This is mingled with other
stimulating substances, so as to administer to the
sensual gratifications, which appear to be the
summum bonum of oriental existence.
The haschisch extract is about the consistence of
syrup, and is of a dark greenish colour, with a
narcotic odour, and a bitter, unpleasant taste.
A famous heretical sect among the Mahometans
bore the name of Assassins, and settled in Persia
in 1090. In Syria they possessed a large tract of
land among the mountains of Lebanon. They
assassinated Lewis of Bavaria in 1213, were con-
quered by the Tartars in 1257, and extirpated in
1272. Their chief assumed the title of “ Ancient
of the Mountain.” These men, some authorities
inform us, were called Hascliiscliins because the
use of the haschish was common among them in
the performance of certain rites, and that the
ancient form has been corrupted into that now in
use. M. de Sacy states that the word “ assassin ”
has been derived from the Arabic name of
hemp. It has also been declared, that during the
wars of the Crusades, certain of the Saracen army
while in a state of intoxication from the use of the
drug, rushed madly into the Christian camp, com-
mitting great havoc, without themselves having
any fear of death, and that these men were called
Hashasheens , whence has arose our word “ assassin.”
The term “ hashash ” says Mr. Lane, signifies “ a
smoker or an eater of hemp,” and is an appellation of
NEPENTHES.
219
obloquy ; noisy and riotous people are often aallecl
“hashasheen,” which is the plural of that appella-
tion, and the origin of our word “assassin.”
Benjamin of Tudela says, “In the vicinity of
Lebanon reside the people called Assassins, who do
not believe in the tenets of Mahommedanism, but
in those of one whom they consider like unto the
Prophet Kharmath. They fulfil whatever he com-
mands them, whether it he a matter of life or death.
He goes by the name of Sheikh-al-Hashishin, or,
their old man, by whose command all the acts of
these mountaineers are regulated. The Assassins
are. faithful to one another, by the command of
their old man, and make themselves the dread
of every one, because their devotion leads them
gladly to risk their lives, and to kill even kings,
when commanded.
In the centre of the Persian, as well as the
Assyrian territory of the Assassins, that is to say,
both at Alarnut and Massiat, were situated, in a
space surrounded by walls, splendid gardens — true
eastern paradises — there were flower-beds, and
thickets of fruit trees, intersected by canals ; shady
walks and verdant glades, where the sparkling
stream bubbles at every step ; bowers of roses and
vineyards luxurious halls, and porcelain kiosks,
adorned with Persian carpets and Grecian stuffs
where drinking vessels of gold, silver, and crystal
glittered on trays of the same costly materials •
charming maidens and handsome boys, black-eyed
and seductive as the houris and boys of Mahom-
med s paradise, soft as the cushions on which they
reposed, and intoxicating as the wine which thev
presented; the music of the harp was mingled
with the songs of birds, and the melodious tones of
tlie songstress harmonised with the murmur of the
nnTi L~eK?ffhinS breathed PWe> raptae,
220
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
A youth who was deemed worthy, by his strength
and resolution, to be initiated into the Assyrian
service, was invited to the table and conversation
of the grand master or grand prioi*; he was then
intoxicated with henbane (haschish) and carried
into the garden, which, on awakening, he believed
to be paradise. Everything around him, the
houris in particular, contributed to confirm his
delusion. After he had experienced as much of
the pleasures of paradise — which the prophet has
promised to the blessed — as his strength would
admit, after quaffing enervating delight from the
eyes of the houris and intoxicating wine from the
glittering goblets, he sank into the lethargy pro-
duced by debility and the opiate, on awakening
from which, after a few horns, he again found
himself by the side of his superior. The latter
endeavoured to convince him that corporeally he
had not left his side, but that spiritually he had
been wrapped into paradise, and had then enjoyed
a foretaste of the bliss which awaits the faithful,
who devote their lives to the service of the faith
and the obedience of their chief. Thus did these
infatuated youths blindly dedicate themselves as the
tools of murder, and eagerly sought an opportunity
to sacrifice their terrestrial, in order to become the
partakers of eternal life.
To this day, Constantinople and Cairo show
what an incredible charm opium with henbane
exerts on the drowsy indolence of the Turk and the
fiery imagination of the Arab, and explains the
fury with which those youths the -enjoyment of
these rich pastiles (haschish), and the confidence
produced in them, that they are able to undertake
anything or everything. From the use of these
pastiles they were called Hashishin (herb-eaters,)
which, in the mouths of Greeks aud Crusaders, has
been transformed into the word Assassin, and £S
NEPENTHES.
221
synonymous with murder, has immortalized the
history of the order in all the languages of Europe.*
This is the account given by Marco Polo, as
repeated by Yon Hammer in his “ History of the
Assassins.” To this let us further add M. Sylvestre
de Sacy’s, from a memoir read before the Institute
of France: — “I have no doubt whatever, that
denomination was given to the Ismaelites, on
account of their using an intoxicating liquid or
preparation, still known in the East by the name
of hashish. Hemp leaves, and some other parts
of the same vegetable, form the basis of this pre-
paration, which is employed in different ways,
either in liquid or in the form of pastiles, mixed with
saccharine substances, or even in fumigation. The
intoxication produced by the haschish, causes an
ecstasy similar to that which the orientals produce
by the use of opium ; and from the testimony of a
great number of travellers, we may affirm that
those who fall into this state of delirium, imagine
they enjoy the ordinary objects of their desires, and
taste felicity at a cheap rate. It has not been
forgotten that when the French army was in Egypt
the General-in-chief Napoleon, was obliged to pro-
hibit, under the severest penalties, the sale and
use of these pernicious substances, the habit of
which has made an imperious want in the inhabi-
tants of Egypt, particularly the lower orders.
Those who indulge in this custom are to this day
called Hashishin, and these two different expres-
sions explain why the Ismaelites were called by
the historians of the Crusades sometimes Assissini
and sometimes Assassini.
As an instance of the blind submission of these
devoted followers to the will of their chief, it is
narrated that J elaleddin Melekshah, Sultan of the
♦Yon Hammer’s History of the Assassins.
222
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Seljuks, having sent an ambassador to the Sheikh
of the Assassins, to require his obedience and
fealty, the son of Sahab called into his presence
several of the initiated. Beckoning to one of them,
he said, “ Kill thyself,” and he instantly stabbed
himself: to another, “Throw thyself down from
the rampart;” the next instant he lay a mutilated
corpse in the moat. On this the grand master,
turning to the envoy, who was unnerved by terror,
said — “In this way am I obeyed by seventy thou-
sand faithful subjects. Be that my answer to thy
master.”
From comparison of these notes, it will therefore
appear that the order of Hashishans used the
haschish, as a means whereby to induce young men
to devote themselves to their cause. That it was
used by the chief for its intoxicating and illusionary
properties, probably without the knowledge of the
members of the order, but as a secret, the divul-
ging of which would have defeated his design, and
that it was not indulged in habitually by the
order ; but that from its use in these initiatory rites
they came to be called Haschishans, afterwards
corrupted into Assassins. And ultimately, that
their murderous acts procured for all those wrho in
future times imitated them, the honour of their
name.
But to return from this long digression, we still
meet with the name of Haschisch and Hashaskeen
in Egypt, and also with preparations of hemp,
which are believed as of old to transport those who
indulge therein to scenes such as paradise alone is
supposed to furnish.
“ Where’er his eye could reach,
Fair structures, rainbow-hued, arose ;
And rich pavilions through the opening woods
Gleamed from their waving curtains sunny gold ;
And winding through the verdant vale,
NEPENTHES.
223
Flowed streams of liquid light,
And fluted cypresses reared up
Their living obelisks,
And broad-leaved plane trees in long colonnades,
O’er arched delightful walks,
Where round their trunks the thousand-tendril’d vine
Wound up, and hung the boughs with greener wreaths,
And clusters not their own.”
M. Rouyer, of the Egyptian Commission, says,
with the leaves and tops, collected before ripening,
the Egyptians prepare a conserve, which serves as
the base of the berch , the diasmouJc , and the
hemaouy. Hemp leaves reduced to powder and
incorporated with honey or stirred with water,
constitute the berch of the poorer classes.
Dr. Livingstone found hemp in use among the
natives of 'Southern Africa under the name of
mutokuane.
With the Hottentots it is known as Dacha , and
another plant used for similar purposes among
them is called the wild Dagga or Dacha. The use
of hemp as a narcotic appears to he very general
in all parts of Africa.
The D’amba possesses numerous native titles,
but it is only understood by those distinctive terms
which the negroes give it in their respective coun-
tries. By the people of Ambriz and Musula it is
pronounced as D yambah, while to the various
races in Kaffraria, it is more generally known
under the Hottentot name of Dakka or Dacha.
This plant is extensively cultivated by the Dongos
Damarfis, and other tribes to the southward of
Benguela. Among the Ambundas or aborigines
of Angola, the dried plant is duly appreciated
not only for its narcotic effects, but likewise on
account ot some medicinal virtues which it has
been reputed to enjoy. The markets of St.
Baul de Loanda are mostly supplied from the
224 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Dongos, and other adjacent tribes, and from St.
Salvador, and the towns in the vicinity of Upper
Kongo.
The mode in which it is prepared for sale, con-
sists in carefully separating from the leaves and
seeds, the larger stalks, retaining only the smaller
stems, which are compressed into a conical mass,
varying from two to four inches in diameter, and
from one to two feet in length, the whole being
covered by some dried vegetable, firmly secured by
thin withes. The substance thus manufactured is
ordinarily employed for the purpose of smoking,
and is endowed with powerful stimulant and in-
toxicating principles, consequently it is propor-
tionately prized by those nations who are familiar
with those peculiar qualities, and is probably
viewed more in the light of a luxury owing to the
absence of all other sources of excitement, for
which, perhaps, it was the only available substi-
tute.
The Zulu Kaffirs and Delagoans of the South
Eastern Coast use it under the same or like names.
Amongst the former the herb is powdered and used
as snuff. The true tobacco is known amongst them,
and is grown to a certain extent, but the use of hemp
both for smoking and snuffing, is far more
commom. Perhaps, requiring' less cultivation, it
suits best their indolent habits.
The most eminent of the Persian and Arabian
authors refer the origin of hemp intoxication to
the natives of Hindostan. But few traces, how-
ever, of its early use can be found in any part of
India.
In the “ Rajniguntu,” a treatise on materia
niedica, the date of which is vaguely estimated at
about six hundred years ago, there is a clear account
of this drug. The names under which it is there
known are, “ Bijoya,” “ Ujoya,” and “ Joya,” mean-
NEPENTHES.
225
mg' promoters of success; “ Brijputta? or the
strengthener ; “ Chapola,” the causer of a reeling
gait ; “ Ununda,” or the laughter-moving ; “ Hur-
' the exciter of sexual desire.
sun
In another treatise in Sanscrit, of later date, the
above is repeated ; and in a religious treatise,
called the Hindu Tantra, it is stated that Sidhee
is more intoxicating than wine.
In the fifth chapter of the Institutes of Menu,
Brahmins are prohibited to use Pabandoo or
onions, Gunjara or Gunjah, and such condiments
as have strong and pungent scents.
Persian and Arabic writers give, however, a
fuller and more particular account of the early use
of this substance. Makrisi treats of the hemp in
Ins description of the ancient pleasure-grounds in
t . . vicinity of Cairo. This quarter, after many
vicissitudes, is now a mass of ruins. In it was
situated a cultivated valley, named Djoneina, which
was the theatre of all conceivable abominations.
It was famous, above all, for the sale of the
Hasheesha or Haschisch, which is still consumed
by certain of the populace, and from the con-
sumption of which sprung- those excesses which
gave rise to the name of “assassin,” in the time of
the Crusades. This author states that the oldest
work in which hemp is noticed is a treatise by
Hassan, who states that in the year of the Hegira
608, the Sheikh Djafar Shirazi, a monk of the
order of Haider, learned from his master, the history
of the discovery of hemp. Haider, the chief of
ascetics and self-chasteners, lived in rigid privation
on a mountain between Nishabor and Rama, where
be established a monastery of Fakirs. Ten years
e had spent in this retreat, without leaving it for
a moment tifi one burning summer’s day, when he
parted a one to the fields. On his return, an air
joy and gaiety was imprinted on his counte-
226 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
nance ; he received the visits of his brethren, and
encouraged their conversation. On being ques-
tioned, lie stated that, struck by the aspect of a
plant which danced in the heat as if with joy,
while all the rest of the vegetable creation was
torpid, he had gathered and eaten of its leaves.
He led his companions to the spot — all ate, and
all were similarly excited. A tincture of the
hemp-leaf in wine or spirits, seems to -have been the
favourite formula in which the Sheikh Haider
indulged himself. An Arab poet sings of Haider’s
emerald cup — an evident allusion to the rich green
colour of the tincture of the drug. The Sheikh
survived the discovery ten years, and subsisted
chiefly on this herb, and on his death his disciples,
by his desire, planted an arbour in which it grew
about his tomb. From this saintly sepulchre, the
knowledge of the effects of hemp is stated to have
spread into Khorasan. In Chaldea it was unknown
until the Mahommedan year 728, during the reign
of the Caliph Mostansir Billah. The kings of
Ormus and Bahrein then introduced it into Chaldea,
Syria, Egypt, and Turkey.
In Khorasan, it seems that the date of the use
of hemp is considered, notwithstanding the fore-
going, to be far prior to Haider’s era. Biraslan,
an Indian pilgrim, contemporary with Cosroes
(whoever this same. Cosroes may be, for it is a
name often occurring, and applied as Cresar or
Czar to more than one generation), is stated to
have introduced and diffused the custom through
Khorasan and Yemen.
In 780 m.e. very severe ordinances were passed
in Egypt against this practice of indulging in
hemp. The Hjoneina garden was rooted up, and
all those convicted of the use of the drug were
.subjected to the extraction of their teeth. But in
792 m.e. the custom re-established itself with more
NEPENTHES.
227
than original vigour. A vivicl picture is given by
Makrisi of the vice and its victims : — “As a general
consequence, great corruption of sentiments and
manners ensued, modesty disappeared, every base
and evil passion was openly indulged in, and
nobility of external form alone remained to those
infatuated beings.” In the “ Sisters of Old,” some
further memoranda will be found of the early his-
tory of this extraordinary narcotic.
Not only was its intoxicating power, but many
other properties — some true, some fabulous — were
known at the above periods. The contrary quali-
ties of the plant — its stimulating and sedative
effects — are dwelt on : — “ They at first exhilarate
the spirits, cause cheerfulness, give colour to the
complexion, bring on intoxication, excite the ima-
gination into the most rapturous ideas, produce
thirst, increase appetite, excite concupiscence ;
afterwards, the sedative effects begin to preside,
the spirits sink, the vision darkens and weakens,
and madness, melancholy, fearfulness, dropsy, and
such like distempers are the sequel.” Mirza Abdul
Kussac says of it : “ It produces a ravenous appe-
tite and constipation, arrests the secretions, except
that of the liver, excites wild imagining, a sensation
of ascending, forgetfulness of all that happens
uring its use, and such mental exaltation that the
beholders attribute it to supernatural inspiration.”
To which he also adds: “The inexperienced, on
first taking it, are often senseless for a day, some
go mad, others are known to die.”
Whether for the purpose of increasing its power,
or for what other reason we know not, in India the
seeds of Datura are mixed with hemp, in com-
pounding some of the confections, as well as the
powder of nux vomica. This is, however, excep-
tional, neither of these substances entering into the
composition of the Majoon of Bengal any more
228
THE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
than does corrosive sublimate form a proportion
of the pills in general use by the opium-eater of
Constantinople.
It is a custom with some people to blame,
without limit, those who indulge in nervous stimu-
lants of a nature differing from their own, while
serving the same purpose. Thus, one who thinks
that Providence never designed his corporeal frame
to become a perambulating beer-barrel, eschews all
alcoholic drinks, but at the same time eschews not
the abuse of those who think fit to indulge in a
little wine for their stomach’s sake, or a draught of
porter for their bodily infirmities. These same
abstainers still adhere to their tea and coffee, and
though harmless enough as these dietetics may be,
yet they in part serve the purposes for which others
employ alcoholic stimulants. An eminent chemist
states that persons accustomed to the use of wine,
when they take cod liver oil, soon lose the taste
and inclination for wine. The Temperance So-
cieties should therefore canonise cod liver oil.
It is true that thousands have lived without a
knowledge of tea or coffee ; and daily experience
teaches, that under certain circumstances they may
he dispensed with without disadvantage to the
merely animal vital functions. “But it is an
error,” writes Liebig, u certainly, to conclude from
this that they may be altogether dispensed with in
reference to their effects ; and it is a question
whether, if we had no tea and no coffee, the popular
instinct would not seek for and discover the means
of replacing them. Science, which accuses us of
so much in these respects, will have, in the first
place, to ascertain whether it depends on the sensual
and sinful inclinations merely, that every people
of the globe has appropriated some such means of
acting on the nervous life — from the shore of the
Pacific, where the Indian retires from life for days,
NEPENTHES.
229
in order to enjoy the bliss of intoxication with
coca, to the Arctic regions, where the Kamtschat-
dale and Koriakes prepare an intoxicating beverage
from a poisonous mushroom. We think it, on the
contrary, highly probable, not to say certain, that
the instinct of man, feeling certain blanks, certain
wants of the intensified life of our times, which
cannot be satisfied or filled up by mere quantity,
has discovered, in these products of vegetable life,
the true means of giving to his food the desired
and necessary quality. Every substance, in so far
as it has a share in the vital processes, acts in a
certain way on our nervous system, on the sensual
appetites, and the will of man.” So, although
some have no tobacco, they find in the use of hemp
or opium a substitute for that vegetable which
nature has denied them. There can be no doubt
that had we never become acquainted with tobacco
or gin, we should have discovered and used some
other narcotic in the place of the one, and a no less
fiery and injurious form of alcohol instead of the
other. To talk of the degraded Chinese as bar-
barians, indulging to an awful extent in opium,
and the ignorant Hindoo and Arab, as in madness
revelling in debauches of hemp confections, is an
evidence of the workings of the same narrow-
minded prejudices under which some who abstain
from alcoholic stimulants rail and rave at those
whose feelings and habits lay in an opposite direc-
tion, charging upon the enjoyments of the many
the excesses of the few. Friend Brooklove, drink
thy tea, and re-consider thy verdict !
CHAPTEK XYI.
GUNJA AT HOME.
« Oh, kind and blissful mockery, when the manacled felon, on his
hed of straw, is transported to the home of his innocent boyhood, and
the pining and forsaken fair, is happy with her fond and faithful lover
— and the poor man hath abundance — and the dying man is in joyous
health — and despair hath hope — and those that want are as though they
wanted not— and they who weep are as though they wept not. — But
the fashion of these things passeth away,”
“ At home ” may mean, that quarter-day has passed
with all its terrors, accounts settled, hills filed, tax- :
collectors satisfied, and the horizon of finance clear
and cloudless. There is no fear of duns or doctors, ■■
and John Thomas announces “at home.” Or it
may mean, that having enrobed oneself in morning
gown and slippers, filled and lighted our pipe,
seated ourselves in an easy chair, placed our feet
firmly and contentedly on the hearthrug, and com-
menced enveloping ourselves in a cloud like that
in which Juno conveyed the vanquished Paris
from the field to the presence of the fairest of the
daughters of Greece, we feel, with reference to our-
selves, and in despite of the rest of the world— “ at
home.” Or it may mean, that having made the
“ grand tour,” crossed the desert on a camel, or
seen the lions of Singapore, Hong-Kong, and .
GUXJA AT HOME.
231
Shanghai, we are once more on our native soil,
and no longer fear Italian banditti or Turkish
plague, sandstorms or crocodiles, Chinese poisoners
or bow-wow pie, that we breathe again, and are
u at home.” Or it may mean half-a-dozen things
beside. But to see a man at home, is to see him
in all the gradations of light and shade, of sunlight
and shadow, brighter and deeper, than when he
covers his head and walks abroad to look at the
sun.
Gunja is not at home in Europe. Notwith-
standing the efforts made in England and France
to introduce the Indian hemp into medical prac-
tice, and the asseverations of medical practitioners
in British India, who have extolled its power as a
narcotic and anodyne, it has never settled upon
European soil. The drugs already in use to pro-
duce sleep and alleviate pain, still occupy their old
popularity, undisturbed by the visit of a stranger,
who, finding the reception too cold, has retreated.
In France, certain experiments were made, and by
leave of Dr. Moreau, we shall take advantage of
them, and of the J ournal of Psychological Medicine,
to ascertain the effects of this drug on those who
have used it.
Since the days of Prosper Albinus, both learned
and unlearned have listened with wonder to the
marvellous effects of those “drowsy syrups of the
East,” when —
“ Quitting earth’s dull sphere, the soul exulting soars
To each bright realm by fancy conjured up,
And clothed in hues of beauty, there to mix
With laughing spirits on the moonlit green ;
Or rove with angels through the courts of heaven,
And catch the music flowing from their tongues.”
In Asia Minor an extract from the Indian hemp
has been from time immemorial swallowed with
232
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the greatest avidity, as the means of producing the
most ecstatic delight, and affording a gratification
even of a higher character than that which is
known there to follow on the use of opium. A
small dose seems only to influence the moral facul-
ties, giving to the intellectual powers greater
vivacity, and momentary vigour. A larger dose
seems to awaken a new sensibility, and call into
action dormant capabilities of enjoyment. Not
only is the imagination excited, but an intensity of
energy pervades all the passions and affections of
the mind. Memory not only recurs with facility
t°. the past, but incorporates delusions with it, for
with whatever accuracy the facts may be remem-
beied, they are painted with glowing colours, and
made sources of pleasure. The senses become in-
stillments also of deception, the eye and the ear,
not only are alive to every impression, but they
delude the reason, and disturb the brain, by the
delusions to which they become subject. Gaiety,
or a soothing melancholy, may be produced, as
pleasant or disagreeable sights or sounds are
presented.
So much alive are the swallowers of hascliisch
to the effect of external objects upon the perceptive
powers, that they generally retire to the depths of
the harem, where the almas, or females educated
for this purpose, add, by the charms of music and
the dance, to the false perceptions which the
disordered condition of the brain gives rise to.
Insensibly the reason and the volition are entirely
overcome, and yield themselves up to the fantastic
imagery which affords such delight. Can we
wonder at such people producing and admiring all
the extravagancies of the “ Arabian Nights’ Enter-
tainments ? ” Can we be surprised at their belief
in a paradise for the future, which is at best but a
voluptuary’s dream ?
GUNJA AT HOME.
233
At the commencement of the intoxication pro-
duced by the hemp, there is the most perfect
consciousness of the state of the disordered facul-
ties. There exists the power of analyzing the
sensations, but the mind seems unwilling to resume
its guiding and controlling power. It is conscious
that all is but a dream, and yet feels a delight in
perfect abandonment to the false enjoyment. It
will not attempt to awaken from the reverie, but
rather to indulge in it, to the utmost extent of
which it is capable. There seems an ideal existence,
but it is too pleasurable to shake off — it penetrates
into the inmost recesses of the body — it envelopes
it. The dreams and phantoms of the imagination
appear part of the living being ; and yet, during
all this, there remains the internal conviction that
the real world _ is abandoned, for a fictitious and
imaginative existence, which has charms too de-
lightful to resist. To the extreme rapidity with
which ideas, sensations, desires, rush across the
brain, may be attributed the singular retardation
of time, which appears to be lengthened out to
eternity. Similar effects, proceeding, doubtless,
from the same or similar causes, are noticed in the
Confessions of an Opium-Eater,” wherein he
speaks of minutes becoming as ages.
Dr. Moreau gives singular illustrations of this
peculiar state. On one occasion he took a dose of
the haschisch previously to his going to the opera,
and he fancied that he was upwards of three hours
finding his way through the passage leading to it.
M. de baulcy partook of a dose of haschisch, and
when he recovered, it appeared to him that he had
been under its influence for a hundred years at
Whilst an indescribable sensation of happiness
takes possession of the individual, and the joy and
exultation are felt to be almost too much to be
234 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
borne, the mind seems totally at a loss to account
for it, or to explain from what particular source it
springs. There is a positive sensation of universal
contentment, but it is vain to attempt to explain
the nature of the enjoyment. The peculiar motion
appears to be wholly inexplicable. A sense of
something unusual pervades every fibre, but all
attempts to analyze or describe it are declared to
be in vain. After a certain period of time the
system appears to be no longer capable of further
happiness, the sensibility seems thoroughly ex-
hausted, a gentle sense of lassitude, physical and
moral, gradually succeeds — an apathy, a careless-
ness, an absolute calm, from which no exterior
object can arouse the torpid frame. These are the
great characteristics of this stage. The most
alarming or afflicting intelligence is listened to
without exciting any emotion. The mind is
thoroughly absorbed, the perception seems blunted,
the senses scarcely convey any impression to the
brain. A re-action has taken place, yet the col-
lapse is unattended with any disagreeable feeling.
The energies are all prostrate, yet there are none
of those depressing symptoms which attend the
last stages of ordinary intoxication. All that is
described is an ineffable tranquillity of soul, during
which it is perfectly inaccessible to sorrow or pain.
“The haschisch eater is happy,” continues Dr.
Moreau, J‘ not like the gourmand, or the famished
man when satisfying his appetite, or the voluptuary
in the gratification of his amative desires ; but like
him who hears tidings which fill him with joy, or
like the miser counting his treasures, the gambler
who is successful at play, or the ambitious man
who is intoxicated with success.”
All those who have tried the experiment do not
speak in such glowing terms of the results. M.
de Saulcey, who tried it at Jerusalem, says : — “ The
GUNJA AT HOME.
235
experiment, to which we had recourse for passing
our time, turned out so utterly disagreeable that I
may safely say, not one of us will ever he tempted
to try it again. The haschisch is an abominable
poison which the dregs of the population alone
drink and smoke in the East, and which we were
silly enough to take, in too large a dose, on the
eve of New Year’s-day. We fancied we were going
to have an evening of enjoyment, hut we nearly
died through our imprudence. As I had taken a
larger dose of this pernicious drug than my com-
panions, I remained almost insensible for more
than twenty-four hours, after which I found myself
completely broken down with nervous spasms, and
incoherent dreams.”
It is not uncommon for illusions and hallucina-
tions to occur during the early stage, when the
senses have lost their power of communicating
faithfully to the brain the impressions they re-
ceive.
Dr. Auber, in his work on the plague, narrates
various instances of delusions occurring in the
course of his administering hemp preparations as
a relief in that disease. An officer in the navy
saw puppets dancing on the roof of his cabin —
another believed that he was transformed into the
piston of a steam-engine — a young artist imagined
that his body was endowed with such elasticity as
to enable him to enter into a bottle, and remain
there at his ease. Other writers speak of indi-
viduals similarly affected : one of a man who
believed himself changed entirely into brittle glass,
and in constant fear of being cracked or broken,
or having a finger or toe knocked off ; another, of
a youth who believed himself growing and expand-
ing to such an extent, that he deemed it inevitable
that the room in which he was would be too small
to contain him, and that he must, during the
236
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
expansion, force up the ceiling into the room above.
Dr. Moreau, on one occasion, believed that he was
melting away by the heat of the sun, at another,
that his whole body was inflated like a balloon,
that he was enabled to elevate himself, and vanish
in the air. The ideas that generally presented
themselves to him of these illusions were, that
objects wore the semblance of phantasmagoric
figures, small at first, then gradually enlarging,
then suddenly becoming enormous and vanishing.
Sometimes these figures were subjects of alarm to
him. A little hideous dwarf, clothed in the dress
of the thirteenth century, haunted him for some
time. Aware of the delusion, he entreated that
the object which kept up the illusion should be
removed — these were a hat and a coat upon a
neighbouring table. An old servant of seventy-
one, was, upon another occasion, represented by his
eye to the brain as a young lady, adorned with all
the grace of beauty, and his white hair and
wrinkles transformed into irresistible attractions.
A friend who presented him with a glass of lemo-
nade was pictured to his disordered imagination as
a furnace of hot charcoal. Sometimes the happi-
ness was interrupted by delusions that affrighted
him. Thus, having indulged himself with his
accustomed dose, every object awoke his terror and
alarm, which neither the conviction of . his . own
mind nor the soothing explanations of his friends
could diminish, and he was for a considerable
length of time under the most fearful impressions.
“ Through the darkness spread
Around, the gaping earth then vomited
Legions of foul and ghastly shapes, which
Hung upon his flight.”
These are the immediate effects produced by this
most extraordinary substance. There are others,
GUNJA AT HOME.
237
however, still more singular, which have attracted
the attention of travellers, and become the objects
of intense curiosity. These are of a nature un-
known in connection with any other substance, and
have formed the basis of numerous marvellous
narrations, that have astonished even the incredu-
lous. Those who have seen the fearful symptoms
betrayed during delirium tremens, and have heard
the sufferers declare that they saw before them
genii, fairies, devils, know how the senses may
become the source of delusion, and hence may
judge to what a disordered state of the intellect may
lead. When the brain has once become disordered
by the use of the narcotic hemp, it becomes ever
afterwards liable to hallucinations and delusions,
unlike thqse produced by anything else, save in-
toxicating liquours after an attack of delirium
tremens. The mind then believes that it sees
visions, and beholds beings with whom it can con-
verse. ' The phenomena gradually develop them-
selves, until illusions take the place of realities, and
hold firm possession of the mind, which would
seem on all other points to be healthy and vigorous
but on this point, insane. So firm and so fixed’
becomes the belief, that neither argument con-
vinces, nor ridicule shakes, the individual from his
faith, in which a prejudiced or too credulous nature
confirms him but the more.
. The Arabs, especially those of Egypt, are exceed-
ingly superstitious, and there is scarce a person
even among the better informed, who does not
believe in the existence of genii. According to
their belief there are three species of intelligent
beings, namely, angels, who were created of light
genii, who were created of fire, and men, created of
earth The prevailing opinion is that Sheytans
(devils) are rebellious genii. It is said that God
created the genii two thousand years before Adam,
238
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
and that there are believers and infidels among
them as among men. It is held that they are
aerial animals with transparent bodies, which can
assume any form. That they are subject to death,
but live many ages. The following are traditions
of the Prophet concerning them. The genii are of
various shapes, having the forms of serpents, scor-
pions, lions, wolves, jackals, &c. They are of three
kinds, one on the land, one in the sea, one in the
air. They consist of forty troops, each tioop con-
sisting of six hundred thousand. They are of
three °sorts, one has wings and fly ; another, are
snakes and dogs ; and the third move about from
place to place like men. Domestic snakes on the
same authority, are asserted to be genii. If ser-
pents or scorpions intrude themselxes upon the
faithful at prayers, the Prophet orders that they be
killed, but on other occasions, first to admonish
them to depart, and then if they remained to kill
them. It is related that Aisheeh, the prophets
wife having killed a serpent in her chamber, was
alarmed by a dream, and fearing that it might
have been a Muslim Jinnee, as it did not enter her
chamber when she was undressed, gave in alms, as
an expiation, about three hundred pounds, the
mice of the blood of a Muslim. The genii appear
to mankind most commonly in the shapes of ser-
pents, dogs, cats, or human beings. In the last
case, they are sometimes of the stature of nien, and
sometimes of a size enormously gigantic. If good,
they are generally resplendeutly handsome, it evil,
horribly hideous. They became invisible at plea-
sure (by a rapid extension or rarefaction of the
particles which compose them) or suddenly dis-
appear in the earth or air, or through a solid wall.
The Sheykh Ivhaleel El Medabighee related the
following anecdote of a Jinnee. He had, lie said
a favourite black cat, which always slept at the
GUNJA AT HOME.
239
foot of his musquito curtain. Once, at midnight,
he heard a knocking at the door of his house, and
his cat went and opened the hanging shutter of
the window, and called, “ Who is there ?” A
voice replied, “I am such a one,” (mentioning
a strange name) £t the jinnee, open the door.”
“ The lock,” said the Sheykh’s cat, “ has had the
the name pronounced upon it.” It is the custom
to say, -£(In the name of God, the compassionate,
the merciful,” on locking the door, covering bread,
laying down their clothes at night, and on other
occasions, and this they believe protects their
property from genii. “ Then throw me down,”
said the voice, “ two cakes of bread.” “ The
bread-basket,” answered the cat at the window,
“ has had the name pronounced upon it.’’ ‘‘ Well,”
said the stranger, “ at least give me a draught of
water.” But he was answered that the water-jar
had been secured in the same manner, and asked
what he was to do, seeing that he was likely to die
of hunger and thirst. The Sheykh’s cat told him
to go to the. door of the next house, and went there
also himself, and opened the door, and soon after
returned. .Next morning the Sheykh deviated
from a habit which he had constantly observed ;
he ga\ e to the cat half of the fateereh upon which
he breakfasted instead of a little morsel which he
was wont to give, and afterwards said, “ 0 my cat,
thou knowest that I am a poor man ; bring me
then a. little gold,” upon which words the cat
immediately disappeared, and he saw it no more.
Such are the. stories which they believe and narrate
of these genii ; and there is scarce an indulger in
haschisch whose imagination does not lead him to
believe that he has seen or had communication
with some of these beings.
Mr. Lane, translator of the “ Arabian Nights ”
had once a humourous cook addicted to the intoxi-
240 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
eating haschisch, of whom he relates the following
circumstance: — “Soon after he had entered my
service, I heard him, one evening, muttering, and
exclaiming on the stairs as if surprised at some
event, and then politely saying, £ But why are you
sitting here in the draught ? Do me the favour to
come up into the kitchen, and amuse me with your
conversation a little ! ’ The civil address not being
answered, was repeated, and varied several times,
till I called out to the man, and asked him to
whom he was speaking. £ The efreet of a Turkish
soldier/ he replied, ‘ is sitting on the stairs,
smoking his pipe, and refuses to move ; he came
up from the well below ; pray step and see him.’
On my going to the stairs, and telling the servant
that I could see nothing, he only remarked that it
was because I had a clear conscience. My cook
professed to see this efreet frequently after.”
Dr. Moreau enumerates many instances, from
his own immediate followers, of genii seers among
the haschisch eaters. His dragoman, who had
been attached in that capacity to Champollion, the
captain of the vessel, and several sailors, had not
only a firm belief in, but had actually received
visits from genii or efreets, and neither argument
nor ridicule could shake their conviction. The
captain had, on two occasions, seen a jinnee, he
appeared to him under the form of a sheep. On
returning one evening somewhat late to his house,
the captain found a stray sheep bleating with
unusual noise. He took him home, sheared him
for his long fleece, and was about to kill him, when
suddenly the sheep rose up to the height of twenty-
feet, in the form of a black man, and in a voice of
thunder, announced himself as a jinnee.
One of the sailors, Mansour, a man who had
made nearly twenty voyages with Europeans,
recounted his interview with a genius under the
GUNJA AT HOME.
241
guise of a young girl of eight or ten years of age.
He met her in the evening on the banks of the
Nile, weeping deplorably because she had lost her
way. Mans our, touched with compassion, took her
home with him. In the morning he mounted her
on an ass, to take her to her parents. On entering
a grove of palms, he heard behind him some fear-
ful sighs ; on looking round to ascertain the cause,
he saw, to his horror, that the little girl has dis-
mounted, that her lower extremities had become of
an enormous length, resembliug two frightful ser-
pents, which she trailed after her in the sand. Her
arms became lengthened out, her face mounted up
into the skies, black as charcoal, her immense
mouth, armed with crocodile’s teeth, vomited forth
‘ flame. P oor Mansour fell suddenly upon the earth,
where, overcome with terror, he passed the night.
In the morning he crawled home, and two months
of illness attested the fact of disorder of the brain.
Many such tales are recounted, and all told by
the sufferers with the firmest belief, and the most
earnest conviction of their truth ; each, by his own
delusion, strengthening and confirming others.
All those who had seen visions had their minds
diseased through the use of haschisch, wdiile those
who did not indulge in the habit were free from
these extraordinary illusions. These hallucina-
tions seem to be manifested independently of any
then existing affection of the brain, and the indi-
vidual appears, under other circumstances, fitted
tor the usual avocations of life. They may be
only symptoms of a previously disordered intellect
but they may also be the starting point, from
which insanity is developed. In all instances in
which these hallucinations occur, watchfulness is
necessary, since, in the majority of cases they ter-
minate finally m derangement of the brain to the
extent generally denominated madness.
R
242
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Other curious results from the use of this
narcotic are detailed by Dr. 0‘Shaughnessy, as
exhibited by patients in India, to whom he had
prescribed it, in his capacity of medical practitioner,
and other experiments he made.
A dog, to whom some churrm was given, in half
an hour became stupid and sleepy, dozing at inter-'
vals, starting up, wagging his tail as if extremely
contented ; he ate food greedily, on being called he
staggered to and fro, and his countenance assumed
the appearance of utter and helpless drunkenness.
In six hours these symptoms had passed away, and
he was perfectly well and lively.
A patient to whom hemp had been administered,
on a sudden uttered a loud peal of laughter, and
exclaimed, that four spirits were springing with
his bed into the air. Attempts to pacify him were
in vain, his laughter became momentarily more and
more uncontrollable. In a short time he exhibited
symptoms of that peculiar nervous condition,
which mesmerists have of late years made us more
acquainted with, under the name of catalepsy. In
whatever imaginable attitude his arms and legs
were placed, they became rigid and remained.
A waxen figure could not be more pliant or
stationary in each position, no matter how con-
trary to the natural influence of gravity on the
part. A strong stimulant drink was given to him,
and his intoxication led to such noisy exclamations,
that he had to be removed to a separate room,
where he soon became tranquil, in less than an
hour his limbs had gained their natural condition,
and in two hours he said he was perfectly well, and
very hungry.
A rheumatic cooly was subjected to the influence
of half a grain of hemp resin. In two hours the
old gentleman became talkative and musical, told
several stories, and sang songs to a circle of highly
CUJNJA AT HOME.
243
delighted auditors, ate the dinners of two persons,
subscribed for him in the ward, and finally fell
soundly asleep, and so continued until the following
morning. At noon he was perfectly free from
headache, or any unpleasant sequel ; at his request,
the medicine was repeated, and he was indulged
with it for a few days, and then discharged.
A medical pupil took about a quarter of a grain
of the resin in the form of tincture. A shout of
loud and prolonged laughter ushered in the symp-
toms, and a state of catalepsy occurred for two or
three minutes. He then enacted the part of a
Rajah giving orders to his courtiers ; he could re-
cognize none of his fellow students or acquaintances
— all to his mind seemed as altered as his own
condition ; he spoke of many years having passed
since his student's days, described his teachers and
friends with a piquancy Avhich a dramatist would
envy, detailed the adventures of an imaginary
series of years, his travels, his attainment of wealth
and power. He entered on discussions on religious,
scientific, and political subjects, with astonishing
eloquence, and disclosed an extent of knowledge,
reading, and a ready apposite wit, which those who
knew him best were altogether unprepared for.
For three hours and upwards he maintained the
character he at first assumed, and with a degree of
ease and dignity perfectly becoming his high situ-
ation. This scene terminated nearly as abruptly
as it commenced, and no headache, sickness, or
other unpleasant symptoms followed the excess.
AY ithout detailing instances in which its virtues
as a medicinal agent are set forth, or, naming cases
of hydrophobia in which it was given and failed,
or of tetanus in which it was resorted to with
success, we can scarce forbear noticing the fact
that .to an infant only 60 days old, 130 drops of
the tincture had to be given to produce narcotism,
244 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
whilst 10 drops produced those effects in the
student above named, who believed himself an
important Rajah.
The most recent information we have of the
effects of haschisch is supplied by Professor K. D.
Schroff. It relates to a kind called “Birmingi,”
the laughter producer (“macht keif”) obtained
from Bucharest.
This preparation was in the form of tablets,
hard and difficult to break, externally almost black
and smooth, with hut a slight smell. The taste
was neither bitter nor aromatic, but rather insipid.
On prolonged mastication, the very tough mass
became gradually pappy, and eventually dissolved
in the saliva, leaving a crumbling solid substance.
It produced irritation in the throat, when chewed
for a long time.
Dr. Heinrich took ten grains of this preparation
in May, 1859, at about half-past five in the after-
noon. He chewed this quantity for about an hour,
during which it gradually dissolved and was
swallowed; only the insoluble residue, about two
grains, was spit out. Irritation of the throat, and
slight nausea, succeeded. The attempt to smoke
a cigar in the open air had to be given up on
account of dryness and roughness in the throat.
Dr. H. walked into town, and looked at the print-
shops without perceiving any change in himself.
At the end of an hour and a half, about seven
o’clock, he met an acquaintance, to whom he talked
all kinds of nonsensical trash, and made the most
foolish comparisons ; henceforth, everything he
looked at seemed to him ridiculous. This condition
of excitement lasted about twenty minutes, during
which his face and eyes grew redder and redder.
Suddenly a great degree of sadness came over him ;
everything was too narrow for him — he acquired
a disturbed appearance, and became pale. His
GUNJA AT HOME.
245
sadness Increased to a feeling of anxiety, accom-
panied by the sensation as if his blood was flowing
in a boiling state up to his head ; the feeling as if
his body was raised aloft, and as if he was about
to fly up, was particularly characteristic. His
anxiety and weakness overcame him to such a
degree, that he was obliged to collect all the power
of his will, and his companion had to seize him
firmly under the arm, in order to bring him on,
which was done in all haste, as he feared a new
attack, and wished, if possible, to reach a place
where he could be taken care of; but in the course
of three minutes, while he was still walking, the
attack set in with increased violence.
It was only with great difficulty he reached the
Institute — here he immediately drank two pints of
cold water, and washed his head, neck, and arms
with fresh water, on which he became somewhat
better. The improvement, however, lasted only
about five minutes. He sat down on a chair and
felt his pulse, which he found to be very small and
slow, with very long intervals. He was no longer
in a state to take out his watch to ascertain more
exactly the frequency of his pulse, for the feeling
of anxiety came over him again, and with it he
traced the premonitory symptoms of a new and
violent attack. He was taken into tlie adjoining
chamber, stripped himself partly of his clothes, and
gave over his things, directing what was to be done
with them after his deaths for he was firmly con-
vrnced that his last hour had struck, and continually
ci led out, “ I am dying ; I shall soon be undergoing
dissection m the dead-room.” The new attack was
more violent than the former were, so that the
patient retained only an imperfect degree of con-
Bciousness, and at the height of the paroxysm, even
this disappeared. After the fit, too, consciousness
returned but imperfectly : only so much remained
246
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
in his recollection, that the images which arose
within him constantly increased in ghastliness,
until they gave way to the unconscious state, and
that gradually, with returning consciousness, less
formidable figures appeared in their stead. Subse-
quently he stated that it appeared to him as if he
were transported from the level surface to a hill,
thence to a steep precipice, thence to a hare rock,
and lastly to the ridge of a hill, with an immense
abyss before him. From this time, he could no
longer control the current of ideas following one
another with impetuous haste, and he could not
avoid speaking uninterruptedly until a fresh attack
came on, which quite deprived him of consciousness
for some minutes. The flow of his ideas had now
free course ; and notwithstanding his loquacity, he
could only utter a few words of what he imagined.
All his thoughts and deeds from his childhood
came into his mind. The senses of sight and
hearing were unimpaired, for when he opened his
eyes, he knew all who were standing about him,
and recognized them by their voices when his eyes
were closed. Towards ten o’clock — that is, four
hours and a half after the seizure — the storm was
somewhat allayed ; he obtained control over his
imagination, ceased to speak incessantly, and traced
where he felt pain. During the night he drank a
great deal of lemonade ; nevertheless, sleep tied
from him, and his imagination was constantly at
work. Next morning he dressed, and was con-
veyed home, but could not set to his daily work,
because, notwithstanding the greatest efforts, he
could not collect his scattered thoughts, and he
also felt bodily weak. He was obliged to take to
bed, where he remained till the morning of the
third day. During this time, he drank four pints
of lemonade, and took soup only twice, as he had
no appetite. On the third day he was led about,
GUNJA AT HOME.
247
supported by a second person, but was still rather
confused and giddy. This day lie ate but little,
and drank lemonade. During the second and third
nights, his sleep was tranquil'. On the fourth day
he felt well again, regained his appetite, his strength-
increased, and his appearance became less unsettled.
Nevertheless, walking about for half an hour tired
him much. The depression which came on after
the excitement gave way only gradually.*
The incautious use of hemp is also noticed as
leading to, or ending in, insanity, especially among
young persons, who try it for the first time. This
state may be recognised by the strange balancing
gait of the victim, a constant rubbing of the hands,
perpetual giggling, and a propensity to caress and
chafe the feet of all bystanders, of whatever rank.
The .eye wears an expression of cunning and
merriment which can scarcely be mistaken. In a
few cases, the patients are violent — in all, vora-
ciously hungry.
Under the influence of this drug, its devotees
exhibited, doubtless, to the astonished gaze of the
early travellers from this, and other northern
countries, strange freaks and antics, which filled
them with wonder, and sent them home brim-full
of wonderful legends and marvellous stories
gathered from the lips of the votaries of Hemp,
-i- H 1 end) and active brain of the oriental — always
- associating places and people, actions and accidents,
men and manners, with the unseen agency of
ghosts and genii — under the influence of haschisch,
/ gave full scope to their imaginations, letting loose
upon the traveller a torrent of romance, and
peopling every corner of his route with legions of
spirits, set him wondering to himself whether he
hud really escaped from the common-place world
* Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science.”
248
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
of liis nativity into another sphere specially devoted
to the occupation of etherial beings. Now listen-
ing to the narrative of a reputed communicant
with spirits, he hears of the concentrated genii,
confined in the narrow form of a little dog, or
smaller still, in a little fish, gradually expanding,
and towering higher and higher, till his head
reached to the clouds, and then with a voice of
thunder communicating Iris message to the terrified
and superstitious Arab crouching at his feet.
Anon, he hears of the plague, and his credulous
dragoman informs him that once upon a time a
pious Moslem was worshipping at sunrise, when he
saw a hideous phantom approaching him, and the
following conversation passed between them.
“ Who art thou ? ”
“The Plague/'
“ Whither goest thou ? ”
“ To Cairo/’
“ Wherefore ? ”
“To kill ten thousand.”
“ Go not.”
“ It is destined that I shorlld.”
“ Go then, hut slay not more than thou hast
gai(] ^
“To hear is to obey.”
After the plague was over, at the same hour,
and in the same place, the phantom once more
appears to him, and the holy man again addressed
him thus —
“ Whence comest thou ? ”
“From Cairo.”
“ How many persons hast thou destroyed ? ”
“Ten thousand, according to my orders."
“ Thou best, Uventy thousand are dead."
“ !Tis true, I killed ten thousand, fear carried
off the remainder."
Shortly, and the traveller passes a tree, a mound,
GUNJA AT HOME.
249
or a mass of ruins. The dragoman narrates the
story of confined treasures and protecting genii,
and marvels of the days long gone, and of deeds
of sin, and ends with the universal ejaculation,
“ God is great, and Mahomet is his prophet.”
From these people of mysteries and land of
marvels the traveller returns, and though he only
narrates, for fear of shame, the more credible of
the stories he has heard, from that day forth, poor
man, his friends shake their heads, and mutter
their fears that a tropical sun has addled his brains.
Naturally and nationally superstitious and
credulous, the use of the narcotic assists in adding
to his store of legendary lore, and the Arab or
Turk becomes in himself not only a new edition of
the “ Arabian Night’s Entertainments,” but it also
becomes in him a living belief, and the narration
comes from his lips with all the earnestness of
positive truth, impressing itself upon the auditor
as a circumstance in which the narrator was a
principal actor. And father to son, and generation
to generation, tell the tales, recount the marvels,
and swallow the haschischof their fore-fathers, and
Allah is praised, and Mahomet is still “ the
Prophet.”
CHAPTEE XYII.
HUBBLE-BUBBLE.
“ This is a strange repose, to he asleep
With eyes wide open, standing, speaking, moving,
And yet so fast asleep.” — The Tempest.
The Hubble-bubble proper is a smoking apparatus
so contrived that the smoke, in its passage from
the point of consumption to that of inhalation,
shall pass through water, which performs the
office of a cooler. The Hubble-bubble common
consists of a cocoa-nut shell, with two holes per-
forated in one end, at about an inch apart, through *
the germinating eyes of the nut. Through these
orifices the kernel is extracted, and a wooden or
bamboo tube, about nine inches long, surmounted
by a bowl, is passed in at one opening to the bottom
of the shell, which is partly filled with water, and
the smoke is either sucked from the other hole, or
a tube is inserted into that opening also, as an im-
provement on the ruder practice, through which to
imbibe the smoke. The hubble-bubble is used
generally for smoking hemp, but in Siam occa-
sionally for opium.
Smoking the hemp is indulged in, with some
variations, from the course usually pursued with
tobacco. In Africa this mode of indulgence seems
HUEBLE-BUBBLE.
251
to be more universal than that of the Indian weed.
The inhabitants of Ambriz seek with avidity
the solace of this preparation ; they, nevertheless,
appear to employ it in moderation, and are not so
passionately addicted to its influence as other
native tribes — they therefore suffer less from those
pernicious effects which result from intemperate
indulgence in it. The Aboriginal method of
smoking this narcotic consists in fixing the clay
howl of a native pipe into the centre of a large
gourd, and passing it to each individual composing
ABORIGINAL DAKKA PIPE OE A1EBEIZ.
the community, who in succession take several in-
halations of the smoke, which is succeeded by
. violent paroxysms of coughing, flushed face, suf-
fused eyes, and spasmodic gestures, with other
symptoms indicative of its dominant action on the
system. Upon the subsidence of this excitement,
the party experience all those soothing sensations
of ease and comfort, with that pleasing languor
.stated to constitute the potent charm, that renders
it in such universal request. If the inhaling pro-
cess is carried beyond this stage, inebriation shortly
supervenes.*
The Hottentots and Bushmen smoke the leaves
of this plant, either alone or mixed with tobacco ;
and as they generally indulge to excess, invariably
become intoxicated. When the Bushmen were in
* Daniell in “Pharmaceutical Journal.”
252 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
London exhibiting themselves, they smoked the
hemp, from pipes made from the tusks of animals.
The Bechuanas have a curious method of smok-
ing the Dacha. Two holes the size of the howl of
a tobacco-pipe are made in the ground about a foot
apart ; between these a small stick is placed, and
clay moulded over it, the stick is then withdrawn,
leaving a passage connecting the two holes, into
one of which the requisite material and a light is
introduced, and the smoking commenced by the
members of the party, each in turn lying on his
face on the ground, inhaling a deep whiff, and
then drinking some water, apparently to drive the
fumes downward. It is a singular circumstance,
that a similar method of smoking is employed by
certain of the tribes of Incjia, as already described,
on the authority of Dr. Forbes Boyle.
Among the Zoolus the dacha is placed at the
end of a reed introduced into the side of an ox-
horn, which is filled with water, and the mouth
EGOODU; OR SMOKING HORN, OF TIIE ZOOLUS.
applied to the upper part of the horn. The quan-
tity of smoke which is inhaled through so large an
opening, unconfined by a mouth-piece, often affects
HUBBLE-BUBBLE.
253
the breath, and produces much coughing, notwith-
standing which the natives are very fond of it;
this kind of pipe is called Egoodu. Tobacco com-
posed of the dried leaf of the wild hemp is in
general use, and has a very stupifying effect, fre-
quently intoxicating, on which occasions they in-
variably commence long and loudly to praise the
king.
Though some of the Zoolus indulge in smoking,
all, without exception, are passionately fond of
snuff, which is composed of dried “ dacca ” leaves
mixed with burnt aloes, and powdered. No greater
compliment can be offered than to share the con-
tents of a. snuff calabash with your neighbour.
The snuff is shovelled into the palm of the hand,
with a small ivory spoon, whence it is carefully
sniffed up. Worse than a Gloth would that bar-
barian be who would wantonly interrupt a social
party thus engaged.
The Delagoans of the eastern coast, consider the
smoking of the “ hubble-bubble ” one of the greatest
luxuries of life. A long hollow reed or cane, with
the lower end immersed in a horn of water, and
the upper end capped with a piece of earthenware,
shaped like a thimble, is held in the hand. They
cover the top, with the exception of a small aper-
ture, through which, by a peculiar action of the
mouth, they draw the smoke from the pipe above
by the water below ; they fill the mouth, and after
having kept it some time there, eject it with
violence from the ears and nostrils. “ 1 have often,”
says Mr. Owen, “ known them giddy, and appa-
rently half stifled from indulging in this fascinating
luxury it produces a violent whooping and cough-
ing, accompanied by a profuse perspiration, and
great temporary debility, and yet it is considered
by the natives highly strengthening, and is always
resorted to by them previously to undertaking a
254
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
long journey, or commencing work in the field.
To the hut of an old man who was thus indulging
himself, I was attracted by the loudness of the
cough it had occasioned, and as I entered I ob-
served that his feeble frame had almost fallen a
victim to the violent effects of the bang or dakka
he was smoking. He had thrown himself back on
some faggots, and it was not until I had been some
time there that he appeared at all conscious of my
presence ; yet, as soon as the half inebriated wretch
had obtained sufficient strength, he commenced his
devotions to the pipe again, and by the time I
quitted the hut was reduced to the same state as
that in which I had found him.”
“I have seen the opium-eaters of Constantinople,”
writes the Times correspondent, “ and the hashish-
smokers of Constantine. I recollected having a
taboosh in the bazaars of Smyrna from a young
Moslem whose palsied hand and dotard head could
not count the coins I offered him. I recollect the
hashish-smokers of Constantine, who were to be
seen and heard every afternoon at the bottom of
the abyss which yawns under the Adultress Eock
— lean, fleshless Arabs — smoking their little pipes
of hemp-seed, chauntingand swaying their skeleton
forms to and fro, shrieking to the wild echoes of
the chasm, then sinking exhausted under the huge
cactus — sights and sounds of saturnalia in pur-
gatory.”
Hemp, of all narcotics, appears to be the most
uncertain in its effects. It is so in the form of
haschisch or alcoholic infusion, and doubtless is so
also when smoked. Professor Schroff says of it —
“ I have seen patients take from one to ten, or, in
one case, even so much as thirty grains of the
alcoholic extract in the course of an evening and
night, sometimes within a few hours, without
producing any particular symptoms, except some
HUBBLE-BUBBLE.
255
determination to tlie head j even the so much,
wished foi sleep, on account of which the remedy
was taken, was not obtained, while in other cases,
one grain of the same preparation, from the same
source, produced violent symptoms, bordering on
poisoning delirium, very rapid pplse, extreme
restlessness, and subsequently, considerable de-
pression. I must, therefore, repeat, that Indian
hemp, and all its preparations, exhibits the
greatest variety in the degree and mode of action
according to the difference of individuality, both
m the healthy and diseased condition, that they
are, therefore, to be classed among uncertain
remedies, to be used with great caution.”
In India, Gunjah is used for smoking alone
About 180 grains and a little dried tobacco are
rubbed together in the palm of the hand with a
tew drops of water. This suffices for three
pei sons. A little tobacco is placed in the pipe
first, then a layer of the prepared Gunjah, then
more tobacco, and the fire above all. Four or five
persons usually join in this debauch. The hookah
is passed round, and each person takes a single
draught. Intoxication ensues almost instantly-
nom one draught to the unaccustomed, within
alf an hour ; and after four or five inspirations
to those more practised in the vice. The effects
difler from those occasioned by drinking the
bWhee. Heaviness, laziness, and agreeable reveries
ensues, but the person can be readily roused, and
is able to discharge routine occupations, such as
pulling the punkah, waiting at table, and divers
“ America is beginning to use the
ffipulai; amonS the Hindoos, though
m rather a different manner, for young Jonathan
™drfnl™ IT" be an origiliaL H is not a
drink, but a mixture of bruised hemp tops and
256
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the powder of the betel, rolled up like a quid of
tobacco. It turns the lips and gums of a deep
red, and if indulged in largely, produces violent
intoxication. Lager beer and schnaps will give
way for “ bang,” and red lips, instead of red noses,
become the,tC style.”
CHAPTEE XVIII.
SIRI AND PINANG.
“ He took and tasted, a new life
Flowed through his renovated frame ;
His limbs, that late were sore and stiff,
Felt all the freshness of repose ;
His dizzy brain was calmed,
The heavy aching of his lids
At once was taken off ;
For Laila, from the bowers of Paradise,
Had borne the healing fruit.” — Thalaba.
The widely distributed race of Malays, occupy
not only the Malayan Peninsula, and, though, not
exclusively, the islands of the Indian Archipelago
hub has penetrated into Madagascar, and spreads’
itself through the islands of the Pacific from New
Zealand, the Society,, the Friendly Isles, and the
Marquesas, to the distant Sandwich and Easter
. S; .Whatever may have been the starting
point, it is essentially a shore-dwelling race
peopling only islands, or such portions of the
continent as border the ocean, and never penetrating
nto the interior, or passing the mountains running
parallel to the coast. Their energies are most
conspicuous m maritime occupations, and to this
predilection their extensive diffusion may be
attributed These people, supposed by some to
andChincf6 nity t0; r alHanCe with the Hiudo°
HwS pp- raC6S’ Whence the^ have been called
en d0:;G reSC’ rirfent as maQy P°ints of differ-
ence as of resemblance; and while some of the
258
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
customs of the inhabitants of southern or eastern
Asia may be found amongst them, they have also
others peculiarly their own. The indulgence in
opium is not unknown to the Malays, hut the
national indulgence of the race is the areca. or
betel nut, a habit characteristic of a sea-loving
people. The use of a pipe, and especially an
opium-pipe, would he a hindrance to the freedom
of their motions on hoard then’ vessels, and require
a state of inactivity or repose incompatible with a
maritime life, in order to he enjoyed. This may in
part account for the prevalence of chewing tobacco
in our navy, and of the a huyo ” by the Malays. , 1
The areca palm is one of the most beautiful of
the palms of India. It has a remarkably straight
trunk, rising forty or fifty feet, with a diameter of
from six to eight inches, of nearly an equal
thickness throughout. Six or seven leaves spring
from the top, of about six feet in length, hanging
downwards from a long stalk in a graceful curve.
This palm is cultivated all over India, in Cochin- ,
China, Java, and Sumatra, and other islands of the
Archipelago, for the sake of the nuts. The fruit
is of the size and shape of a hen’s egg, and con-
sists of an outer, firm, fibrous rind or husk, about
half an inch thick, and an inner kernel, somewhat
resembling a nutmeg in size, but more conical in
shape. Internally the resemblance to a nutmeg,
with its alternate white and brown markings, is
even greater. When ripe, the fruit is of a reddish
yelloAv colour, hanging in clusters among the
bright green leaves. If allowed to hang until
fully ripe, it falls off and sows itself in the ground,
but this is not allowed. ’ The trees are in blossom
in March and April, and the fruits may be gathered
in July and August, when the sliced nut can be
prepared from them, but they do not fully npen
till September and October.
SIRI AND PINANG.
259
The nuts vary in size, their quality, however,
does not at all depend upon this property, hut upon
their internal appearance when cut, intimating the
quantity of astringent matter contained in them.
If the white or medullary portion which inter-
sects the red, or the astringent part be small, has
assumed a bluish tinge, and the astringent part is
very red, the nut is considered of good quality, but
when the medullary portion is in large quantity,
the nut is considered more mature, and not possess-
ing so much astringency, is not deemed so valuable.
This palm is cultivated in gardens and planta-
tions. The latter are usually close to the villages,
and are extremely ornamental. Like the Malays
themselves, the areca palm prefers the neighbour-
hood of the sea, which is most conducive to the
perfection of the fruit, as the coca shrub of the
Peruvian mountaineers delights in the slopes of the
Andes. It is stated that a fertile palm will produce,
on an average, eight hundred and fifty nuts annually’
the average production in the plantation is about
fourteen pounds weight for each palm, or ten thou-
sand pounds per acre. The price they realize to the
grower is about two shillings the hundredweight.
The addaca , or betel nut, is a staple product of
Travancore. In 183/ the number of trees grow-
ing there was stated in the survey to be 10,232,873,
which, at the average rate named, would produce
63,000 tons of nuts. Nearly half a million
trees are in cultivation in Prince of Wales’
Island, which would produce about 3,000 tons
more. The Pedir coast of Sumatra produces
annually about 4,700 tons, of which half is ex-
ported. The Chinese import near 3,000 tons
annually, exclusive of their supplies from Cochin-
China, the amount of which is not known, but
without doubt, more than another 3,000 tons’
Many ships freighted solely with these nuts saii
s 2
260
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
yearly from the ports of Sumatra, Malacca, and
Siam.
When there is no immediate demand for the
areca nuts they are not shelled, but preserved in
the husk, to save them from the ravages of insects,
which attack them nevertheless, almost as success-
fully. Of the nuts produced in Travancore,
upwards of 2,000 candies,* prepared nuts, are
annually exported to Tinnevelly and other parts
of the country, and about 3,000,000 of ripe
nuts are shipped to Bombay and other places,
exclusive of the quantity consumed in the country,
and for the inland trade.
From the report of P. Shungoomry Menowen,
we derive the following account of the preparation
of the nuts. There are various kinds in use.
That used by families of rank is collected while
the fruit is tender ; the husk, or outer pod, is
removed, the kernel, a round fleshy mass, is boiled
in water. In the first boiling of the nut, when
properly done, the water becomes red, thick, and
starch like, and this is afterwards evaporated into
a substance like catechu. The boiled nuts being
now removed, sliced, and dried, the catechu-like
substance is rubbed thereto, and dried again in the
sun, when they become of a shining black colour,
and are ready for use. Whole nuts, without being
sliced, are also prepared in the same form for use.
Pipe nuts, as Avell as young nuts in the raw state,
are used by all classes of people, and ripe nuts pre-
served in water are also used by the higher classes.
Nuts prepared in Travancore for exportation to
Trichonopoly, Madura, and Coimbatore, are pre-
pared in thin slices, coloured with red catechu or
uncoloured. For Tinnevelly and other parts of
* 1850 — 1,734 candies.
1851— 1,983 candies.
1852 — 2,953 candies.
1853— 2,073 candies.
1854 — l 954 candies.
The candy is 433£ lbs.
SIRI AND PINANG.
261
the country, the nuts are prepared by merely
cutting them into two or three slices and drying
them. For Bombay, and other parts of the
Northern Country, the nuts are exported in the
form of whole nuts dried with the pods.
The nut is chewed by both sexes indiscriminately
in Malabar as well as on the Coromandel coast. In
Malabar they mix it with betel leaf, chunam, and
tobacco ; but in Tinnevelly and other parts, tobacco
is never added. The three ingredients for the
betel, as commonly used, are, the slieed nut, the
leaf of the betel pepper, in which the nut is rolled,
and chunam, or powdered lime, which is smeared
over the leaf.
The areca nut is commonly known by the Malay
name of Pinang, but in the Acheenese language it
is called Penu, and the palm producing it Ba
Perm. The ripe nut is called also Penu massa , and
the green Penu mudr , The leaf of the betel pepper
is called either Ranu or Sin, and the lime Chunam
or Gapia Tobacco, when used, is called Bakun.
In China, the principal consumption of the nut
as a masticatory is in the provinces of Quangton,
Quang-se, and Che-keang; and it may be seen
exposed for sale on little stalls about the suburbs
of Canton with the other additional articles used
in its consumption. It is also used in dyeing. In
the central provinces of Hoo-kwang and Kang-si
the nut is, after being bruised and pounded, mixed
with the green food of horses as a preventive
against diarrhoea, to which some kinds of food
subjects them. The Chinese state that it is used
as a domestic medicine in the North of China, some
pieces being boiled, and the decoction adminis-
tered. From them is also prepared a kind of cutch
or catechu, which is exported in great quantities’
ail 1S, .no^ .us,cd largely in this country, together
with other kinds, as a tanning and dyeing material.
262
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
In Ceylon these instruments are used: the
Grirri (No. 1.) for cutting the areca nut, and the
Wanggedi (No. 2) and Moolgah (No. 3), a kind of
mortar and pestle for mincing and intimately
mixing the ingredients together.
No. 1.
GIRRI, TOR CUTTING ARECA*
No. 2.
No. 3.
WANGGEDI OR
MORTAR
AND
JtfOOLOAH OR
PEST LB,
TOR MIXING THE INGREDIENTS,
SIEI AND PINANG.
263
In Virginia, tobacco was at one period used as a
currency at a fixed value per pound. In Peru, the
labourer is paid in coca, and in the Philippines,
betel rolls have been used in the same manner as a
currency. To the Malay it is as important as
meat and chink, and many would rather forego the
latter than their favourite Pinang. The same thing
might also be said of the inveterate quidder of
tobacco ; we remember one of this description, who
for years used one ounce per day, and declared
often that he had rather be deprived of his dinner
than his quid, although he liked both. Without
his leaf, the confirmed “'coquero” is the most
miserable of beings, and when deprived of his
customary pipe, the opium- smoker becomes sullen,
ill, and utterly incapacitated for his employment.
Habits of indulgence of this kind, when once com-
menced, are not so easily thrown off. It has been
said that a “ coquero ” was never reclaimed from
the use of his coca.
No estimate can be given of the absolute quan-
tity of areca nuts which are used as a masticatory.
Johnston calculates that they are chewed by not
less than fifty millions of people, which, at the
rate of ten pounds per year, or less than half an
ounce per day, would amount to two hundred and
twenty thousand tons, or five hundred millions of
pounds, a quantity greater than that of any other
narcotic except tobacco.
Areca nuts have been strung and made into
walking sticks,* and, in this country, turned and
formed into ornamental bracelets, as well as burnt
into charcoal for tooth powder. We have engirdled
the earth with pig-tail, let us apply the same kind
of calculation to the estimated annual consumption
* There is a stick of this kind in the Museum of Economic
Botany at Kew Gardens.
264 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
of areca nuts, and strung together in the form of
a bracelet, we have a string 505,050 miles in length,
enough to go round the world 21 times ; or, sup-
posing these nuts to be arranged side by side, they
would cover a road fourteen feet wide for the dis-
tance of not less than 3,000 miles. If arranged in
like manner in the form of a square, they would
occupy at least 5,000 acres of land.
The areca palm has given its name to the island
of Penang, not from its growing there in larger
numbers, or more luxuriant than elsewhere, but
because it was the tree chiefly cultivated by the
Malays who first occupied the island. It now
better deserves the title, being the emporium for
the betel nut raised on the east coast of Sumatra.
In Sumatra many of the common chinking and
baking utensils in the boats, and vessels for holding
water, not dissimilar to those made by the Austra-
lian natives from the bark of the gura trees, are
made from the spathe of this palm, it is also nailed
upon the bottoms of the boats, and often small
bunches of the abortive fruit may be seen placed
as an ornament at the stem and bows of the native
vessels. The male flowers are deliciously fragrant,
and are in request in the island of Borneo on all
festive occasions ; they are considered a necessary
ingredient in the medicines and charms employed
for healing the sick. In Malabar an inebriating
lozenge is prepared from the sap of this palm.
Manuel Blanco thinks that the areca might be
used for making red ink, and it is not improbable
that it is thus employed in India. With other
combinations it makes black ink of moderate
quality. The lower part of the petiole is used for
wrapping instead of paper, for which purpose it is
sold in the Philippines. The heart of the leaves is
eaten as a salad, and has not a bad flavour. The
convicts confined in the Andaman Islands masti-
SIRI AND PINANG.
265
cate the nuts of another species of areca. The
Nagas and Abors of Eastern Bengal, use those of
a third species, and the natives of the mountainous
districts of Malabar those of a fourth. There are
about twenty species of the areca genus, of which
several are thus used.
When betel nuts are scarce in the Philippines,
the natives substitute the bark of the Guayabo
and the Antipolo.
It is confidently affirmed to us, that in Ceylon
the natives sometimes masticate the roots of the
cocoa-nut palm, instead of, and as a substitute for,
the areca nut, and that it answers the purpose very
well.
_ The root of a plant known botanically as Derris
pinnata , is also occasionally used amongst certain
Asiatics, in the same manner, in cases of deficiences
in the supply of genuine betel.
The consumption of the areca-nut being con-
fined to an area of no very wide extent, and that
principally in the neighbourhood of the producing
countries, or in those countries themselves, the
necessity for providing a substitute does not often
arise ; hence, those of which we have any know-
ledge, as having been at all generally used for that
purpose, are confined to two or three substances.
Some years, _ however, are not so productive as
others, and instances have occurred in which the
average price of areca nuts for mastication has
been doubled. If the Yankees persist in their betel
and hemp chewing propensities, which have lately
been developed amongst them, probably the Chinese
and Malay will have to pay a higher price for their
nuts, or provide something which shall thenceforth
fulfil its duties, and we may hear of other
substitutes.
Ardent as the admirers of the areca may be
in their admiration of the “ buyo,” we have never
266
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
seen more than one translation of a Malayan poem
in which the masticatory was extolled, and this,
unfortunately, we are unable to present to our
readers. The gods have either not made the
votaries of betel so poetical as the servants of the
pipe, or the peans in praise thereof are locked up
from us in the cabalistic characters of their national
language. The unmistakable marks left by the
habit on the lips, teeth, and gums, are certainly
extolled by them as marks of beauty. In the
poem already referred to, the lover addresses his
mistress in praise of the redness of her teeth and
lips, and the fragrant odour of her breath, produced
by the sweet “buyo” secreted in the hollow of her
cheek. White teeth are therefore held in abomi-
nation, and as this is also the opinion of certain
African tribes, who stain theirs with the juice of
flowers, ours must be a barbarous nation to respect
such albino masticators.
N.B. — The average annual export of areca nuts from Ccylou
is CO, 000 cwts., and the price a fraction below 20s. per cwt.
CHAPTER XIX.
UNDER THE PALMS.
“ A wind blew warm from the east, and it lifted its arms hopelessly ;
and when the wind, love-laden with most subtle sweetness, lingered,
loth to fly, the palm stood motionless upon its little green mound, and
the flowers were so fresh and fair, and the leaves of the trees so deeply
hued, and the native fruit so golden and glad upon the boughs, that the
still warm garden air seemed only the silent, voluptuous sadness of the
tree ; and had I been a poet my heart would have melted in song for
the proud, pining palm.” — G. W. Curtis.
Two species of a kind of pepper vine are exten-
sively cultivated, with, the areca palm, in all the
countries of the East where chewing the betel is
indulged in, These belong to the same family
of plants as those producing the common
black pepper and the long pepper of commerce.
They are known to botanists as Chavica betle and
Chavica siraboa. They are similar in their habits,
being trailing plants, with some resemblance to the
ivy, but more tender and fragile. The betel palms
may.be often seen with the pepper, climbing and
twining around their tall, straight, slender trunks,
or they are trained about poles of bamboo in the
manner of hops in the hop gardens of Kent.
Almost every one with a piece of land cultivates
the pepper for his own consumption. In the
markets . incredible quantities of the leaves are
offered for sale, in piles carried about in baskets.
268 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
In Northern India, sheds are constructed for the
growth of the pepper. These are from twenty to
fifty yards in length, and eight or twelve broad, of
bamboo, to shelter the plants from the sun. Great
attention is paid to the cultivation, and the plants
are carefully attended to, and cleaned every
morning.
Betel leaf cannot be preserved in a sound state
beyond eight days without preparation, but by
being prepared over a fire, and rolled into balls, in
which state it is called chenai, it will keep a year,
only the quality is much deteriorated. In Penang
the old men carry about with them a sort of metal
tube, having a ramrod-looking pestle, with which
they busy themselves in pounding the mixture for
chewing. The young daily make nut-crackers of
their jaws, and although the mixture, perhaps,
rather tends to preserve the teeth, still the exercise
on the nut must be a little too violent for them,
and the Malays say it injures the sight. The
Chinese are not much addicted to the use of the
betel.
The consumption of betel by the inhabitants of
Penang and Province Wellesley may be stated at
6,211,440 bundles of 100 leaves each, equal in
value to 31,057 Spanish dollars, which would he
the produce of 98 orlongs of land, or about 130
acres, planted regularly. But allowing for the
various distances given by different cultivators
between the plants 110 orlongs may be assumed,
or about 147 acres.
The Chinese colonists of Singapore used the
leaves of the common pepper, instead of those of
the betel pepper in compounding this masticatory.
The Ava pepper, or Macropiper metliysticum , is
even more celebrated for its narcotic properties
than the two just referred to. This plant has a
thick aromatic wood stalk, and a large root, and
UNDER THE PALMS.
269
cordate or heart-shaped leaves. It is a native of
the Society, Friendly, and Sandwich Islands, where
it is largely consumed. Macerated in water, the
stems and root form an intoxicating beverage, and
the leaves are used with the areca nut and lime,
in the same manner as the leaves of the other
peppers.*
Mariner gives an account, in his “ History of the
Tonga Islands,” of the use of this plant. The root
is split up with an axe into small pieces, and after
heiug scraped clean with mussel shells, is handed
out to those in attendance to he chewed. There is
then a buzz in the assembly, contrasting curiously
with the silence which reigned before, several
crying out, “ Give me some cava ! give me cava,”
each of those who intend to chew it crying out for
some to be handed to him. Ho one offers to chew
the cava but young persons who have good teeth,
clean mouths, and no colds. Women frequently
assist. It is astonishing how remarkably dry they
preserve the root during the process of mastication.
In about two minutes, each person having chewed
his quantity, takes it out of his mouth with his
hand, and puts it on a piece of plantain or banana
leaf, or he raises the leaf to his mouth, and puts it
off from his tongue, in the form of a ball of toler-
able consistence. The different portions of cava
being now chewed, which is known by the silence
that ensues, a large wooden bowl is placed on the
ground before the man who is to make the infusion.
Each person passes up his portion of the chewed
root, which is placed in the bowl, wherein they
are laid in such a manner that each portion is dis-
tinct and separate from the rest, till the whole
* The stem and roots of long pepper, cut in pieces and dried
under the name of Pipula moola , are exposed for sale iu all the
bazaars of India, but these are not used with the areca nut nor
are the leaves applied to that purpose.
270
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
inside of the bowl becomes studded, from the
bottom up to the rim, on every side. The man,
before whom the bowl is placed, now tilts it up a
little towards the chief, that he may see the quan-
tity of its contents, saying, “This is the cava
chewed.” If the chief thinks there is enough, he
says, “ Cover it over, and let there come a man
here.” The bowl is covered over with a plantain
or banana leaf, if there is not enough, and a man
fetches more root to be chewed. If there is enough,
the chief says “ mix.” The two men, who sit on
each side of him, who is to prepare the cava, now
come forward a little, and making a half turn, sit
opposite to each other, the bowl being between
them, one of these fans off the flies with a large
leaf, while the other sits ready to pour in the water
from cocoa-nut shells, one at a time.
Before this is done, however, the man who is
about to mix, having first rinsed his hands with a
little of the water, kneads together the chewed
root, gathering it up from all sides of the bowl,
and compressing it together. Upon this an
attendant says, “ Pour in the water,” and the man
on one side of the bowl continues pouring, fresh
shells being handed to him, until the attendant
thinks there is sufficient, and says, “Stop the
water.” The mixture is stirred together at the
command of the attendant, who then says, “Put
in the fow,” which is the bark of a tree stripped
into small fibres, and has the appearance of willow
shavings. A large quantity ot this substance,
enough to cover the whole surface of the infusion,
is now put in by one of those seated beside the
bowl, and it floats upon the surface. _ The man
who manages the bowl now begins his difficult
operation. In the first place, he extends his left-
hand to the further side of the bowl, with the
lingers pointing downwards and the palm towards
UNDER THE PALMS.
271
himself ; he sinks that hand carefully down the
side of the bowl, carrying with it the edge of the
fow ; at the same time his right hand is performing
a similar operation at the side next to him, the
fingers pointing downwards and the palm pre-
senting outwards. He does this slowly from side
to side, gradually descending deeper and deeper,
till his fingers meet each other at the bottom, so
that nearly the whole of the fibres of the root are
by these means enclosed in the fow, forming, as it
were, a roll of about two feet in length, lying
along the bottom from side to side, the edges of
the fow meeting each other underneath. He now
carefully rolls it oyer, so that the edges overlapping
each other, or rather intermingling, come upper-
most. He next doubles in the two ends and rolls
it carefully over again, endeavouring to reduce it
to a narrower and firmer compass. He now brings
it cautiously out of the fluid, taking firm hold by
the two ends, and raising it breast high, with his
arms extended ; by a series of movements the
mass is more and more twisted and compacted
together, while the infusion drains from it in a
regular decreasing quantity, till, at length, it
denies a single drop. He now gives it to the
person on his left side and receives fresh fow from
the one on the right. The operation is again
renewed, with a view to collect what might before
have escaped him, and even a third time till no
dregs are left which this process can remove.
During the above operation, various people are
employed in making cava cups from the unex-
panded leaves of the banana, folded and tied in a
peculiar manner. The infusion being strained,
the performance generally occupying a quarter of
an hour or twenty minutes, the man at the bowl
calls out, “ The cava is clear.” The infusion is
now filled into the cups by means of a bundle of
272
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
fow which is dipped into the bowl, and when
replete with the liquid, held over the cup, and
being compressed, the liquid runs out till the cup
is filled. With certain other ceremonies the cups
are passed round amongst the company.
From this account it will he seen that the
beverage is drank immediately after it is prepared,
without being in any manner fermented, its intoxi-
cating and narcotic properties must, therefore, be
due to the root. This liquor is indulged in to a
large extent in the islands of Oceanica, where the
natives are generally passionately fond of it.
Another substance entering into the composition
of the “ buyo” is the extract of the leaves of the
gambir ( Uncaria gambir). There are different
qualities of extract : the first and best is white,
brittle, and has an earthy appearance when rubbed
between the fingers, which earthy appearance gave
it the name of Terra Japonica, being supposed, at
first, also, to come from Japan, and is formed into
very small round cakes. This is the most
expensive kind, and most refined, but it is not
unfrequently adulterated with sago ; this land is
brought in the greatest quantity from the island
of Sumatra. The second quality is of a brownish
yellow colour, is formed into oblong cakes, and
when broken has a light brown earthy appearance;
it is also made into a solid cubic form ; it is sold in
the bazaars in small packets, each containing five
or six. The third quality contains more impurities
than the preceding, is formed in small circular
cakes, and sold, in packages of five or six, in the
bazaars.
The method employed in making the extract is
thus described in the Singapore Chronicle: — The
leaves are collected three or lour times a year ; they
are thrown into a large cauldron, the bottom of
which is formed of iron, the upper part of bark
UNDER THE PALMS.
273
and boiled for five or six hours, until a strong
decoction is inspissated, it is then allowed to cool,
when the extract subsides. The water is drawn
off, a soft, soapy substance . remains, which is cut
into large masses ; these are further divided by a
knife into small cubes, about an inch square, or
into still smaller pieces, which are laid in frames
to dry. This catechu has more of a granular
uniform appearance than that of Bengal, it is,
perhaps, also less pure. The younger leaves of
the shrub are said to produce the whitest and best
gambir, the older a brown and inferior sort. The
men employed in the gambir plantations generally
indulge freely in the use of opium.
Another extract made in India from the wood
of Acacia Catechu* and which bears the name of
Cutch or “ Kutt,” is used in combination with the
betel nut. The trees are cut down, and the heart-
wood chopped and boiled in water, strained off,
and evaporated. This is poured into clay moulds
and dried in the sun. Dr. Hooker gives a sketch
from the life of one of the native “ Kutt” makers
of India : —
“At half-past eight a.m. it suddenly fell calm,
and we proceeded to. Chakuchee, the native carts
breaking down in their passage over the projecting
beds of flinty rocks, or as they hurried down the
inclined planes which cut through the precipitous
banks of the streams. Hear Chakuchee we
passed an alligator, just killed by two men — a
foul beast about nine feet long, and of the Mager
kind. More interesting than its natural history
was the painful circumstance of its having just
swallowed a child that was playing in the water,
while its. mother was washing her domestic
utensils in the river. The brute was hardly
* From cate a tree, and chu juice.
T
274
TEE SEVEN SISTERS OP SLEEP.
dead, much distended by its prey, and the mother
standing beside it. A very touching group was
this ! the parent with hands clasped in agony,
unable to withdraw her eyes from the cursed
reptile, which still clung to life with that tenacity
for which its tribe is so noted, and beside her the
two men leaning on their bloody bamboo staves
with which they had all but despatched the animal.
“ The poor woman who had lost her child earns
a scanty maintenance by making catechu. She
inhabits a little cottage, and has no property but
her two oxen to bring wood from the hills, and a
very few household chattels, and how few these
are is known only to persons who have seen the
meagre furniture of the Dangha hovels. Her
husband cuts the trees in the forest and drags
them to the hut, but he is now sick, and her
only son, her future stay, was he whose end is just
related. Her daily food is rice, with beans from
the beautiful flowered dolichos, trailing round the
cottage, and she is in debt to the contractor, who
has advanced her two rupees, to be worked off in
three months, by the preparation of 240 lbs. of
catechu. The present was her second husband,
an old man ; by him she never had any children,
and in this respect alone did the poor creature
think herself very unfortunate, for her poverty
she did not feel. Kent to the Rajah, tax to the
police, and rates to the Brahminee priest, are all
paid from an acre of land, yielding so wretched a
crop of barley, that it more resembled a fallow
field than a harvest field. All day long she is
boiling down the catechu-wood cut into chips, and
pouring the decoction into large wooden troughs,
where it is inspissated.”
From the areca nut another kind of catechu is
prepared, which is generally preferred as a masti-
catory. Heyne thus describes the process of its
manufacture, “ Areca nuts are taken as they come
UNDER THE PALMS.
275
from the tree, and boiled for some hours in an iron
vessel. They are then taken out and the remain-
ing water is inspissated by continued boiling.
This process furnishes kassu, or most stringent
terra japonica , which is black, and mixed with
paddy husks and other impurities. After the nuts
are dried, they are put in a fresh quantity of water,
boiled again, and the water, being inspissated like
the former, yields the best or dearest kind of
catechu, called coury. It is yellowish brown, has
an earthy fracture, and is free from the admixture
of foreign bodies.” It is probable that the flat
round cakes, covered with paddy husks, met with
in commerce is the kassu of Heyne.
The husk which surrounds the nut, and which
is of a fibrous nature, resembling the coir of the
cocoa nut is thrown away by tons, and allowed to
rot. This substance has lately been experimented
upon for the manufacture of paper, for which pur-
pose it appears to be available, and, as there is no
want of the raw material, perhaps at some future
time it will become utilized as extensively as the
“ coir ” of Ceylon.
The' Bombay catechu i§ obtained from Acacia
catechu , and the Bengal catechu from Uncuria
Garnbir. The Bombay produce is of a dark
brownish red. colour, and is stated to be the richer
of the two in tannin. The Bombay variety is
commonly called u cutch,” while the Bengal produce
is of a lighter brown colour, and is termed “ terra.”
Catechu of good quality is also obtained from Pegu.
The catechu exported from Madras to England
Bombay, France, and Ceylon was —
part of 1856-7 — 658
1853- 4 — 484 cvvt.
1854- 5—1,364 „
1855- 6—2,908 „
valued at £199 4s.
698 8
2,297 2
270 8
T 2
Or in 3£ years— 5,414 „
£4,265 2
276
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
But this is only a small proportion of the
catechu consumed in England alone, since in 1849
we imported 169,140 cwts. of that substance for
tanning purposes, and the quantity has since
increased.
The totals of cutch and gambier imported in
1856 was 8,536 tons.
1857 „ 11,047 „
1858 „ 11,205 „ 1
1859 „ 13,762 „
Of this quantity we exported in —
1856— 1,031 tons.
1857— 1,427 „
1858— 974 „
1859— 1,809 „
These articles, therefore, make no insignificant
item in our East Indian trade, which, valued at
the intermediate rate of 15s. and 30s. per cwt.,
would amount to the sum of £153,375 in 1858.
CHAPTER XX.
CHEWING THE COON.
“ It ascends me into the brain, dries me there all the foolish, and
dull, and crudy vapours which environ it ; makes it apprehensive,
quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes, which,
delivered over to the voice (the tongue), which is the birth, becomes
excellent wit.” — Sir John Falstaff.
“ In Burmah,” says Howard Malcolm, “almost
every one, male and female, chews the singular
mixture called coon , and the lacquered or gilded
box containing the ingredients is borne about on
all occasions. The quid consists of a slice of
areca nut, a small piece of cutch, and some tobacco
rolled up in a leaf of betel pepper, on which has
been smeared a little tempered quicklime. It
creates profuse saliva, and so fills up the mouth
that they seem to be chewing food. It colours the
mouth deep red, and the teeth, if not previously
blackened, assume the same colour. From the
combination of the three ingredients this colour
seems to proceed, since the leaf and nut, without
the lime, fail to produce it. This hue, communi-
cated to the mouth and lips, is esteemed orna-
mental, and an agreeable odour is imparted to
the breath. The juice is usually, though not
always, swallowed. A curious circumstance con-
nected with the expectoration of the red juice is
278
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
related at Manilla, where it is narrated with strong
protestations and firm belief in its veracity.
Some years ago a ship from Spain arrived in the
port of Manilla. Among the passengers was a
young doctor from Madrid, who had gone to the
Philippines with the design of settling in the
colony and pushing his fortune hy means of his
profession. On the morning after he had landed,
our doctor sallied forth for a walk on the
pasco. He had not proceeded far when his atten-
tion was attracted to a young girl, a native, who
was walking a few paces ahead of him. He
observed that every now and then the girl
stooped her head towards the pavement which was
straightway spotted with blood. Alarmed on the
girl’s account, our doctor walked rapidly after her,
observing that she still continued to expectorate
blood at intervals as she went. Before he could
come up with her the girl had reached her home,
a humble cottage in the suburbs, into which she
entered. The doctor followed close upon her
heels, and summoning her father and mother,
directed them to send immediately for the priest
as their daughter had not many hours to live.
The distracted parents, having learned the pro-
fession of their visitor, immediately acceded to
his request. The child was put to bed in
extreme affright, having been told what was
about to befal her. The nearest padre was
brought, and everything was arranged to smooth
the journey of her soul through the passes of pur-
gatory. The doctor plied his skill to the utmost,
but in vain. In less than twenty-four hours the
girl was dead.
As up to that time the young Indian had always
enjoyed excellent health, the doctor’s prognosl ica-
tion was regarded as an evidence ot great and J
mysterious skill. The fame of it soon spread
CHEWING THE COON.
279
through Manilla, and in a few hours the newly-
arrived physician was beleagured with patients,
and in a fair way of accumulating a fortune. In
the midst of all this, some one had the curiosity to
ask the doctor how he could possibly have pre-
dicted the death of the girl, seeing that she had
been in perfect health a few hours before. “ Predict
it,” replied the doctor, “why, sir, I saw her spit
blood enough to have killed her half a dozen
times.”
“ Blood ! how did you know it was blood ?”
“ How ! from the colour, how else ?”
“ But every one spits red in Manilla.”
The doctor, who had already observed this
fact, and was labouring under some uneasiness in
regard to it, refused to make any further confession
at the time, but he had said enough to elucidate
the mystery. The thing soon spread throughout
the city, and it became clear to every one that
what the new medico had taken for blood, was
nothing else than the red juice of the buyo, and
that the poor girl had died from the fear of death
caused by his prediction. His patients now fled
from him as speedily as they had congregated ;
and to avoid the ridicule that awaited him, as well
as the indignation of the friends of the deceased
girl, our doctor was fain to escape from Manilla,
and return to Spain in the same ship that had
brought him out.
The ladies who work in the government cigar
factory at Manilla, all, more or less, chew the
betel nut, and any one daring enough to disregard
the warning not to touch anything, when passing
as a visitor through the rooms, must stand the
assault from the mouths of a hundred or two of
these dames, in the shape of a deluge of the
decoction of this nut. The captain of an American
vessel at Manilla, although warned of tire conse-
280 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
quences, with. American impudence, infringed the
rule, and paid the penalty. He was compelled to
beat a retreat, and being dressed in the white garb
of the East, resembled a spotted leopard, in the
room of a free and enlightened citizen of the great
Republic.
The mastication of the betel is considered very
wholesome by those who are in the habit of using
it, and it may be so, but the black appearance it
gives to the teeth, although it is said to be an
excellent preserver of them, together with the
brick red lips and mouth, cause anything but an
agreeable appearance. Its use certainly does not
impart additional beauty to the native females,
who habituate themselves to an extent equal to
that of the opposite sex.
The custom, Marsden states, is universal among
the Sumatrans, who carry the ingredients con-
stantly about them, and serve them to their
guests on all occasions ; the prince in a gold stand,
and the poor man in a brass box or mat bag.
The betel-stands of the better ranks of people are
usually of silver, embossed with rude figures. The
Sultan of Moco-Moco was presented with one by
the India Company with their arms upon it, and
he possesses another besides, of gold filagree. The
form of the stand is the frustum of an hexagonal
pyramid, reversed, about six or eight inches in
diameter. It contains many smaller vessels, fitted
to the angles, for holding the nut, leaf, and
chunam, with places for the instruments employed
in cutting the first, and spatulas for spreading the
last.
Captain Wilkes also describes that of the Sultan
of Sooloo. “ On the left hand of the Sultan sat his
two sons, on the right his councillors, while imme-
diately behind him sate the carrier of his betel-
nut casket. The casket was made of filagree silver,
CHEWING THE COON.
281
about tbe size of a small tea-caddy, of oblong
shape, and rounded at the top. It had three
divisions, one for the nut, another for the leaf,
and a third for the lime. Next to this official was
the pipe-hearer, who did not appear to be held in
equal estimation.”
A circumstance is also narrated in connection
with the son of this same Sultan, which exhibits
the use of betel in another phase. This son,
shortly after taking a few whiffs from the opium-
pipe was overcome, and became stupid and listless.
When partially recovered, he called for his betel
nut to revive him by its exciting effects, and
counteract the influence of the opium. The
pinang or buyo was carefully chewed by his
attendant to a proper consistency, moulded into a
ball, and then slipped into his mouth. Hence we
may learn two things. First, that chewing the
betel counteracts the ill effects of an over-dose of
opium. Secondly, that it is extremely convenient
to have an attendant with a good set of teeth,
since he could not only masticate betel nut for
you, and relieve you from a large amount of
labour ; but in the event of your joint not being
so tender as it should be, the amount of milling to
be expended at dinner could be divided between
you, the attendant masticating the tough dishes,
and yourself the tender, and thus, by division of
labour, a good dinner could be procured with little
expenditure of your own muscular strength.
In Sumatra, when the first salutation is over,
which consists in bending the body, and the
inferior putting Ins joined hands between those
of the superior, and then lifting them to Ins
forehead, the betel is presented as a token of
hospitality and an act of politeness. To omit it
on the one hand, or to reject it on the other would
be an affront, as it would be, likewise, in a man of
282
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
subordinate rank to address a great man without
the precaution of chewing it before he spoke.
The Tagali maidens, says Meyen, regard it as a
proof of the uprightness of the intentions of a
lover, and of the strength of his affection, if he
takes the buyo from his mouth. In Lu§on, a little
box or dish is kept in every house, in which are
kept the betel rolls prepared for the day’s con-
sumption, and there a buyo, or betel roll, is offered
to every one who enters, just as a pinch of snuff or
a pipe might be with us. Making the buyo is a
part of the occupation of the females, who may be
seen in the forenoon stretched on the ground roll-
ing them. Enough for the day’s consumption is
generally carried, in a siri box§ of metal or
japanned ware, by those whose occupation call
them from home ; every one who can afford the
expense, puts a fresh roll in his mouth every hour,
which he continues to chew and suck for about
half an hour or more.
Betel holds an important place in the marriage
ceremonies of the Tagals. When once a young
man has informed his father and mother that he
has a predilection for a young Indian girl, his
parents pay a visit to the young girl’s parents upon
some fine evening, and after some very ordinary
chat, the mamma of the young man offers a piastre
to the mamma of the young lady. Should the
future mother-in-law accept, the young lover is
admitted, and then his future mother-in-law is sure
to go and spend the very same piastre in betel and
cocoa wine. During the greater portion of the
night, the whole company assembled upon the
occasion, chews betel, drinks cocoa wine, and
discusses upon all other subjects but marriage.
Tire young men never make their appearance till
the piastre has been accepted, because in that case
they look upon it as being the avant-couricr , that
CHEWING THE COON.
283
is, the first and most essential step towards their
marriage.
During the fast of Eamadan, the Mahometans
abstain from the use of the betel while the sun
continues above the horizon, but, except at this
time, it is the constant luxury of both sexes from an
early period of childhood till old age, when, becom-
ing toothless, they are unable to masticate the nut,
and are reduced to the alternative of having all
the ingredients previously reduced to the form of
a paste for them, so that, without effort, they may
dissolve in the mouth.
When Lady . Raffles had reached Merambung
in Sumatra, being much fatigued with walking,
and the rest .of the party having dispersed in
various directions, she lay down under the shade
of a tree, when a Malay girl approached, with
great grace of manner, and on being asked if she
wanted anything, replied, “ No ! but as you were
quite alone, I thought you might like to have a
little talk, so I came to offer you some siri (betel)
and sit beside you.” n
The darker the . teeth the more beautiful is a
Siamese belle considered \ and in order that their
gums should be oi a brilliant red, to form a
pleasant contrast to the black lips and teeth, they
resort, to the pastime of chewing betel from
morning till night. The constituents of the betel
being rolled up. into something very much like a
sailor’s quid, it is then thrust into the lady’s cheek
and is munched, and crunched, and chewed so
long as the slightest flavour is to be extracted
and, as they, never swallow the juice, the results
are very detrimental to the cleanliness of the floors
ot the houses, and of themselves generally. They
commonly make use of two such quids during the
day, and this mixture has the effect of dyeing their
gums and the whole of the palate and tongue of a
284 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
blood-red colour. Old crones, and very ancient
chronoses (for both men and women use the betel),
who have no longer any teeth to masticate the
mixture with, are attended by servants, who have
a species of small pestle and mortar always about
them, wherein they reduce the betel into a proper
form for the delicate gums of their aged patrons. *
The betel pepper is cultivated at Zanzibar,
where the use of betel prevails, as it does at the
Comoro Islands and at Bombay. But the custom
is not in vogue in Arabia. The betel palm is also
grown for the sake of its fruits in the island of
Zanzibar.
The habit of masticating betel nut in combina-
tion with hemp has of late come into vogue in the
United States of America, and doubtless Brother
Jonathan will soon eclipse Malaya in his predilec-
tion for the “ buyo.”
* Neale’s Residence in Siam.
CHAPTER XXL
OUR LADY OF YONGAS.
And all my days are trances ;
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy dark eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams :
In what etherial dances,
By what eternal streams.
E. A. Poe.
To the Peruvian the province of Yungas de la
Paz in the North-East of Bolivia is an El Dorado,
because there . grows m the greatest profusion and
luxuriance his favorite Coca. We may look with
delight towards the island of Ceylon, and, in
imagination, snuff the fragrant breezes that have
passed over the cinnamon groves and coffee planta-
tions ; or direct the gaze of our children across
the map of the world to South-Eastern China, and
inform them that from thence our good dames
receive their tea ; and thence to the United States,
and add that from this place their worthy sires
receive the greater part of their tobacco. But the
affections of the Peruvian are not so divided •
they are located upon one spot, and that the pro-
duce of the “ warm valleys,” or the Yungas de la
Paz; there dwells his patron saint, and from
thence he receives the “ keys of Paradise.”
286 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
At the time of the conquest the Coca was only-
usecl by the Incas, and those of the royal, or rather
solar, blood. It was cultivated for the monarch
and for the solemnities of their religion ; none
might raise it to his mouth, unless he had
rendered himself worthy by his services to partake
of this honour with his sovereign. The plant was
looked upon as an image of divinity, and no one
entered the enclosures where it was cultivated
without bending the knee in adoration. The
divine sacrifices made at that period were thought
not to be acceptable to Heaven, unless the victims
were crowned with branches of this tree. The
oracles made no reply, and auguries were terrible
if the priest did not chew coca at the time of con-
sulting them. It was an unheard of sacrilege to
invoke the shades of the departed great without
wearing the plant in token of respect, and the
Coyas and Mamas who were supposed to preside
over gold and silver, rendered the mines impene-
trable unless propitiated by it. In the course of
time its use extended, and gradually became the
companion of the whole Indian population. To
this plant the native recurred for relief in his
greatest distress ; no matter whether want or
disease oppressed him, or whether he sought the
favours of Fortune or Love, he found consolation
in the “ divine plant.”
The word by which this plant is known has
been referred, for its etymology, to the Aymara
language, in which Khoka signifies tree or plant.
It is known that the shrub producing the Slate
or Paraguay tea, the favourite beverage of many
South American nations, is called la Yerba , i.e. the
plant As also in Mexico tobacco was called yeti ,
and by the Peruvians Sagri, meaning in those
languages the herb , so we, occasionally, are apt to
designate the latter article the weed. Showing,
OUR LADY OF YONGAS.
287
that to those persons or nations who have appro-
priated such names, trivial in themselves, to the
different articles of consumption, these plants were
in themselves pre-eminent in the vegetable
creation, as, in another instance, we have shown
our appreciation of one book above all others,
century after century, by the simple designation of
The Book.
In Europe, the historians of the conquest gave
the first information of the sacred plant of the
Peruvians ; this was, however, merely superficial.
In 1569, Monardes, and in 1605 Clusius, wrote
concerning it, but the leaves of the plant itself were
not seen until brought over by one of the com-
panions of La Condamine, Joseph de Jussieu,
who nearly lost his life in 1749, while crossing the
Cordilleras in search of this plant. He was com-
pelled to cross the mountains, covered as they were
with snow, on foot, descending by means of paths
cut out like ladders, and overhanging frightful
precipices. The intensity of the sun’s rays,
reflected by the snow, caused him the most dis-
tressing pains in the eyes, and almost blinded
him, but the success of his expedition consoled him
for the misfortunes that he had endured.
> This shrub rises to the height of from four to
eight feet, the stem covered with whitish tubercles,
which appear to be formed of two curved lines set
face to face. The leaves are oblong, and acute at
each end, from an inch and a half to two inches
in length. The leaves are the only parts used, for
which purpose they are collected and dried. The
shrub is found wild in Peru, according to Poppig
m the environs of Cuchero, and on the stony
summit of the Cerro de San Christobal. It is
cultivated extensively in the mild, but very moist
climate of the Andes of Peru, at from 2,000 to
o,000 feet above the sea level ; in colder situations
288
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
it is apt to be killed, and in warmer to lose the
flavour of the leaf.
The coca plant is propagated from seed sown in
nursery beds and carefully watered. When about
sixteen or eighteen inches high they are trans-
planted into plantations called cocals, in terraces
upon the sides of the mountains. At the end of a
year and a half the plant affords its first crop, and
from this period to the age of forty years or more
it continues to yield a supply. Instances have been
noticed of coca plantations that have existed for
near a century ; but the greatest abundance of
leaves is obtained from plants between the third
and sixth years. There are four gatherings in the
season ; the first takes place at the period of
flowering, and consists of the lower leaves only.
These are larger and less finely flavoured than
those afterwards collected, and are mostly con-
sumed at once. The next and most abundant
harvest takes place in March ; the third and
most scanty, in June or July, and the last in
November. The leaves are collected similarly to
those of tea. Women and children are employed
for this purpose. The gatherer squats down, and
holding the branch with one hand, plucks from it
the leaves, one by one, with the other. These are
deposited in a cloth, from which they are after-
wards collected into sacks to be conveyed from the
plantation. The sacks of leaves are carried to the
haciendas, where they are spread upon a floor of
black slate to dry in the sun. They are then
packed up in bales made of banana leaf, closely
pressed together, each bale containing on. an
average twenty-four pounds. The price realised
to the cultivator is one shilling per pound.
Dr. Weddell endeavoured to obtain reliable
information as to the quantity of coca cultivated
and collected in the province of Yongas, and states,
OUR LADY OP YOSTGAS.
289
as a result, that the annual produce is about
400,000 bales, or 9,600,000 Spanish pounds.
There is also a large cultivation, not only in other
parts of Bolivia, and in Peru, but also in parts of
Brazil, so that this cannot represent more than
half the amount of the annual consumption of
coca. It is true that Poppig estimated fifteen
millions of pounds as the quantity consumed, but
this would be too small. On the other hand,
Johnston estimates the consumption at thirty
millions of pounds ; this is, probably, erring
rather on the contrary side. Of this quantity he
estimates the value at one million and a half
sterling, and concludes that the chewing of coca
is indulged in by about ten millions of the human
race. This again is rather a “ long bow the use
of coca seems to be confined to Peru, Bolivia, and
Brazil— at any rate, it is confined to South
America, and there is no mention of its indul-
gence in Chili to the South, or in the Columbian
Republics to the North. It would, moreover
confer upon us somewhat of a personal favour*
were some one to convince us that the male
population of South America amounts to the num-
ber which the professor has estimated as that
of the mdulgers in coca. Our own impression is
that the entire population has only been estimated
at seventeen and a quarter millions: this is, at
least, the mean of four very respectable authorities.
Suppose half of these to be children, and half of
the residue females, and we have only an adult
male population of less than four and a half
millions in the southern half of the New World.
o shades ol Cocker and Be Morgan ! tell us how
yom these we can subtract ten millions who indulge
m coca, and yet show a remainder, be it ever so
nffi1. ’ cd abstainers. But it has never been
mrrned that coca was indulged in, except in
290 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. The population of
these three countries amount, according to the
higher authorities, only to ten millions, so that
every man, woman, and child, must be a coquero
to reach the estimated number. Viewing this
subject in another of its phases — Johnston states
that the average consumption of the coquero is
from one ounce to one ounce and a half per day,
or, according to ordinary computation, twenty-two
to thirty-three pounds per year, whereas the esti-
mated production, which we have presumed to be
too large, is, in fact, too small for the number
estimated as indulging therein, as it only allows
each coca masticator three pounds per annum.
In all deference to so high an authority, we will
venture to suggest that were the number indulging
in coca limited to two millions, and the supply to
twenty millions of pounds, or ten pounds annually
to each person, some of these difficulties would be
removed; but, out of regard for the patience of
our readers, we will forbear detailing any further
calculations, or the bases on which they rest.
At first the Spaniards strenuously opposed the
use of the coca — it was anathematized by them
everywhere, as tobacco was by its zealous opponents
in the old world, but this opposition only seemed to
produce an extension of the habit. Then the •
Spaniards, appreciating the advantages which
might accrue to them in a monopoly of the plant, ,
took the culture into their own hands, and by
force, enrolled the Indians of the Cordilleras in
their service, much to the discomfort of the
latter, who suffered extremely from the change
of climate. Complaints to the government being
so numerous, the Viceroy, Bon Francisco de
Toledo, espoused the cause of the Indians, pub-
lished seventy-one decrees in their favour, and the
speculation was abandoned. It is said, that in
OUR LADY OP YONGAS.
291
1583 the government of Potosi derived a sum not
less than £100,000 from the consumption of
90,000 to 100,000 baskets of this leaf. The culti-
vation of coca is therefore an important feature in
Peruvian husbandry, and so lucrative, that a coca
plantation, whose original cost and current ex-
penses amoimted to £500 during the first twenty-
months, will, at the end of ten months more, bring
a clear income of £340.
The coca possesses a slightly aromatic and
agreeable odour, and when chewed, dispenses a
grateful fragrance, its taste is moderately bitter
and astringent, and somewhat resembles green tea ;
it tinges the saliva of a greenish hue. Its effects
on the system are stomachic and tonic, and it is
said to be beneficial in preventing intermittents,
which have always prevailed in this country.
The mode of employing coca is to mix with it
in the mouth a small quantity of lime prepared
from shells, much after the manner that the betel
is used in the East. With this, a handful of
parched corn, and a ball of arrow-root, an Indian
will travel on foot a hundred leagues, trotting on
ahead of a horse. On the frequented roads, we are
informed, that the Indian guides have certain spots
where they throw out their quids, which have
accumulated into little heaps, that now serve as
marks of distance 5 so that, instead of saying, one
place is so many leagues from another, it is common
to call it so many quids. Dr. Weddell states that
the Bolivians are in the habit of using instead of
Line with . their leaf, a substance called llipta
which consists of the ashes of the Quinoa plant ; in
other parts the ashes of other plants are used, as
on the Amazon, those of the leaves of the trumpet-
tree. These alkaline ashes are made into little
cakes, and sold in the markets.
“The Peruvian ordinarily keeps his coca in a
u 2
292 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
little bag called chuspa, winch he carries suspended
at his side, and which he places in front whenever
he intends to renew his chique, which he does at
regular intervals, even when travelling. The
Indian who prepares himself to chew, in the first
place sets himself as perfectly at ease as circum-
stances permit. If he has a burden, he lays it
down ; he seats himself, then putting his chuspa
on his knees, he draws from it, one by one, the
leaves which are to constitute his fresh 1 quid.’
The attention which he gives to this operation is
worthy of remark. The complaisance with which
the Indian buries his hand in the leaves of a well-
filled chuspa , the regret he seems to experience
when the bag is nearly empty, deserve observation,
for these little points prove that to the Indian the
use of coca is a real source of enjoyment, and not
the simple consequence of want.” We remember
an elderly lady* who was in the habit of taking
snuff with the same amount of ceremony. First,
she comfortably seated herself, arranged her dress,
and smoothed her apron. The most important
occupations always being for the time put aside,
and apparently forgotten. The next operation
consisted in drawing from some capacious recep-
tacle, the entrance to which was enveloped in the
folds of her outer garment, a large brown hand-
kerchief, studded with small yellow spots, just
visible, we remember it for years, and never any
other ; this was laid upon the lap prepared, to
receive it. Another step consisted in drawing
out from the same mysterious receptacle, a black
japanned box, circular in shape, and of the diameter
of a shaving-box, but scarce an inch in thickness ;
this was carefully wiped with the handkerchief
* Wliy are ladies who indulge in this habit universally de-
scribed as elderly ladies 1
OUR LADY OF YONGAS.
293
already named, and then grasped in the left hand,
resting on the palm, and pressed by the thumb on
one side, and the extremities of the fingers on the
other. A slight, but smartly repeated rap or two-
on the top of the box with the knuckles of the
right hand constituted the commencement of the
fourth operation, which ended by taking hold of
the upper portion of the box with the fingers of
the right hand, in the same manner that the lower
was. held by the left, and gently raising it obliquely,
as it were, upon a hinge, although it possessed
none, and leaving it, when nearly perpendicular, in
charge of the now disengaged fore-finger and
thumb of the left hand, whilst the right hand was
entirely free. How radiant was the smile when
the yellow dust filled at least a moiety of the cavity
of the opened box. How disconsolate the expres-
sion when this devout consummation was not
attained. . Witness next the extended fingers, and
the adroit dexterity with which the finger and
thumb collected its accustomed dole, and conveyed
it to the olfactory organs. How carefully it was
carried, first to the right nostril, and then to the
left, and with two hearty inspirations imbibed.
The. returning fingers now closed the box, which
received another wipe, and was then returned into
the receptacle. The fingers first, and then the
nose, underwent the same purifying process by
means of the brown handkerchief. Then, although
no particle ot dust could anywhere be seen, the
whole frontispiece, from the chin to the knees
underwent a regular dusting; the handkerchief
was replaced among the folds of the dress the
apron smoothed down with both hands, a ’half-
uttered exclamation of satisfaction, and the work
which had been temporarily laid aside was now
resumed, until another occasion of a like character
should arise to demand its suspension.
294
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
But to return to coca, the effects of which are
described as of the most extraordinary nature,
totally distinct from those produced by any other
known plant in any part of the world. The
exciting principle is said to be so volatile, that
leaves, after being kept for twelve months, entirely
lose their power, and are good for nothing.
Large heaps of the freshly-dried leaves, par-
ticularly while the warm rays of the sun are upon
them, diffuse a very strong smell, resembling that
of hay in which there is a quantity of melilot.
The natives never permit strangers to sleep near
them, as they would suffer violent headaches in
consequence. When kept in small portions, and
after a few months, the coca loses its scent, and
becomes weak in proportion. The novice thinks
that the grassy smell and fresh hue are as percep-
tible in the old state as when new. Without the
use of lime, which always excoriates the mouth of
a stranger, the natives declare that coca has not
its true taste, a flavour which can only be detected
after long use. It then tinges green the carefully
swallowed saliva, and yields an infusion of the
same colour. Of this infusion Poppig made trial,
and found that it had a flat-, grass-like taste, but
he experienced the full power of its stimulating
principles. When taken in the evening, it was
followed by great restlessness, loss of sleep, and
generally uncomfortable sensations, while from its
exhibition in the morning, a similar effect, though
to a slight* degree arose, accompanied with loss of
appetite. Dr. Archibald Smith of Huanaco,
when on one occasion unprovided with Chinese
tea, made a trial of the coca as a substitute . for it,
but experienced such distressing sensations of
nervous excitement, that he never ventured to use
it again. It is not at all uncommonly used in this
way ; and the Indians have tea -parties or tertulias,
OUR LADY OF YONGAS.
295
for taking the infusion of the leaves, as well as for
chewing them. Some affirm that in the coca-tea
drinkings the effects are agreeably exhilarating.
It is usual to say on such occasions, “ Vamos a
coquear y acullicar’ — “ Let us indulge in coca.”
Chewing the coca becomes quite a passion in
those who indulge in it; and when the habit
is once commenced, it is affirmed that it is
never discontinued, and that an instance of a
reclaimed coquero has never been known. To
indulge in the enjoyment* of this narcotic, the
Peruvian will expose himself to the greatest
dangers. As its stimulus is most fully developed
when the body is exhausted with toil, or the mind
with conversation, “the victim then hastens to
some retreat in a gloomy native wood, and flinging
himself under a tree, remains stretched out there,
heedless of night or of storms, unprotected by
covering or by fire, unconscious of the floods of
rain, and of the tremendous winds which sweep
the forest, and after yielding himself for two or
three entire days to the occupation of chewing
coca, returns home to his abode, with trembling
limbs, and a pallid countenance, the miserable
spectacle of unnatural enjoyment. Whoever acci-
dentally meets the coquero under such circum-
stances, and by speaking interrupts the effects of
this intoxication, is sure to draw upon himself the
hatred of the half-maddened creature. The man
who is once seized with the passion for this
practice, if placed in circumstances which favours
its indulgence, is a ruined being. Many instances
were related to Poppig while in Peru, where young
people of the best families, by occasionally visiting
the forests, had begun using the coca for the sake
of passing the time away, and acquiring a relish
for it, from that period been lost to civilization *
as if seized by some malevolent instinct, they
296 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
refused to return to their homes, and resisting the
entreaties of their friends, who occasionally dis-
covered the haunts of these unhappy fugitives,
either retired to some distant solitude, or took the
first opportunity of escaping, when they had been
brought back to the towns.” So sed'uctive becomes
this habit, for we cannot doubt the veracity of
these statements, that neither home, nor friends,
nor family, nor society, nor fear, nor love, nor
respect, nor any other creature, nor passion, would
seem to have the power of winning them back
from their monomania to a rational state of
existence.
The virtues of the coca must be of the most
astonishing character. The Indians, who are ad-
dicted to its use, are declared to be thereby enabled
to withstand the toil of the mines amidst noxious
metallic exhalations without rest, food, or protec-
tion from the climate. They run hundreds of
leagues over deserts, and plains, and craggy moun-
tains, sustained only by the coca and a little
parched corn ; and often too, acting as mules in
bearing loads through passes where animals cannot
go. Some have attributed this frugality and power
of endurance to the effects of habit, and not to the
use of coca ; but the Indian is naturally voracious,
and it is known that many Spaniards were unable
to perform the Herculean tasks of the Peruvians
until they habitually used the coca ; moreover, it
is affirmed, that without it, the Indians lose both
their vigour and powers of endurance. During
the siege of La Paz in 1781, when the Spaniards
were constantly on the watch, and destitute of
provisions, in the inclemencies of winter, they were
saved, as chroniclers narrate, from disease and
death by resorting to this plant. Some of those
who deny many of the effects, said to be produced
by its use, admit that the coca is useful medicinally
OUR LADY OF TONGAS.
297
as a preservative against the fevers which are con-
sequent to a climate like that of Peru.
Hallucinations result from the use of the coca as
from that of the narcotic hemp, but not, as it would
appear, to the. same extent. The inordinate use of
this plant, as indeed of all the narcotics, seem to be
attended, with fearful results. One description
with which we are acquainted, gives details of no
very desirable. character. It affirms that the abuse
speedily occasions bodily disease, and detriment to
the moral powers, but that still the custom may be
persevered in for many years, especially if fre-
quently intermitted, and the coquero sometimes
attains, the age of fifty with comparatively few
complaints. But. the oftener the orgies are cele-
brated, especially in a warm and moist climate, the
sooner are their destructive effects made evident.
Foi this reason, the natives of the cold and dry
districts of the Andes are more addicted to the con-
sumption of coca than those of the close forests
where undoubtedly other stimulants do but take
its . place. Weakness in the digestive organs
which, like . most incurable complaints, increases
continually in a greater or less degree, first attacks
the unfortunate coquero. This complaint, which
is. called “ opilacion,” may be trifling at the begin-
ning, but soon attains an alarming height. Then
come bilious, obstructions, attended with all those
thousand painful symptoms which are so much
aggravated by a tropical climate, jaundice and
derangement of the nervous system follow, alono-
with pains in the head, and such a prostration of
strength, that the patient speedily loses all appetite,
ihe whites of the eyes assume a leaden colour
and a total inability to sleep ensues, which
aggravates the mental depression of the unhappy
individual, who spite of all his ills, cannot relin-
quish the use of the herb, to which he owes his
298 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
suffering, but craves brandy in addition. The
appetite becomes quite irregular, sometimes failing
altogether, and sometimes assuming a wolfish vo-
racity, especially for animal food. Thus do years
of misery drag on, succeeded at length by a painful
death.
This property of dispelling sleep, as a result of
the inordinate use of coca, was noticed by Weddell,
as the result also of the moderate indulgence, by
way of experiment, in an infusion of the leaves, and
which led him to suppose that the chemical prin-
ciple of tea, called theine, would be found present
in them. Professor Frerny analyzed them accord-
ingly, but found no such principle present, although
an active bitter principle was found, peculiar to this
plant, the full properties of which are still unascer-
tained.
Coca has the reputed power of sustaining strength
in the absence of any other nutriment. The Indians
declare, that when using it they feel neither the
pains of hunger nor of thirst, that they are enabled
to perform the most laborious operations with little
or no food, insensible either to cold or weariness ;
that by its use they can ascend the steep passes of
the Andes, carrying with them heavy loads, and
without lassitude or loss of breath. When Tschuddi
was in the Pima, he drank always before going out
to hunt, a strong infusion of coca-leaves. Then,
he states, he could during the whole day climb the
heights, and follow the wild animals without ex-
periencing any greater difficulty of breathing than
he would have felt in similar movements along the
coast. One account states, that a native, who was
employed in laborious digging for five days and
nights, tasted no food during that period, and only
slept two hours each night. He regularly chewed
the coca-leaves, to the extent of about half an
ounce every two or three hours, and kept a quid of
OUR LADY OF YONGAS.
299
them constantly in his mouth. The work being
finished, he went a two days’ journey of twenty-
three leagues across the level heights, keeping pace
with a mule, and only halting to replenish his quid.
At the end of all this labour, he was willing to
engage for the performance of as much more with-
out food, but with a plentiful allowance of coca.
This man was sixty-two years of age, and was never
known to have been ill in his life. For this reason,
that it appears to act as a substitute for food,
several learned and ingenious authors have lamented
that it has not been introduced into countries like
our own, where it would be a boon so valuable to
the poor in times of scarcity and distress.
What says science concerning this extraordinary
power ? One of two things is certain : either that
the coca contains some nutritive principle which
directly sustains the strength, or it does not
contain it, and, therefore, simply deceives hunger
while acting on the system as an excitement. As
to the existence of a nutritive principle in coca,
although it cannot positively be denied, on account
of the quantity of nitrogen, together with assimi-
lable carbonized products, which have been found
to exist in the leaf ; yet their proportion is so
small compared with the mass, and especially with
the quantity that a coquero consumes at once, that
they can scarcely be taken into consideration.
Moreover, it has also been affirmed that coca, as it
is habitually taken, does not satiate hunger. The
Indians who accompany travellers, will chew the
leaves during the day, but, on the arrival of
evening, they will fill their stomachs like fasting
men, devouring, at a single meal, enough to satisfy
an ordinary man for two days. The Indian of the
Cordillera . is like the vulture of his mountains,
when provisions abound, he gorges himself greedily*
when they are scarce, his robust nature enables
300 THE SEVEN SISTEES OF SLEEP.
him to content himself ■with very little. This is
the evidence — what is the verdict ? That the use '
of the coca assists, perhaps, to support the absti-
nence ; but that its action is confined to an
excitement of a peculiar kind, very different fi^om
that of the ordinary excitants, and especially
alcohol. Brandy gives strength, but that strength
is only a loan, at the expense of strength reserved
for the future. The stimulus produced by coca is
slow and sustained, in part owing to the manner
of its employment, as the infusion acts differently
from the leaf as taken in the ordinary way. Tea
and coffee act specially on the brain, on which they
produce an anti-soporific effect ; but while coca
produces a little of this effect when taken in large
doses, it does not act perceptibly upon the brain in
small doses. To account for the ordinary effects
of the leaf, one must suppose that its action,
instead of being localized, as in the case of tea and
coffee, is diffused, and bears upon the nervous
system generally, producing a sustained stimulus,
calculated to impart to those under its influence,
that support which has been attributed erroneously
to peculiar nutritive properties.
Superstition and prejudice combined have, how-
ever, ennobled this plant in the mind of the
Peruvian, and he looks upon it as a true “gift of
God.” Its influences and effects are magnified in
his own mind into something miraculous, and,
indeed, miraculous powers have been attributed to
it, for in what other light can we regard the belief
current amongst them, that if the miner throws
the masticated leaves upon the hard and impene-
trable veins of metal, the ore will thereby become
softened and be more easily worked ? or that the
leaves when placed in the mouth of a dead person,
ensures it a more favourable reception into the
world of spirits ? or that when a mummy is met
OUR LADY OF YONGAS.
301
with disentombed from its narrow home, the
presentation of a few leaves propitiates its dis-
engaged spirit, and is accepted as a pious offering ?
Much of the fidelity of the Indian to his coca,
as with the smoker to his pipe of tobacco, is due
to habit, and in this case the influence of the habit
is more powerful, inasmuch as it has been handed
down through a long line of ancestors, and is
almost the only one which has been preserved.
Finally, he finds in its use a distraction, and the
only one, which breaks the monotony of his
existence. The Peruvian Indians are of a gloomy
temperament, and subject to fits of melancholy.
When not engaged in out-door work, they will sit
in their huts chewing coca and brooding gloomily
over their own thoughts ; indeed, the combined
testimony of travellers establish the fact, that there
is in their features an expression of concentrated
melancholy, which seems to speak of an undefined
but constant suffering ; we cannot be astonished at
finding such people seeking for comfort in the
best substitute for opium that their country will
furnish.
Coca appears to enjoy an undisputed reign in the
Cordilleras ; no other narcotic starts up "to share
the throne, and this is almost the only one which
has not been imitated, or for which some substitute
has_ not either been proposed or used. The
antipodes, or nearly so, of this country possesses a
plant, which, had it grown freely in other parts of
the world might have been heard of more exten-
sively as an indulgence. In Siberia, however,
there seems to be little use made of the small
mmgenous rhododendron, which claims to be one
of the most powerful narcotics in the world,
bteller, the Pmssian botanist, had a tame deer
which became . so intoxicated by browsing on
about ten of its leaves, that, after staggering
302 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
about for some time, it dropped into a deep but
troubled sleep for four hours, after which it
awoke, apparently free from pain, but would
never touch the leaves again. Steller’s servants,
after this, took to intoxicating themselves with
the leaves without any evil effects. We have
also been informed that certain of the Russians
have been charged with the habit of following
the example of these experimentalists, by getting
drunk upon the leaves, which have been used in
infusion, as Pallas states, with good effect in the
cure of chronic rheumatism. The flowers of
another species of rhododendron are eaten as a
narcotic by the Hill people of India, but in these
instances the extent of their use is so small, and
the persons indulging in them so few, that no
claim can be set up for them, except as minor
narcotics occasionally employed, when the other
and more important substances cannot readily be
obtained.
For t'he basis of much which this, chapter con-
tains, we are indebted to the Travels in Bolivia and
Peru of that worthy trio of doctors, Poppig,
Weddell, and Tscliuddi, besides three times as
many more, less noted and less known, but whose
information was not less to be relied upon on the
points concerning which they have spoken.
Whether the votaries of our Lady of Yongas are
as numerous as has been asserted, or only of the
number we have suggested — whether the influence
of this plant over the stomachic regions is suffi-
cient to subdue the pangs of hunger, or allay the
cruelties of thirst, or these are only effects due to
the imagination — whether it has the manellous j
power of softening the adamantine rock, or j
strengthening and supporting the lungs in the
ascent of Andean summits, or whether these, ana
all of these, are fictions proceeding from the heat-
OUR LADY OF YONGAS.
303
oppressed brain, it is, nevertheless, certain, that a
great amount of interest gathers around this plant,
which associates itself so intimately with the
country in which it flourishes, that, as for centuries
past, so for centuries to come, coca will remain the
characteristic plant of the Peruvian nation, as tea
was, and is, of the Chinese.
CHAPTER XXII.
WHITEWASH AND CLAY.
“ Alexander died. Alexander was buried. Alexander returneth
into dust ; the dust is earth ; ol earth we make loam. And why of
that loam, whereto he was courerted, might they not stop a beer
barrel ?” — Hamlet.
The fact, at one time doubted, but now established
beyond dispute, that some tribes indulge in the
habit of dirt-eating, is one which, from its sin-
gularity, claims notice. The Malayan uses lime as
an ingredient in compounding his favourite masti-
catory, and the coquero of the Andes mixes it with
his leaves of coca. The Nubians mingle the saline
natron with their quid of tobacco, and the blacks
of Gesira the same material to compound their
“ bucca ” The Ottamacs and Omaguas avail
themselves of the assistance of shell lime to give
pungency to their intoxicating snuffs. The tribes
on the coast of Pari i. according to Gomara, stimu-
lated the organs of taste by caustic lime, as other
races employ tobacco, coca, or betel. In our own
days this practice exists among the Guajiros at the
mouth of the Rio do la Hacha. Plere the stil
uncivilized Indians t arry small shells, calcined and
powdered, in a box made from the husk of a fruit.
This box is suspended from their girdle, and serves
WHITEWASH AND CLAY.
305
a variety of purposes. The powder used by the
Guajiros is an article of commerce, as formerly was
that of the Indians of Paria. What could first
have induced these people to use by itself, or other
races to mingle with vegetable substances, a
mineral only known to us as a whitewash, or for
somewhat similar vulgar uses, and to metamor-
phose it into a luxury, is difficult to understand.
We comprehend the value of lime when stirred
about in a pail, with sufficiency of water to
reduce it to the consistence of cream, and then
by the aid of a broad flat brush transferred to
the ceilings of our dwellings. We cannot so
well comprehend or appreciate the luxury of roll-
ing it into a pellet, and transferring it to our
mouths, as a whitewash for regions where the
curious eye of man does not penetrate.
The residents at the fur-posts on the Mackenzie
River, have a mineral in use among them, known
by the . appellation of id ate mud , which is used
for whitewashing, and, when soap is scarce, it
supplies the place of that article for washing
clothes. It resembles pipe-clay, and exists in
beds from six to twelve inches in thickness. It
is of a yellowish white colour, sometimes with a
reddish tinge. On the Arkansas also a similar
substance haf been met with, called pink clay.
The play of the Mackenzie is smooth, and, when
masticated, has a flavour, we are told, resembling
the kernel of a hazel nut.. Sir John Richardson
obtained some of this clay in his journey to Prince
Ruperts Land., and had it examined, but could
not discover in it any nutritious properties, or
detect the remains of infusorial animal enW smnL nc
use they prolong their lives.
x
306
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
physiological reasons known to us whereby we
account for fowls, and other winged bipeds in-
dulging in the singular propensity of swallowing
small pebbles, fragments of lime or mortar, sand
and clay; but as we cannot apply these same
arguments to the cases of other “ bipeds without
feathers ” who indulge in the same propensity, we
naturally seek for some signs of nutritious value
in the substance itself. In this instance the
remote probability of its containing decayed animal
matter does not apparently exist, for the micro-
scope detects no infusoria. And unless we argue,
as did Hamlet with his friend Horatio, that in this
clay are the remains of a previous generation, we
can scarce account for its being a good article of
food.
“ Imperial Csesar, dead and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away
or dead Indians turned to clay to appease the
hunger of their living descendants. Thus, if the
imagination may trace the noble dust of Alexander,
till we find it stopping a bunghole, may it not
also follow this same clay from the bunghole into
the veins of a new Alexander ?
Richardson states that the above is a kind of pipe-
clay. If made into pipes for smoking, Hamlet
might argue still further, “ may we not trace the
dust of the dead Indian, till we find a man smoking
his weed from the leg or arm of his great grand-
father.”
Clay eating exists in South America, among the
Guamos, and by the tribes between the Meta and
the Apure. The natives here speak of the custom
as one of great antiquity. The Ottomacs are,
however, great clay-eaters. Humboldt found
amongst them heaps of earth-balls, piled up in
pyramids three or four feet high, and these balls
WHITEWASH AND CLAY.
307
five or six inches in diameter. This clay was of a
yellowish grey colour, and did not contain mag-
nesia, but silex and alumina, and three or four per
cent, of lime, no trace of organic substance, either
oily or farinaceous, could be found mixed with it.
If the Ottomac is asked what he lives upon during
the two months of the inundation of the rivers, he
shows you his balls of clayey earth. It is asserted
that far from becoming lean at that season, they
are, on the contrary, extremely robust.
At the village *of Banco, on the Rio Magdalena,
the same traveller found Indian women making
pottery, who continually swallowed great pieces of
clay.
On the coast of Guinea, the negroes eat a
yellowish earth, which they call caouac, the taste
of which is said to be agreeable, and to cause no
inconvenience. When these Africans are carried
to the West Indies, they still indulge in the custom,
for which purpose Chanvalon states that it is sold
in the markets, but that the West-Indian clay
does not agree with them so well as that of their
native country.
Labillardiere saw between Surabaya and Sama-
rang little square reddish cakes, called tanaampo,
exposed for sale, which were slightly baked, and
eaten with relish. 5
Leschenault states that the reddish clay (cimpo)
which the Javanese are fond of eating occasionally^
is spiead on a plate of iron and baked, after being
rolled into little cylinders in the form of cinnamon
bark. In this state it is sold in the markets. It
has a peculiar taste, which is owing to the baking
is very absorbent, and adheres to the tongue. The
Javanese women eat the cimpo in order to grow
thin, the absence of plumpness being there
regarded as a kind of beauty.
In times of hunger or scarcity, the savages of
x 2
308
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
New Caledonia eat great pieces of a friable stone,
which contains magnesia and silex, with a little
oxide of copper.
The African negroes of Bunch and Los Idoles
eat a kind of white and friable steatite, or soap-
stone, from which custom they are said to suffer
no inconvenience.
At Popayan and several of the mountainous
parts of Peru, finely-powdered lime is sold in the
public markets with other articles of food. This
powder is, however, generally mixed with the leaves
of the coca, and used as a masticatory. In other
parts of South America, lime is swallowed alone,
the Indians carrying with them a little box of
lime, as other people carry their tobacco-box, snuff-
box, or siri-box.
In the kingdom of Quito, the Tigua natives eat
from choice, and without any ill consequences, a
very fine clay mixed with sand. This clay, mixed
with water, renders it milky. Large vessels filled
with this mixture, called agua de llanka, water of
clay, or leche de llanka, milk of clay, may be seen
in most of their huts, where it serves as a beverage.
On the banks of the river Kamen-da-Maslo,
there is produced a fossil, or an earthy substance,
called in Russian kamennoye maslo, stone butter,
which is eaten in various ways, as well by the
Russians as the Tongousi, it is of a yellowish cream
colour, and not unpleasant in taste, but it is for-
bidden as pernicious in its effects. This earthy
matter is stated to be a fossil, or salt oozing out of
rocks, in many parts of Siberia, but chiefly from
those near the river Irtish and Yenissei. When
it is exposed to the air in dry weather it hardens,
but in wet weather it again becomes soft or liquid.
The Russian hunters use it also as a bait. The
animals scent it from afar, and are fond of the
smell.
WHITEWASH AND CLAY.
309
In . Germany, the workmen employed in the
quarries of sandstone at Kiffhauser, spread a fine
clay upon their bread instead of butter, which they
call Steinbutter (stone butter). There is another
substance, called bergbutter, or mountain butter,
which is . a saline substance produced by the
decomposition of aluminous schists.
On the shores of a lake near Urania, in Sweden
is found a deposit, called by the peasants “ mountain
meal” ( bergmehl ) which they use, mixed up with
flour, as an article of food. This deposit consists
chiefly of fossil infusoria.
In Finland also, a similar kind of earth is mixed
with bread stuff, as also in parts of Northern
Gei many in cases of scarcity or necessity. In
Lapland also,, this fossil farina has been found and
applied to a like use. The Tripoli or rotten stone
ot commerce is an infusorial earth of this descrip-
tion, composed of fossils of extraordinary minute
dimensions.
A poor man, in the neighbourhood of Dejufors
Sweden,. some years since, found an earth of this
description, which had much the appearance of
meal The people being at that time in a state of
privation, and living upon bark bread, this man
took some home, mixed it with rye meal, baked it
into bread, and found it palatable, hereupon
there was a general run upon this earth, and some
ot it found its way to Stockholm. On analysis it
was found to contain flint and felspar, finely pul-
verized with lime, clay, oxide of iron, and some
organic substance resembling animal matter, and
yielding ammonia, and an oil.
Ehrenberg found that a hill in Bohemia was
one mass of the siliceous fossil shells of these
minute creatures, and that in a stratum fourteen
feet in thickness, one cubic inch contained tho
remains of 41,000,000,000 of individuals.
310
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
These kind of deposits are continually accumu-
lating, and producing important changes, in the
bed of the Nile, at Dongola, and in the Elbe, at
Cuxhaven, and even choking up some of the
harbours in the Baltic Sea.
Dr. Trail analyzed a bergmehl from the North
of Sweden, and found it to be composed of the
minute shields of infusoria, about one thousandth
of an inch in size, consisting chiefly of siliceous
earth and alumina. A small quantity of this curious
substance was found in County Down, Ireland, by
Dr. Drummond, twenty years ago, while sinking a
pit near Newcastle.
MM. Cloquet and Breschet ate experimentally
as much as five ounces of a silvery green laminar
talc. Their hunger was completely satisfied, and
they felt no inconvenience from the use of a kind of
food to which they had not been accustomed. In
parts of the East, use is still made of the Bole earths
of Lemnos, which are clay mixed with oxide of iron.
In Portugal and Spain, bucaro clays are made
into vessels, from which many are fond of drinking
on account of the smell of the clay ; and the
women of the province of Alentejo acquire a habit
of masticating the bucaro earth, and feel it a great
privation when unable to indulge in this vitiated
taste.
In the Bolivian markets, Dr. Weddell saw a
grey-coloured clay which was offered for sale. It
is called pahsa , and the Indians of La Paz eat it
with the bitter potato of the country. It is steeped
in water, made into a kind of gruel, and seasoned
with salt.
At Chiquisaca a kind of earth called cliaco is
made into little pots, and eaten like chocolate.
Although their moderate use is not calculated to
injure the system, their contribution to the nourish-
ment of the body must be but small.
WHITEWASH AND CLAY.
311
In the valleys of the Sikkim Himalayas, a kind
of red earth is chewed as a cure for the goitre, but
it is not stated to be regularly indulged in as an
article of food either there or in any other part of
India.
Mr. Wallace relates that a little Indian boy died
from the habit of dirt-eating — a very common and
destructive habit among Indians and half breeds in
the houses of the whites in the Amazon valley.
All means had been tried to cure the lad of the
habit. He had been physicked and whipped, and
confined in doors ; but when no other opportunity
offered, he would find a plentiful supply in the mud
walls of the house. The whole body, face, and
limbs swelled, so that he could with difficulty walk,
and not having so much care taken of him, he ate
his fill and died.
Those who have had much to do with children,
will have noticed amongst some of them the germs
of tiffs propensity, which will occasionally develop
itself in chewing pieces of pipe, slate pencil, chalk,
and other substances of a like nature. Although
not carried to so great an extent as to become inju-
rious, cases of this kind are far from being, among
school children, either exceptional or uncommon.
In the mission of San Borja, Humboldt found
the child of an Indian woman, which, according to
the statement of its mother, would hardly eat any-
thing but earth. It was very thin and emaciated.
These instances are not, after all, so singular as
those of habitual, national dirt-eating which we find
amongst the tribes of South America and the
negroes of Africa. Children are not always the
most particular in the choice of their articles of
food, or we should not read of such instances
as occur in tropical America of these young-
sters drawing immense centipedes out of their
holes and eating them ; or, as related by Captain
312 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Cochrane, of a child devouring several pieces
of tallow candle, which was succeeded by a
large lump of yellow soap, all of which he seemed
to enjoy.
Chroniclers often make mention of the employ-
ment, during times of war, of kinds of infusorial
earth as food, under the general term of moun-
tain meal. This was the case in the Thirty Years
War, at Camin in Pomerania, Muskau in the
Lausitz, and Ivleiken in the Dessau territory ; and
subsequently in 1719 and 1733 at the fortress of
Wittenberg. But in times of war and scarcity,
one is prepared to hear of men satisfying their
hunger by every legitimate means.
M. S. Julien sent to the Academy of Sciences at
Paris some few years since, specimens of a peculiar
mineral substance from the province of Kiang-si
in China, on which, in times of famine, the inha-
bitants have been said to be able to support them-
selves as a nutriment. It has a disagreeable taste,
and produces dryness in the mouth. It is never-
theless used by the natives mixed with flour, and is
even esteemed by them.
It may appear somewhat singular to refer to
these dirt-eating customs, in connection with those
relating to narcotics. The connection is, however,
more intimate than at the first glance might
appear. Two kinds of substances are mostly re-
sorted to, either to gratify these depraved tastes, or
satisfy the cravings of hunger — lime and clay,
or, as we have designated them — clay and white-
wash. It is, or has been matter of dispute, whether
the stimulating properties of the betel and coca, and
the intoxicating snuffs of the Orinoco, are to be
attributed to the vegetable substances themselves,
or to the lime used with them, or both in conjunc-
tion ; hence the introduction of lime is not con-
sidered inappropriate. As for the clay, it is not
WHITEWASH AND CLAY. 313
only intimately associated with the other, from the
similarity of the use to which it is thus strangely
applied, _ but the connection of it in some of its
forms with the consumption of one or two of the
narcotics, as the means whereby they are indulged
in, must serve as an apology, if such be needed?
CHAPTER XXIII.
PRECIOUS METALS.
“ The virtues of the noble metals are, moreover, of such a nature that
they inspire respect even in those who do not seek these qualities in
higher spheres, but ask after the common and every-day usefulness of a
thing.” — Von Kobell.
Some consider those metals most precious which,
like gold and silver, have earned that reputation
by acting in the capacity of representatives, of
wealth, as the current coins of civilized nations.
To some men these have been esteemed more
precious than health, or even than life itself j
others, calculating on the grounds of utility, have
considered iron and copper, so universally appli-
cable to the wants of civilized life, such mighty
agents in the cause of civilization, as the most
precious of metals ; and these may be right in
their calculations, for although we might manage
to get on without the former, we can hardly
imagine for ourselves the condition occasioned by
the loss of the latter. There are yet a few to
whom it would seem, however strange the fact
may appear, that two metals are the most precious
which the rest of the world have no idea of con-
sidering as of but a very low rate of value, and
without which they can readily conceive ot the
PRECIOUS METALS.
315
world moving on without any very great sense of
their loss. These two are Arsenic and Mercury.
The very names are almost sufficient to send a
shudder of horror through us as we write or repeat
them ; and to elect them into the highest place in
our affections is the last act we should, in a state
of sanity, deem ourselves likely to perform. The
one suggests images of Aqua Tophana and the
Middle Ages, and our teeth loosen in our gums
with unpleasant reminiscences of black draught
and blue pill as associated with the other. For
one we can think of no better employment than
the extirpation of rats, or the preservation of
mummies; and for the other no more exalted an
occupation than to coat the backs of our mirrorsj
or inform us of the conditions of the atmosphere.
That any one could indulge in them as luxuries,
or, by their habitual use, elevate them to a com-
panionship with tobacco and opium, with haschish
and coca, would appear to be a gross libel upon the
“Seven Sisters of Sleep,” and a satire upon the
cherished companions of millions of the human
race.
Medical men, foremost amongst whom is Dr.
Christison, consider that these minerals cannot be
indulged in without exercising a deleterious effect
upon the system. The cumulative action of
mineral poisons is a great point of difference
between them and those of vegetable origin, for
although the same eminent physician is of opinion
that tobacco may be indulged in without injury,
he does not believe such a possibility to exist with
regard to mercury and arsenic.*
The use of corrosive sublimate, the bichloride of
mercury, is certainly restricted within very con-
* This name, derived from the Greek, indicates strong,
powerful.
316 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
fined limits, and even within those limits, the
information we have is very meagre. At Constan-
tinople, the opium-eater, who finds his daily dose
insufficient in time to produce those results which
at first accrued from its use, resorts to the
expedient of mixing therewith a small quantity of
corrosive sublimate, to increase the potency of the
drug. By itself, it is never indulged in as a passion
in the same manner as vegetable narcotics, nor can
the same pleas be urged in favour of its use, or in
extenuation of its abuse. An opium-eater at
Broussa is stated to have been accustomed to
swallow daily with his opium, forty grains of cor-
rosive sublimate without any apparently injurious
effects. In South America its use is affirmed to
be very extensive.
Arsenious acid, or white arsenic, is a more
popular irritant than mercury. The arsenic-
eaters of Styria are now historical individuals, and
the custom there and in the neighbouring districts
appears to be a common one among the labouring
population. Itinerant pedlars vend it for this pur-
pose, and it becomes a necessary of life to those who
commence the practice. It is taken every morning
as regularly as the Turk consumes his opium.
One of the benefits said to accrue from its use
is, that it gives a plumpness to the figure, softness
to the skin, freshness to the complexion, and
brilliancy to the eye. For this purpose, young
men and maidens resort to it, to increase their
charms, and render themselves acceptable and
fascinating to each other. A friend, recently
returned from Canada and the United States,
informs us, positively, that it is largely consumed
by the young ladies, in those regions of the civilized
world, for the same purposes above described, to
which it is resorted by the Austrian damsels.
He declares that the custom is so common that no
PRECIOUS METALS.
317
surprise is excited on discovering any one addicted
to its use, and that amongst the fairer sex it is the
rule rather than the exception.
The principal authority for its use in the
European districts, is the celebrated traveller Yon
Tschuddi, who has published an account of several
cases which have come to his knowledge. In one
instance, a pale, thin damsel, anxious to attach
herself to her lover, by presenting a more pre-
possessing exterior, took the “precious metal/'’ in
the form of its oxide, several times a week, and
soon became stout, rosy, and captivating ; but in
her over-anxiety to heighten her charms, and rival
the fabled beauties of old, and having experienced
the benefit of small doses of the poison, ventured
upon a larger quantity, and died from its effects,
the victim of her vanity. The habit is generally
commenced with small doses, starting with about
half a. grain or less, each day, and gradually
increasing it to two or three grains. The case of
a hale old peasant is mentioned, whose morning
whet of arsenic reached the incredible quantity of
four grains.
Another singular benefit is supposed to arise
from the use of this substance, similar to that
claimed by the Peruvians for their coca, namely,
that of rendering the breathing easier in toiling
uphill, so that steep heights may be climbed
without difficulty or exhaustion. It is curious that
the mountaineers of the Andes and the Alps, at
distances so remote, should deem themselves
possessed of the means of assisting nature in
surmounting difficulties, by preventing exhaustion
m climbing the mountain side : in one instance, by
chewing a quid, of leaves which grow plentifully
on the . mountain slopes, and in the other, by
swallowing a small fragment of a mineral obtained
from the mines at the mountain side.
318 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
Whilst the practice of arsenic eating is continued,
no evil effects would seem to be experienced, every-
thing connected with the body of the eater seems
to be in a flourishing condition, the appearance is
healthy, plump, and fresh, no symptoms of poison-
ing are manifested until the regular dose is dis-
continued, when a great feeling of discomfort
arises, the digestion becomes deranged, burning
sensations and spasms are present in the throat,
pains in the bowels commence, and the breathing
becomes oppressed. From these unpleasant sensa-
tions there is no relief but by an immediate return
to the habit of arsenic eating, and hence, when
once commenced, the use of this article becomes a
necessity of life, and the poisonous mineral a
“precious metal.”
Dr. Macgowan of Ningpo, says, “We are told
that Mongolian hunters, beyond the wall, eat
arsenic to enable them to endure cold when
patiently lying on the snow to entrap martins. In
this part of China arsenic is taken by divers, who
in cold weather plunge into still water in pursuit
of fish, which are then found hybernating among
stones at the piers of bridges. We perceive with
regret, that the modern Chinese have added arsenic
to their habitual stimulants. The red sulphuret
in powder is mixed with tobacco, and their joint
fumes are smoked in the ordinary manner. We
have met with no habitual smokers of this com-
pound of mineral and vegetable poisons; but
persons who have made trial state that dizziness
and sickness attend first attempts. After a few
trials, arseniated tobacco may be taken without
any apparent inconvenience. From reports given
of it, we infer that its effects on the Chinese are
analogous to what is observed among the arsenic-
eating peasants of Austria.
“ At Pekimr. where arseniated tobacco is most in
PRECIOUS METALS.
319
use, it costs no more than the unmixed article ; it
may be known by the red colour imparted to the
vegetable by the powdered proto-sulphuret. Its
introduction is attributed to Cantonese from Chau-
chau. If this he correct, it is probable that these
southerners, unable at the north to procure the
masticatory to which they are addicted, sought to
appease a craving for the pungent hut harmless
lime and betel nut, by substituting the deleterious
mineral gas. Many of the miserable victims of
opium, to whom that narcotic is a necessity, and
not a pleasure, have eagerly employed the new
stimulant to prop and exhilarate their exhausted
bodies, and, perhaps, have thereby meliorated
and prolonged their existence. We would fain
hope that the use of arsenical stimulants will
not become general ; yet that pernicious custom
is extending, and we know our race too well
not to entertain fears on that subject. It is
even stated that, for a time at least, the reigning
Emperor in his boyhood preferred tobacco thus
mineralized. In domestic economy, the red sul-
phuret is employed for making away with rats
and husbands." *
. One of the best things that Hahnemann ever
did was to write a treatise on arsenic. This he
did well, and therefore deserves to be remembered •
but for this he is often forgotten, and is only ex-
tolled for a less important labour — the introduction
of homoeopathy. Chemists deserve well of man-
kind for the assiduity with which they have studied
this subtle poison, so that now it may be detected
in the minutest quantities. One point, however,
seems to be hardly clear, and on this, perhaps, the
Styrian peasant could enlighten us, namely, the
taste of arsenic, some declaring that it has no
* “Edinburgh Medical Journal,” 1857.
320 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
distinguishable taste, others, that it is sweetish,
and others saline. The only means of arriving at
the truth is rather too hazardous a one to be
ventured upon.
The effects of arsenic upon the human frame,
were illustrated in a curious case which occurred a
few years since in the northern part of France.
A domestic at a country seat wished to cause the
death of his mistress, and mixed arsenic in small
quantities with her food, hoping that the slow
operation of the poison would prevent any suspicion
of murder. To his great astonishment, she gained
rapidly in health, flesh, and spirits. ' At length
he gave her a larger quantity, which occasioned
serious illness, and led to the discovery and punish-
ment of the crime.
We have as yet applied arsenic only to some of
the purposes for which it is applicable. The roses
of England possess enough of bloom without
resorting to the bloom of the smelting furnace.
Although we use it to preserve with all the ap-
pearances of life the deceased zoological curiosities
of our museums, we do not seek its aid to enhance
the charms of those living specimens of beauty
which are the glory and the pride of our hearths
and homes. Fortunately, we have no Andes to
climb, and no Alps to scale, and the summits we
have to gain are arrived at by dint of perseverance,
and no small amount of puffing, in which latter
circumstance it seems to be our nature to glory as
much as the Peruvian or the Austrian in its
absence. Now and then we become suspicious of
its presence in our green paper hangings, and in
that menial office are almost content to dispense
with its services. Or anon, we are treated to a
scramble of Bradford drops, which, finding the
temperature of the climate uncongenial, melt away
to a stray ghost or two that haunt the stoppered
PRECIOUS METALS.
321
bottles of our chemical museums. Grumble as we
may at our precious metals, we —
“ Rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.”
Animals have not escaped arsenic-eating, for the
Austrians, having discovered its property of plump-
iQg up, and putting into good condition the human
animal, have resorted to it, as an improver of their
ill-conditioned horses. Gentlemen’s grooms bestow
it upon the animals in their charge, and pronounce
its effects as certain and as marvellous, as upon
thin and sickly-looking damsels. A pinch of the
white powder is sprinkled like pepper over the
feed of corn,” or tied up in a piece of rag and
fastened to the “bit,” before that instrument is
introduced into the animal’s mouth. The same
two properties are said to be exhibited in the case
of the horses, as are affirmed to take place in man.
The body is plumped out, and rounded into fair
proportions, the skin rendered sleek and glossy,
and the breath is improved, so that long journeys'
steep and rugged ascents, and heavy loads, are
readily overcome by its potency. If this secret
were communicated to some of our London omni-
bus and cabmen, it would probably be of advantage
to the appearance of some of the poor animals
doomed for a certain time to walk this earth, and
increase their facility for moving through a space
of three or four miles in less time than a pedestrian
could accomplish the feat.
The teamsters in mountainous countries fre-
quently add a dose of arsenic to the fodder, which
wiey give their horses, before a laborious ascent.
I he practice of giving arsenic to horses may con-
tinue for yearn without accident, but as soon as the
animal passes into the hands of a master who does
not use arsenic, he becomes thin, loses his spirits
322 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
and, in spite of tine most abundant nourishment,
never recovers his former appearance.
The use of arsenic for horned cattle is less fre-
quent ; it is only given to oxen and calves intended
for fattening. In Austria, hogs and other animals
are also fattened by a careful use of arsenic.
Precious metals, like precious stones, are subject
to misfortunes. As of the latter, a learned pro-
fessor saith, “ Patents of nobility are distributed
here in the most arbitrary manner, and outward
aspect and character, weigh heaviest in the scales
by which they are determined. To such an
extent is this the case, that the stones which have
literally and truly fallen from the skies, are not
reckoned among the precious stones, although they
have been in all times objects of curiosity to the
most cultivated minds, and certainly are of very
high descent , since they came, at least, from the
moon, and are even imagined to be young worlds,
little princes, which would in time have come to reign
as planets. And whence this injustice ? Because
these little strangers, which, perhaps, are pleased to
travel incognito, have an inconspicuous exterior, are
enveloped in a dark weather-proof cloak, because
from under this cloak, only a greyish suit, without
gold lace, with merely a little iron scattered about
it, comes to light ; because this aspect does not
show from afar off that they have fallen from the
skies, and because they do not say to everybody,
‘ My mother lives in the mountains of the moon/
And although Mercury, not only in name, but
also in its volatile and skyward tendencies, claims
kindred with the planetary system, which ten-
dencies are likewise' shown in the behaviour of the
other metallic substance, of which this chapter dis-
courses. Yet their high claims are disregarded, and,
like the aerolites, they are condemned by the majo-
rity of men to a plebeian rank and menial offices.
CHAPTER XXI Y.
DATURA AND CO.
»
“ That skulk in the depths of the measureless wood
^lid the Dark’s creeping whispers that curdle the blood.
Where the wolf howls aloof, and the wavering glare
Flashes out from the blackness the eyes of the bear.”
The tliorn-apple and nightshade are types of a
class of narcotics, which, though not largely
employed either for their intoxicating effects or
their medicinal virtues, are, notwithstanding,
extremely powerful in their effects, and, when
used, exercise a wonderful influence upon the
brain. The majority of them belong to that
family of plants, of which, not only tobacco, but
the. potato, aie members 5 so that, if only from
then- family connections, independently of any
other right, they have a claim upon our attention
and respect. Beyond this, even, we shall find them
insinuating themselves into the good graces of that
portion of the creation who have taken the two
members of the family already named under its
protection, and adopted them as companions, the
one to soothe and console after the hours of labour
are past, the other to aid in giving strength to
perform that labour, or satisfy the cravings of
hunger. 0
The solanaceous plants have, in general, narcotic
qualities. In some species these are developed in
324
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
a great degree, so as to render them extremely
poisonous ; in others, they are obscured by the
prevalence of starchy matter. In some instances
parts of the plant have narcotic properties, whilst
other parts are used as articles of food. The
Bitter Sweet ( Solanum dulcamara ) has slightly
narcotic properties, and the scarlet berries are
considered poisonous. The- Common Nightshade
( Solanum nigrum) has more active narcotic pro-
perties. The Potato ( Solanum tuberosum) has
slight narcotic qualities in its leaves and fruit, but
its tubers are edible and nutritious. The Deadly
Nightshade (Atropa belladonna) is a highly
poisonous plant, narcotic in all its parts. Hen-
bane ( Hyoscyamus niger) contains also similar
properties. Many species of Thorn Apple are
powerfully narcotic, especially the seeds or fruit ;
this is especially the case with our common thorn-
apple ( Datura stramonium), with the thorn-apple
of the Andes ( Datura sanguinea), and of North
America ( Datura tatula), the thorn-apples ofj
India (Datura metel, D. ferox, and D. fatuosa).
Several species of Nicotiana furnish tobacco. The
fruit of different species and varieties of Capsicum ,
which are used as pepper, possess irritant properties
which obscure the narcotic action. Other species
are used as narcotics, or as poisons, and some, as
the Tomato and other Lycopersicums, as articles
of food; but the majority give evidence, in some
of their parts, of the existence of a narcotic
principle.*
* The potato, the tomato, and egg plant possess, when
uncooked, in a mild degree, the properties of the nightshade,
the stramonium, and the henbane, confirming the remark of De
Candolle “ that all our aliments contain a small proportion of
an exciting principle, which, should it occur in a much greater
quantity, might become injurious, but which is necessary as
a natural condiment.” In fact, when food does not contain
some stimulating principle, we add it in the form of spices.
DATURA AND CO.
325
The Kala clhatoora {Datura fatuosa ) and Sada
dhatoora ( Datur alba ) are very common species
of thorn-apple over the peninsula of India, where
they are also called mazil or methel. For the pur-
pose of facilitating theft and other criminal designs,
the seeds are very commonly given in Bengal,
vuth sweetmeats, to stupify merely, hut not with
the intention of killing. Intoxication or delirium
is seldom produced. The individual sinks into a
profound lethargy, with dilated pupils, hut natural
respiration. These symptoms have been known to
continue for two days. The vision often becomes
obscured long after the general recovery takes
place. Graham says that the seeds are often
fatally used for these purposes in Bombay. The
narcotic action is more speedy and powerful on an
empty stomach than after a meal; hence death
often ensues from the effects when the intention
was only to produce narcotism.
In some parts of South America, especially in
Peru, where a species of thorn-apple (. Datura san-
guined) grows wild, the natives, in certain cases,
drink a decoction of the leaves or seeds, which
produces such violent effects as to cause them to
fall _ into a state nearly resembling death, and
lasting frequently two or three days. Every
malady is there ascribed to enchantment, and this
very singular plan is resorted to to discover by
whom the mischief may have been wrought. In
cases of extreme illness the decoction is given not
to the sick person, but to the nearest relative, who
devotes himself for this purpose, to discover during
his sleep the sorcerer or Mohari who has inflicted
the disease. The medicine soon causes the relative
to fall under its influence, and he is placed in a fit
position to prevent suffocation. On returning to
his senses he describes the sorcerer he has seen
m his dreams, and the whole family set out to
326
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
discover the Mohari who bears the nearest resem-
blance to the description, who, when found, they
compel to undertake the cure of the sick person.
When no sorcerer has been seen in the vision, or
no one is found resembling the one which has been
seen, the first Mohari they meet with is obliged to
undertake the office of physician. Should the
patient die during the vision of the relative, the
sorcerer whose image is then supposed to be
presented is subjected to the same fate.
This plant, which is called “ Florispondio” in
tropical America, appears always to have played,
and still continues to play, a prominent part in the
superstitions of the natives. The Indians of
Darien, as well as those of Choco, according to
Seemann, prepare from its seeds a decoction, which
is given to their children to produce a state of
excitement, in which they are supposed to possess,
the power of discovering gold. In any place where
the unhappy patients happen to fall down, digging
is commenced ; and as the soil nearly everywhere
abounds with gold dust, an amount of more or
less value is obtained. In order to counteract the
bad effects of the poison, some sour chica, a beer
made of Indian corn, is administered.
It is this same thorn-apple which is used amongst
the Andes of New Granada, and even as far south,
as Peru, for the purpose of preparing therefrom a
drink, with very strong narcotic properties, which
they call “ Tonga.” Dr. Von Tschuddi has giveq
a description of the effects of this narcotic upon an
old Indian. “ Shortly after swallowing the beve-
rage he fell into a heavy stupor. He sat with his
eyes vacantly fixed on the ground, his mouth con-'
vulsively closed, and his nostrils dilated. Iu th(
course of about a quarter of an hour his eyes began
to roll, foam issued from his half-opened lips, auc
his whole body was agitated by frightful coni
DATURA AND CO.
327
vulsions. These violent symptoms having subsided,
a profound sleep of several hours succeeded. In
the evening, when I saw him again, he was relating
to a circle of attentive listeners the particulars of
his vision, during which he alleged he had held
communication with the spirits of his forefathers.
He appeared very weak and exhausted.”
By means of this plant they believe that they
can hold communication with, their ancestors, and
obtain a clue to the treasures concealed in their
huacas or graves — hence it is called huaca-cacha
or grave plant. It has been supposed that the
frenzied ravings, called prophecies, of the Delphic
oracles were produced by this plant, which has
been used, as Dr. Lindley asserts, in the temple
of the sun at Sogamossa, near Bogota, in New
Granada, for the same purpose. Already we have
alluded to the Delphic oracles more fully, when
writing of the “ Sisters of Old.”
The cunning few acquainted with some of the
extraordinary properties of certain plants, which
were unknown to the superstitious and barbarous
multitude in days gone by, had ample means at
their disposal for imposing on their credulity,
by the performance of wonderful cures, working-
apparent miracles, and gulling the less informed
into the. belief that they were either in direct
communication with the spiritual world, or had
received a divine commission by which to govern.
Most of the marvels of ancient times were no
greater than the little experiments which the
school-boy now performs for his amusement and
that of his companions, with a few crystals and
powders, contained in as many pill-boxes.
The pots or gourds, in which cocoa-nut sap to
make arrack is drawn off in Ceylon, are sometimes
visited and the contents carried off during the
night. To detect the thief, the leaves of a species
328 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
of datura or thorn-apple are occasionally put into
some of the pots. By means of the highly intoxi-
cating effect of this compound the marauder is
often discovered. On the Coromandel coast the
retailers of toddy sometimes rub the inside of
the pots with the seed-vessel or leaves of this
highly poisonous plant, to increase the intoxicating
influence of the toddy.
The phrase “ pariah-arrack ” is often used to
designate a spirit distilled in the peninsula of
India, which is said to he rendered unwhole-
some by an admixture of Giinja, and a species of
Datura, with the intention of increasing its intoxi-
cating quality. It is not clear whether the term
pariah-arrack be colloquially employed to designate
an inferior spirit or an adulterated compound. It
is curious that a system of “ doctoring ” beverages,
to make them heady, should obtain abroad, as it
does at home, and in both cases perhaps inde-
pendently: for it does not seem probable either
that we borrowed the system from the Hindoos, or
that they copied it from us.
While under the influence of these narcotics the
mind seems to he subjected to a troubled dream,
and the person suffering from it indulges in fits of
uncontrollable laughter. Beverley, the historian of
Jamaica, quaintly describes the effects of the thorn-
apple. Some soldiers, who were sent to quell the
rebellion in the island, ate of it : 11 the effect was a
very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools
upon it for several days. One would blow up a
feather in the air, another would dart straws at it
with much fury. Another, stark naked, was sit-
ting up in a corner grinning like a monkey, and
making mouths at them. A fourth would fondly
kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their
faces ■with a countenance more antic than a Dutch
doll. In this frantic condition they were confined,
DATURA AND CO.
329
lest in their folly they should destroy themselves.
A thousand simple tricks they played ; and, after
eleven days, returning to themselves again, not
remembering anything that had occurred.”
The extract of Stramonium or common thorn-
apple has occasionally, when injudiciously admini-
stered, produced similar effects upon the individual
to whom it has been given, affecting the senses,
particularly that of sight. “ Imaginary objects are
seen to play before the eyes, at which the victim
strikes, as they seem to terrify him. And similar
results have occurred from the use of the seeds.”
Fowler relates a case of a child who supposed that
cats, dogs, and rabbits were running along the tops
and sides of the room. Dr. Winslow says “ that
when inhaled, the smoke conveys a sense of gentle
tranquillity, the muscles of the thorax, and those
which have been called into action to assist them,
in the paroxysms of asthma which the smoking is
resorted to to relieve, are rendered less irritable
and the fibre is relaxed, sleep is induced, but there
is rarely any disturbance of the imagination.”
In France and Germany, this plant has been
resorted to. for the basest of purposes, and many
unhappy victims have been consigned to hopeless
insanity by its means, details of which would be
far more horrible than interesting. Faber also
speaks of its use by the ladies of the Turkish
harems ; but there is doubt whether this is not one
of those marvels, of which many may be met with
in connection with medicinal agents, containing
more of romance than reality. Dr. Ainslie states
that the seeds form one of the ingredients of the
confection of hemp and opium known under the
name of madjoun in India ; as henbane is asserted
to enter into the composition of that in use under
the same, or a similar name, in Egypt. The pro-
330 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
portion of either of these when used is doubtless
small, and is in most cases dispensed with.
Etymologists declare that the name of bella-
donna, which has been given to the deadly night-
shade (Atropa belladonna ) was so given because
those to whom it was administered fancied they
saw beautiful females before them* There is no
doubt that it produces illusions of a singular
character, and cases of impulsive insanity have
resulted from its use in repeated doses. The effect
of belladonna upon the brain is more extraor-
dinary than those usually attendant upon the use
of other narcotics. Persons who have been
poisoned by the berries of the plant have become
restless and delirious, complained of dimness of
vision, and subsequently loss of sight. There were
observed frequent spasmodic contractions of the
muscles of the eyeballs and the throat, with strong
symptoms of mania. Six soldiers who were
poisoned by the plant exhibited delirium the most
extravagant, and commonly of the most pleasing
kind, accompanied with immoderate and uncon-
trollable paroxysms of laughter, sometimes -with
constant talking, but occasionally with complete
loss of speech. Buchanan relates that the Scots
mixed a quantity of the juice of belladonna with
the bread and drink which, by their truce, they
were to supply the Danes with, which so intoxicated
them, that the Scots killed the greater part of
Sweno’s army while asleep.
The effects of belladonna on the brain are well
described by Dr. Wiuslow, than whom no better
authority can be desired. “ One of the marvellous
effects of continued doses is the production of a
* Another fanciful origin for the name, which signifies
“ beautiful woman,” is, that it was bestowed in consequence of
the use once made of its berries by the Italian ladies as a
cosmetic.
DATURA AND CO.
331
singular psychological phenomenon. A delirium
supervenes, unaccompanied by any fantasia, or
imaginary illusion, whose marked characteristic is
somnambulism. An individual who has taken it
in several doses seems to be perfectly alive to sur-
rounding objects, his senses conveying faithfully to
the brain the impressions that they receive ; he
goes through his usual avocations without exhibit-
ing any unwonted feeling, yet is he quite uncon-
scious of his existence, and performs mechanically
all that he is accustomed to do, answers questions
correctly, without knowing from whom or from
whence they proceed, looks at objects vacantly,
moves his lips as if conversing yet utters not a
sound, there is no unusual state of the respiratory
organs, no alteration of the pulse, nothing that can
bespeak excitement. When this state of somnam-
bulism passes away, the individual has not the
slightest recollection of what has occured to him ;
he reverts to that which immediately preceded the
attack, nor can any allusion to his apparent reverie
induce him to believe that he has excited any
attention. The case of the tailor who remained on
his shopboard for fifteen hours, performing all his
usual avocations, sewing with great apparent ear-
nestness, using all the gestures which his business
requires, moving his lips as if speaking, yet the
whole of the time perfectly insensible, has been
frequently quoted. It was produced by bella-
donna.”
The use of this plant has been recommended
as a preventive of scarlatina. An instance is
recorded of a family consisting of eleven persons
who took it for this purpose, in small quantities,
twice a day. Five of these persons were domestics!
On the fourth day, almost all of them became
under the influence of the drug, two or three of
them very slightly, simply complaining of having
332 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the vision disturbed by objects which they in vain
attempted to remove, for they were fully persuaded
that they existed. Two had singular fits of laugh-
ter which nothing could control. All complained
of being in an unusual state. The servants were
all of them able to go through their work, but all
seemed to act mechanically, each independent qf
the other. Of this the most ludicrous example was
in the course of the fourth evening. A carriage
arrived at the street door, and the street bell was
rung with considerable violence. They all imme-
diately left their business, quietly walked up stairs
as if they had not the slightest idea that they
were all upon the same errand. They went to the
door ; two of them, however, only opened it ; one
of these walked away without waiting to know
what was the reason of the ringing, and the other
seemed not disposed to trouble himself with any-
thing beyond the opening and shutting of the
door. On the discontinuance of the medicine, they
all soon returned to their usual state, and two of
them had scarlatina, though only in a mild form.
From this descriptive account of the action of
belladonna, and its singular effects upon the mind,
approaching to a form of insanity, it will appear
strange that this drug should be recommended
by Hahnemann and his followers for the cure of
insanity. But this is the very principle upon which
that school operates.* That drug which produces,
in its effects the worst forms of mania, is the best
adapted for its cure. We are not, however, either
apologists, exponents, or opponents of homoeopathy,
and will leave its supporters to champion their own
cause.
Henbane ( Hyoscyamus niger ) is another of these
powerful narcotic agents, educing symptoms ana-
* “ Similia similibus curantur.”
DATURA AND CO.
333
logous to insanity. In small closes, its effect is to
produce a pleasant sleep and soothe pain. In larger
doses, the effects are extremely deleterious. Two
soldiers who ate the young shoots dressed with
olive oil, became giddy and stupid, lost their
speech, had a dull and haggard look. The limbs
were cold and palsied, and a singular combination
of delirium and coma manifested itself. As the
palsy and somnolency decreased, the delirium
became extravagant. Others who partook of the
same species of plant by mistake were affected in a
similar manner. Several were delirious and danced
about the room like maniacs, and one appeared as
if he had got drunk. A French physician gives
an account of nine persons who were nearly-
poisoned by eating the roots of henbane. The
effects of this poison were horrible in the extreme ;
in five, out of the nine, it produced raving madness.
The madness of all these was so complete, and
their agitation so violent, that in order to give one
of them an antidote, six strong men had to be
employed to hold him down, while his teeth were
being separated to pour down the remedy. For
two or three days after their recovery, every object
appeared to them as red as scarlet.
Henbane, which is often administered as a sub-
stitute for opium, and in the East occasionally
mixed with it, has the extraordinary faculty of
producing jealousy. Many authenticated cases are
recorded of the power of the leaves, and the fumes
of the seeds, over the more intense passions. A
disposition to quarrel and fight is decidedly pro-
duced. One case is that of a young couple, who
had married from affection, had lived upon terms
of the most perfect mutual regard — indeed, had
been noticed for the warmth and strength of their
attachment ; but suddenly, to the surprise of the
surrounding neighbours, their harmony was not
334 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
only interrupted, but they became bitter antagonists,
fighting and beating each other most unmercifully.
What seemed most surprising was, that in one
particular room appeared to spring then- most
determined quarrels, and that they soon subsided
elsewhere. This mystery was at length explained,
and their days of happiness restored, by the dis-
covery that to the effects of a considerable quantity
of henbane, stored up for drying, them miseries
were owing, and on the removal of this, the source
of their feuds appeared to vanish. Hahnemann,
as might be expected, considers this as one of the
most potent medicines for the cure of jealousy,
since it is so effective in causing it.
The leaves of the three plants lately noticed —
namely, thorn-apple or stramonium, belladonna,
and henbane — are made up in the form of
cigarettes ; and the first of these also as cigars, to
be smoked by asthmatic persons, for their soothing
and sedative effects. These are all made and con-
sumed extensively on the continent, and may be
procured in many parts of London. They have
also been recommended to those not asthmatical,
as pleasant, harmless, and containing all the
narcotising influences of a good cigar. They
may be considered as truly narcotic substitutes for
tobacco ; but at the present rate at which they are
sold, although not subject to either customs or
excise, there is but little fear of their interfering
prejudicially with the sale of the genuine article.
In face of the facts already detailed, a good amount
of courage seems necessary to make the attempt,
lest they should prove cumulative in their action.
Dr. Cbristison says, when writing of these narcotics,
“ The action of such poisons is not always, how-
ever, entirely thrown away ; they still produce
some immediate effect ; and further, by being fre-
quently taken, they may slowly bring on certain
DATURA AND CO. 335
diseases, or engender a predisposition to disease.
A very singular exception to this rule prevails in
the instance of tobacco, which, under the influence
of habit, may he smoked daily to a considerable
amount, and, so far as appears, without any cumu-
lative effect on the constitution, like that of
opium-eating or drinking spirits.”
It does not appear that hitherto the leaves of
the purple foxglove ( Digitalis purpurea) has been
used in the same form, or for any other than purely
medicinal purposes ; hut it possesses narcotic
powers equal to the others, and, in excess, produces
equally fatal results, such as delirium, convulsions,
and insensibility. A fatal case which occurred in
1826 became the ground of a criminal trial, in
which death took place in twenty-two hours, having
been preceded by convulsions and insensibility.
An enumeration of the various other narcotics
which enter into combination with other sub-
stances in the production of beverages, such as the
hop and its substitutes, forming no part of the
plan of this work, would be uninteresting without
further details. Nor would a list of such narcotics
as are used merely in materia medica answer any
useful end. Fuller particulars would only convert
this into a toxicological treatise, interesting to none
but medical students, for whom ample information
is provided in the libraries to which they have
access.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE EXILE OF SIBERIA.
“ Vilibus ancipites fungi ponentur amicis ;
Boletus domino.” — Juvenal.
The rage for scampering half over the world in
search of the picturesque has scarcely got far
enough to tempt any, except a stray traveller or
two, into the chilly regions of Siberia and Kamt-
schatka, and in these exceptional cases, perhaps,
more from force than choice. These are regions,
therefore, concerning which our information is
remarkably limited. It is true that Captain
Cochrane informs us that he married a wife from
Ivamtschatka —a virtuous maiden, who knew more
of that region, perhaps, than he or she cared to
tell ; for the one tells us very little, and the other
nothing, of yon strange land, with an almost
unpronounceable name. We are told, moreover,
that the capital is called by the names of St. Peter
and St. Paul. Fearing lest one patron saint
should not be sufficient to immortalize the metro-
polis of all the Kamtschatkas, the founders and
inhabitants have wisely adopted two.. This city
also is stated to contain forty-two dwellings, besides
fifteen edifices belonging to the government, an
old church, and the foundation of a new one. The
THE EXILE OF SIBERIA.
337'
winters are declared to be mild, compared with
those of Siberia; but even these are not very-
inviting, as the snow lies on the ground seven or
eight months, and the soil, at the depth of twenty-
four to thirty inches, being frozen at all seasons.
Potatoes never ripen, cabbages never come to a
head, and peas only flower. But the gallant
captain adds : “ I am certainly the first English-
man that ever married a Kamtschatdale, and my
wife is undoubtedly the first native of that penin-
sula that ever visited happy Britain.”
In such a land, there is little hope of cultivating
P0PPy, tobacco, betel, coca, hemp, or thorn-apple ;
and the poor native would have been compelled to
have glided into his grave without a glimpse of
Paradise beforehand, if, on the one hqnd, the kindly
Russian pedlar had not found a way to smuggle a
little bad spirits into the country, to the great
annoyance of ah quietly-disposed persons, or, on
the. other, nature had not promptly supplied an
indigenous narcotic, in the form of an unpretendin °'-
looking fungus or toadstool, to stimulate the dor-
mant energies of the dwellers in this region of ice
and snow.
That some kinds of mushrooms are poisonous is
a truth of which every farm labourer seems aware.
But that some of those which have been reputed
poisonous are inert, is beyond their philosophy and
only receives at present the sanction of some of
the more scientific, who have directed their studies
thitherward. The fly agaric is one of those justly-
reputed poisonous species, occasionally found in
this country, but .which grows plentifully in
Ivarntschatka and Siberia. A recent author of an
account of Russia states, “that mushrooms viru-
lently poisonous in one country are eaten with
safety m another, is well known in other cases as
or instance, in that of the fly mushroom {Amanita
338
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
muscaria), which is common in England, and always
poisonous there, while in Kamtschatka it is used
as a frequent article of food.” Then he inquires
into the reasons wherefore this should be the case :
— “It is not enough to say that difference of soil
and climate explain the mystery ; for though we
know that culture changes the properties of plants,
converting what is poisonous in the wild state into
a wholesome esculent when raised in the garden —
as in the case of the common celery, for example —
yet throughout the whole of the vegetable kingdom
we find almost no other instance of a plant which
is poisonous in one country becoming wholesome,
without culture, when transplanted to another, and
left entirely to itself, and in both placed in appa-
rently the same circumstances as to soil, &c. . After
all, a great part of the secret may lie, not in the
plant, but in the mode of preparing it for the table.
So far as we can judge, the Russian cook, on first
cutting up these spoils of the forest, makes a much
more copious use of salt than is done with us ; and
the efficacy of this agent in deadening the poisonous
quality, is sufficiently proved by the melancholy
case recorded in medical treatises, of a French
officer and his wife, both of whom died in thirty-
two hours after eating certain mushrooms, while
the person who supplied them, and his whole family,
made a hearty and wholesome meal from the same
gathering.” In this case, it appears that while the
former took them without addition, the lattei first
salted them strongly, and then squeezed them well
before using them. M. Roques says distinctly that
this plant has not its poisonous properties modified
by any climate. The Czar Alexis lost his life by
eating this mushroom. The details ot its effects
upon the Kamtschatkans by Kraschemimkow, m
his natural history of that country are explicit,
respecting the delirious intoxication induced by it.
THE EXILE OF SIBERIA.
339
Gmelin and Pallas also equally certifying its intoxi-
cating powers. Roques reports seven different sets
of observations respecting its deleterious effects on
man.
Unless we accept some such explanation of the
phenomena as this, how can we reconcile the fact
of their being eaten by the Russians without
injury, whilst, on the authority of Dr. Christison,
we have such a fatal case as the following, from
eating the same kind of fungus, the growth of
the same country and climate. Several French
soldiers in Russia ate a large quantity of Amanita
muscaria , some were not taken ill for six hours and
upwards. Four of them who were very powerful
men thought themselves safe, because, while their
companions were already suffering, they themselves
felt perfectly well and refused to take emetics.
In the evening they began to complain of anxiety,
a sense of suffocation, frequent fainting, burning
thirst, and violent gripes. The pulse became small
and irregular, and the body bedewed with cold
sweat, the lineaments of the countenance were
singularly changed, the nose and lips acquiring a
violet tint, they trembled much, the belly swelled,
and a profuse diarrhoea followed. The extremities
soon became livid and cold, and the pain of the
abdomen intense, delirium ensued, and all the four
died. Two of the others suffered coma for twenty-
four hours.
This proves that the mushroom in question is
possessed of undoubtedly poisonous properties,
which are fatal in their effects, unless counter-
acted or dispelled by the method of preparing
them for the table. That this method is known
to the Russians and to some other nations, and is
believed to consist in well saturating the fungi
with salt before cooking them. The Muscovite
seems to have no greater dread of ill effects from
z 2
340 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
the fly agaric than has the Brazilian from his
cassava or mandioca flour, which is prepared from
the equally poisonous root of the mandioca plant,
the deleterious qualities of which are destroyed by
the heat used in its preparation. Dr. Pouchet of
Kouen seems to have clearly proved that the
poisonous property of the fly agaric and a venenata
may be entirely removed by boiling them in water.
A quart of water in which five plants had been
boiled for fifteen minutes, killed a dog in eight
hours ; and, again, another in a day ; but the
boiled fungi themselves had no effect at all on two
other dogs ; and a third which had been fed for
two months on little else than boiled amanitas, not
only sustained no harm, but actually got fat on the
fare.* Pouchet is inclined to think that the whole
poisonous plants of the family are similarly circum-
stanced.
The most singular circumstance connected
with the history of this fungus, is the place it
occupies as a substitute for those narcotics known
in other parts of the world, and which an un-
genial northern climate fails to produce. What
the coca is to the Bolivian, and opium to the
Chinese — the areca to the Malay, and liaschisch
to the African — the tobacco to the inhabitants of
Europe and America, and the thorn-apple to those
of the Andes — is the fly agaric to the natives
of Siberia and Kamtschatka. Why it has been
called by this name has arisen from its use as a
fly poison. Never having seen those dipterous
insects while under its influence, we cannot detail
the symptoms it produces.
This poisonous fungus has some resemblance to
the one generally eaten in this country, yet there
are also striking points of difference. As, tor instance,
* “ Journ. de Chem Med.,” 1839, p. 322,
THE EXILE OF SIBERIA-
341
the gills are white instead of pinkish red, inclining
to brown, and the cap or pileus, which is rather
flat, is generally of a livid red colour, sprinkled with
angular lighter coloured worts. These are distinc-
tions broad enough to prevent any one having the
use of his eyes, and who has ever seen the edible
mushroom being deceived into the belief that the
fungus thus briefly described is identical with the
delicacy of our English tables.
. These fungi are collected by those who indulge
m them narcotically, during the hot, or rather
summer months, and afterwards hung up to dry
in the open air. Or they may be left to ripen
and dry in the ground, and are afterwards col-
lected. When left standing until they are dried,
they are said to possess more powerful narcotic
properties than when dried artificially. The juice
of the whortleberry in which this substance has
been steeped, acquire thereby the intoxicating
properties of strong wine.
. Tlie method of using this singular substance
is to roll it up m the form of a bolus and
swallow it without any mastication, as one would
swallow a large pill. It is swallowed thus on
principle, not that its flavour would be unplea-
sant, as compound colocynth might be when mas-
ticated, but because it is stated to agree ill with
the stomach when that operation is performed.
.Mature is jealous of her rights, and it would
appear from experience, that the gastronomic
regions expect to receive all other supplies well
triturated, except these — amanita and pill colo-
cj nth— winch are both expected equally alike to
arrive at the regions below without mutilation.
A days intoxication may thus be procured at
the expense of one good sized bolus, compounded
of one large or two small toadstools; and this
intoxication is affirmed to be, not only cheap,
342
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
which is a consideration, hut also remarkably
pleasant. It commences an horn’ or so after the
bolus has been swallowed.
The effects which this singular narcotic pro-
duces are, some of them, similar to that produced
by intoxicating liquors ; others resemble the effects
of haschisch. At first, it generally produces cheer-
fulness, afterwards giddiness and drunkenness,
ending occasionally in the entire loss of conscious-
ness. The natural inclinations of the individual
become stimulated. The dancer executes a pas
d' extravagance, the musical indulge in a song, the
chatterer divulges all his secrets, the oratorical
delivers himself of a philippic, and the mimic
indulges in caricature. Erroneous impressions of
size and distance are common occurrences, equally
with the swallower of amanita and hemp. The
experiences of M. Moreau with haschisch are
repeated with the fungus-eaters of Siberia ; a
straw lying in the road becomes a formidable
object, to overcome which, a leap is taken sufficient
to clear a barrel of ale, or the prostrate trunk of a
British oak.
But this is not the only extraordinary cir-
cumstance connected therewith. There is the
property imparted to the fluid excretions, of
rendering it intoxicating, which property it retains
for a considerable time. A man having been
intoxicated on one day, and slept himself sober
by the next, will, by drinking' this liquor, to the
extent of about a cupfull, become as intoxicated
thereby as he was before. Confirmed drunkards
in Siberia preserve their excretionary fluid as a
precious liquor, to be used in case a scarcity of the
fungus should occur. This intoxicating property
may be again communicated to every person who
partakes of the disgusting draught, and thus, also,
with the third, and fourth, and even the fifth
THE EXILE OF SIBERIA.
343
distillation. By this means, with a few boluses
to commence with, a party may shut themselves
in their room, and indulge in a week’s debauch at
a very economical rate. This species of “ sucking
the monkey” is one that Mungo never contem-
plated. Persons who are fond of getting liquor
at the expense of others take every opportunity of
“ sucking the monkey,” which process has been
thus explained. It consists in boring a hole with
a gimlet in a keg or barrel, and putting a straw
therein, to suck out any quantity, at any given
time. Persons who are accustomed to receive real
Devonshire cider, or genuine Wiltshire ale, or the
pure Geneva, in London, experience the liberties
those take who “suck the monkey,” by either
liberally diminishing the quantity, or diluting it
with water on the road, so as to make the quantity
what the quality should be. It is said that the
origin of the term “sucking the monkey” is
derived from the prolific invention of a black, who,
in order to find an excuse to the captain for his being
caught lying with a favourite monkey so often near
the rum puncheons on board, from which he daily
drank, said — “Massa, you ask what Mungo do
here ? — do here, massa ? You say monkey hab de
milk ob human kindness, massa. Mungo like dat
milk, massa, and Mungo suck de monkey, massa
Dat’s all.”
# Chemical investigations have not yet been
directed into the channel leading towards the
elucidation of the mysteries of these poisonous
fungi, and hitherto we know of no ' experiments
having been made with a view to ascertain whether
any of our indigenous fungi, other than the one
already referred to, can be used in the same way
and with the same results, as we have described!
Doubtless such experiments would be successful so
far as realizing the results, since one of the effects
344 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
produced by eating poisonous fungi is narcotic
in its character. M. Letellier found in certain
of these fungi a chemical principle which is fixed,
and resists drying, and which he calls Amanitine.
Its effects on animals appear to resemble consider-
ably those of opium.* Dr. Christison states that
“the symptoms produced by them in man are
endless in variety, and fully substantiate the pro-
priety of arranging them in the class of narcotico-
acrid poisons. Sometimes they produce narcotic
symptoms alone, sometimes only symptoms of irri-
tation, but much more commonly, both together.”
A person gathered in Hyde Park a considerable
number of mushrooms, which he mistook for the
species commonly eaten, stewed them, and pro-
ceeded to eat them ; but before ending his repast,
and not more than ten minutes after he began it,
he was suddenly attacked with dimness of vision,
giddiness, debility, trembling, and loss of recol-
lection. In a short time he recovered so far as to
be able to go in search of assistance. But he had
hardly walked 250 yards when his memory again
failed him, and he lost his way. His countenance
expressed anxiety, he reeled about, and could
hardly articulate. He soon became so drowsy,
that he could be kept awake only by constant
dragging. Vomiting was produced ; the drowsi-
ness gradually went off, and next day he com-
plained merely of languor and weakness.
The smoke of the common puff-ball when burnt,
has been used to stupify bees when their hive was
about to be robbed; and similar narcotic effects
have been observed in other animals when sub-
jected to its fumes. The action bears a resem-
blance to that of chloroform by producing
insensibility to pain. If future generations do
* “ Archives Gen. de Med.,” t. xl, p. 94.
THE EXILE OF SIBERIA. 345
not deem it desirable to indulge in a narcotic of
this kind for the purpose of producing pleasurable
sensations, or to smother the carking cares of
life, yet they may learn more than we at present
know of the peculiar characteristics which dis-
tinguish this from all the others of the “ Seven
Sisters of Sleep.”
Night draws on apace; let us gather together
all the straggling members of the family, sweep
up the crumbs, call in the cat, bar the door,
wind up the clock, and go to bed —
“ To sleep, perchance to dream.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
ODDS AND ENDS.
“And our poor dream of happiness
Yanislieth, so
Farewell.” — Motherwell.
After a feast, tlie prudent and thrifty housewife
will gather up the fragments that remain, if for no
other purpose than to distribute them amongst the
poor.
It was the constant habit of a certain elderly
man of business, so long as he could stoop for the
purpose, to pick up and stow away every pin and
scrap of paper, or end of string, which he saw
lying about on his premises. And when lie could
bend no longer to perform the operation himself,
he would stand by the truant fragment, and voci-
ferate loudly for one of his apprentices to come
and “gather up the cord and string,” adding “ ’tis
a pity they should spile.”
Approaching to the conclusion of our task, we
have followed the old gentleman’s advice, and col-
lected the odd pieces that have fallen to the ground
in the course of our work, convinced that thrift is
praiseworthy, and although only “ Odds and Ends,”
there may be enough of interest in them to warrant
you in adding “ ’tis a pity they should spile.”
ODDS AND ENDS.
347
Tobacco ends in smoke. We began with the
former, it is but a natural consequence that we
should end with the latter. Somewhere we have
read a “ smoke vision of life.” Some people have
but a smoky or foggy vision of life — they have sad
eyes, poor travellers, and can see nothing for the
fog that surrounds them — they live in a mist,
and die without being missed.' Forgive the trans-
gression, good friend, the obscurity of the subject is
to blame, and the pun was written before we had
made ourselves aware of its presence. Let it pass
on, it will soon be lost in the smoke. An old piper
believes that there is generally something racy,
decided, and original in the man who both smokes
and snuffs. Outwardly, he may have a kippered
appearance, and his voice may grate on the ear
like a scrannel pipe' of straw, but think of the
strong or beautiful soul that body enshrines ! Do
you imagine, oh, lean-hearted member of the Anti-
Snuff and Tobacco Club, that the dark apostle
standing before us will preach with less power, less
unction, less persuasive eloquence, because he snuffs
over the psalm book, and smokes in the vestry
between the forenoon and afternoon service ?
Does his piety ooze through his pipe, or his ear-
nestness end in smoke ? Was Robert Hall less
eloquent than Massillon or Chalmers, because he
could scarcely refrain from lighting his hookah in
the pulpit ? Answer us at your leisure — could
Tennyson have brought down so magnificently the
Arabian heaven upon his nights ; dreamed so
divinely of Cleopatra, Iphigenia, and Rosamond;
pictured so richly the charmed sleep of the Eastern
princess in her enchanted palace, with her “full
black ringlets downward rolled ; ” or painted so
soothingly the languid picture of the Lotos-
eaters, jf he had never experienced the mystic
inspiration ot tobacco f Could J ohn W llson — peace
348 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
to his princely shade — have filled his inimitable
papers with so much fine sentiment, radiant
imagery, pathos, piquancy, and point, without the
aid of his silver snuff-box ? Deprive the Grants
and Macgregors of their mulls and nose spoons of
bone, and you cut the sinews of their strength —
you destroy the flower of the British army. Pluck
the calumet of peace from the lips of the red
Indian, and in the twinkling of an eye your beau-
tiful scalp will be dangling at his girdle. Tear
his “ gem adorned chibouque ” from the mouth of
the Turk, and the Great Bear by to-morrow’s dawn
will be grinning on his haunches in Constantinople.
Clear Germany of tobacco smoke, and Goethe
would groan in his grave, Bichter would revisit
the glimpses of the moon, philology would fall
down in a fatal fit of apoplexy over the folios of
her fame, and poetry would shriek her death-shriek
to see the transcendental philosophy expire. Shake
the quids from the mouths of the merry mariners
of England — cast their pig- tail upon the . waters,
and commerce would become stagnant in all our
ports — our gallant war-fleet would rot at its
stations, and Britain would never boast the glories
of another Trafalgar. Tell Yankeedom that
smoking is no more to be permitted all over the
world, under penalty of death, and soon the melan-
choly pine forests would wave over the dust of an
extinguished race. In fine, were the club to which
you belong to succeed in its attempt, which it
cannot, the earth would stand still, like the sun of
old upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of
Ajalon, and the planets would clothe themselves
with sackcloth for the sudden death of their sister
sphere 1
There is extant, in an old work written three
centuries since, a curious paragraph, which we had
well nigh forgotten. It refers to Canada, “ There
ODDS AND ENDS.
349
groweth a certain kind of herbe, whereof in summer
they make great provision for all the yeere, and
only the men use of it ; and first they cause it to
he dried in the' sunne, then wear it about their
neckes, wrapped in a little beaste’s skinne, made
like a little bagge, with a hollow peece of stone or
wood like a pipe; then, when they please, they
make poudre of it, and then put it in one of the
ends of the said cornet or pipe, and laying a coal
of fire upon it, at the other end suck so long, that
they fill their bodies full of smoke, till that it
cometh out of their mouth and nostrils, even as
out of the tonnell of a chimney.”
Methinks it had been well had every Canadian
been also favoured with a Saint Betsy, as a com-
panion in life, otherwise there had been fire as well
as smoke. It is now some time since the inimit-
able Punch introduced Saint Betsy to the world,
and that she may not altogether be excluded from
our future 11 fireside saints,” we will give her legend
a place in our “ Odds and Ends.”
“St. Betsy was wedded to a knight who sailed
with Baleigh, and had brought home tobacco, and
the knight smoked. But he thought that St.
Betsy, like other fine ladies of the Court, would
fain that he should smoke out of doors, nor taint
with tobacco smoke the tapestry, whereupon the
knight would seek his garden, his orchard, and, in
any weather, smoke sub Jove. How it chanced, as
the knight smoked, St. Betsy came to him and
said, ‘ My lord, pray ye come into the house and
the knight went with St. Betsy, who took him into
a newly cedared room, and said, ‘ I pray my lord
henceforth smoke here, for is it not a shame that
you, who are the foundation and prop of your
house, should have no place to put your head into
and smoke ?’ And St. Betsy led him to a chair
and with her own fingers filled him a pipe ; and"
350 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
from that time the knight sat in the cedar chamber
and smoked his weed.”
No pipe, no smoke, no dreams ! Never again,
on a beautiful summer’s day would two young
Ottoman swains sit smoking under a tree, by the
side of a purling stream, hearing the birds sing,
and seeing the flowers in bloom, to become the
actors in a scene like that described in one of their
own songs. By and bye came a young damsel,
her eyes like two stars in the nights of the Ramazan.
One of the swains takes his pipe from his mouth,
and “sighing smoke,” gazes at her with delight.
The other demands why his wrapt soul is sitting
in his eyes, and he avows himself the adorer of the
veiled fair. “ Her eyes,” says he, “ are black, hut
they shine like the polished steel, nor is the wound
they inflict less fatal to the heart.” The other
swain ridicules his passion, and bids him re-fill his
pipe. “ Ah, no ! ” cries the lover, “ I enjoy it no
more ; my heart is as a fig thrown into a thick
leafy tree, and a bird with bright eyes has caught
it and holds it fast.”
Hearken to the story of Abou Gallioun, the
father of the pipe-howl, and then laugh if you
will at the votaries of the marvellous weed. A
mountaineer of Lebanon, a man young and tall,
and apparently well to do, for his oriental cos-
tume was rich and elegant, established himself at
Tripoli, in Syria. He resided at an hotel, and
astonished every one with a howl at the end of his
pipe stem of enormous dimensions. Some days
after his arrival he was seen to seat himself at the
corner of a street, to rest the bowl of his pipe on
the ground, and to take from his pocket a little
tripod and a coffee-pot. Having filled his coffee-
pot, he put the tripod upon the howl of his
pipe, and stood his coffee-pot thereon. He then
proceeded to smoke, and at the same time
ODDS AND ENDS.
351
to boil the water for his coffee. This sight caused
the passers-by to stop, and a crowd collected in the
street so as to obstruct the throughfare. The police
came to clear the passage, and, at the same time,
the Pacha was informed of the circumstance, and
consulted as to what should he done. The Pacha
gave instructions that as the stranger did harm to
no one, he was to he allowed to make his coffee in
the street, for the street was open to all, hoping
that when it rained he would certainly go away.
The police were, therefore, ordered to prevent any
crowding around the mountaineer, and to take
especial care that he received no insult, lest he
should then complain to the Emir of the mountain
of his ill-treatment. The mountaineer having
heard of the instructions of the Pacha, continued
to drink his coffee and smoke his pipe as before, in
the. presence of numbers of curious spectators.
This exhibition continued daily, till the news jDene-
trated into the harems, and the women came to
see a man make his coffee upon the bowl of his
pipe— a thing they had never before heard of, and
which, till now, had never occurred.
The mountaineer loved to converse with the -
passers-by, when he told them that his pipe served
him also at home for his baking oven, and that he
had no other, chafing dish in winter ; that he filled
the bowl twice a day, in the morning on rising,
and in the evening on going to rest, to last him
through the night ; that he stopped very little, and
during the night drank five or six cups of coffee.
This stranger was surnamed Abou Gfallioun, “father
of the pipe-bowl,” and is still known by that name
m Inpoli when they speak of him and his extrava-
gance.
In general, the pipe bowls are of a certain size,
so that they may last at least a quarter of an hour
and with slow smoking they will last half an hour’
352 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
The tobacco does not burn rapidly if the smoker
does not pull hard — this quiet kind of smoking
generally characterizes the grave orientals. Their
pipes are seldom extinguished of themselves unless
laid down, because the tobaccos of the East have
more body than other tobaccos. Abou Gallioun
might then always rest assured that his pipe would
never go out, although he held long conversations
by day, and rose occasionally at night to take his
coffee.
Tobacco is stated to have been imported into
the Celestial empire by the Mantclioos ; and the
Chinese were much astonished when they first saw
their conquerors inhaling fire through long tubes
and u eating smoke.” By a curious coincidence
this plant is called by the Matnchoos taxnbakou ;
but the Chinese designate it simply by the word
meaning “ smoke.” Thus they say they cultivate
in their fields the “ smoke-leaf,” they “ chew smoke,”
and they name their pipe the “ smoke-funnel.”
The old proverb that “smoke doth follow the
fairest,” is thus commented upon : — “ Whereof Sir
Thomas Brown says, although there seems no
natural ground, yet it is the continuation of a very
ancient opinion, as Petrus Victorius and Casaubon
have observed from a passage in Athenmus, where-
in a Parasite thus describes himself —
‘ To every table first I come,
Whence Porridge I am called by some ;
Like whips and tbongs to all I ply,
Like smoak unto the fair I fly.”’
There is extant in the East, an Arabian tale con-
cerning the Broken Pipe of Saladin, which is taken
from an author named Ali-el-Fakir, who lived in
the times of Saladin, a tale which is often repeated
among smokers in Syria. The Sultan, Salah-el-
Diu (called by us Saladin), was a great warrior, a
ODDS AND ENDS.
353
lover of the harem, and at the same time pleasant.
His court abounded with officers, servants, and
slaves. Among his servants, who could best amuse
him in his leisure moments, was a simple man to
whom he had confided the care of his pipes, and
whom he had made his pipe-hearer. All the
Sultan’s pipes were of great value, owing to the
oriental luxury which prevails in everything, and
especially in everything belonging to the Sultan,
who is considered the master of the world.
Saladin, in consequence of the climate of the
south of Syria, generally passed his time in the
gardens of Damascus, luxuriously seated upon rich
Persian carpets and soft cushions, under a tree sur-
rounded by his guards, and a numerous band of
servants, who promptly obeyed his commands.
Under another tree, not far off, was the coffee-
maker, ready to serve his master on the instant,
for, like all other orientals, he was fond of this
beverage ; and Ramadan, the pipe-bearer, was
commanded to be at hand, that he might execute
his sovereign’s orders.
Between the tree under which, the Sultan was
reposing, and that under which was the stove of
the cofiee-maker, stood another tree, to which was
tied a watch-dog, who was only let loose at night.
Saladin said to Ramadan — “ Take my pipe, fill
it, and bring it to me directly.” At that time
tobacco was not smoked in the East, instead thereof
they used Te begh. Ramadan hastened to obey
his master, but the dog, not well knowing him, set
to barking at him as he passed on his way 'to; the
coffee-maker’s stove for the purpose of preparing
them the Sultan’s pipe, and in return Ramadan
shook his fist at him. When the pipe-bearer came
back the dog, recognizing in him the man who
had lately menaced him, not being securely tied
loosened himself and sprang at him. Ramadan
2 A
354
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
used the pipe to defend himself, the dog was beaten
back, but the bowl, the stem, and the rich mouth-
piece of the pipe were all broken in the encounter.
The facts were related to Saladin, who imme-
diately ordered the dog to be summoned before
him. The animal said nothing while Ramadan
was continually charging him with the blame.
“ Thou seest,” said the Sultan, u that the dog
appears docile. If thou hadst not threatened or
frightened him he would have said nothing to thee.
Thou shalt be tied up as the dog was, and the dog
shall dwell with me.”
The guards chained up poor Ramadan to the
tree where the dog had been fastened, and his
appearance was very disconsolate. The dog became
the favourite of the Prince, whom he recognized by
Iris natural instinct, and for ever afterwards the
Srdtan swore by his dog.
The Mussulman delights in comparing the
wisdom of this decision with the judgment of
Solomon.
The recent remarks of one high in clerical
authority, which came to light but too lately to
have a more honourable position assigned them,
must accordingly be scattered among the frag-
ments. “ Heaven forbid,” writes the reverend gen-
tleman, “ that I should ever see in England what
I have more than once seen in France — a fine and
gorgeously arrayed lady, with lavander coloured
kid gloves, and a delicate little cigarette between
her lips, expectorating in the most refined manner
into a polished spittoon, and accompanying her
male friends in inhaling the fumes of this noxious
weed ! No, our ladies have not countenanced the
custom by example, but they have fostered it,
cherished it, promoted it by their too much good
nature, and allowed their husbands, brothers, and
sons, and perhaps, their intended husbands, to
ODDS AND ENDS.
355
enjoy their cigars in their presence, and even in
their houses.”
“ Oh horrible, most horrible !”
Hearken still further. “ I don’t scruple to con-
fess that I sat down to the consideration of this
subject strongly prejudiced, personally and socially,
against this evil practice; but I rise from the
examination of the facts of the case surprised at
the magnitude of the abomination to which it gives
rise. I cordially throw any influence I possess
into the scale of those who are labouring to promote
the total abolition of the custom among us, and I
earnestly entreat all who think with me to exert
their utmost efforts to stay the plague.”
King James is dead, poor man, otherwise this
worthy Dean, most assuredly, would soon have
become a Bishop. How unfortunate a circum-
stance it is that wise men will be born at a time
when the generation who would have appreciated
them most, is either extinct or in embryo.
We remember to have once heard an equally
estimable clerical gentleman declare that he thought
those words of Longfellow’s very descriptive of the
effects of his customary “ whiff —
“ And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.”
With a fable of Krummacher’s, let this basket
of fragments be filled, and finished —
“The angel of sleep and the angel of death,
fraternally embracing each other, wandered over
the earth. It was eventide. They laid them-
selves down beside a hill not far from the habita-
tions of men. A melancholy silence 1'eigned
around, and the evening bell of the distant
hamlet had ceased.
356
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
“ Silently and quietly, as is their wont, the two
kindly genii of the human race lay in confidential
embrace, and night began to steal on.
“ Then the angel of sleep rose from his mossy
couch, and threw around, with careful hand, the
unseen grains of slumber. The evening wind
hare them to the quiet dwellings of the wearied
husbandmen. Now the feet of sleep embraced the
inhabitants of the rural cots, from the hoary
headed old man who supported himself on his staff,
to the infants in the cradle. The sick forgot their
pains, the mourners their griefs, and poverty its
cares. All eyes were closed.
“ And now, after his task was done, the beautiful
angel of sleep lay down again by the side of his
sterner brother. When the morning dawn arose,
he exclaimed in joyous innocency — ‘ Men praise
me as their friend and benefactor. Oh what a bliss
it is, unseen and secretly to befriend them ! How
happy are we, the invisible messengers of the good
God ! How lovely is our quiet vocation !’
“ Thus spake the friendly angel of sleep. And
the angel of death sighed in silent grief ; and - a
tear, such as the immortals shed, trembled in his
great dark eye. ‘Alas !’ said he, ‘that I cannot
as thou, delight myself with cheerful thanks. Men
call me their enemy and pleasure spoiler.’
“ ‘ Oh, my brother/ rejoined the angel of sleep,
‘ will not the good also, when awaking, recognize
in thee a friend and benefactor, and thankfully
bless thee ? Are not we brothers and messengers
of one Father.’
“ Thus spake he, and the eyes of the angel of
death sparkled, and more tenderly did the brotherly .
genii embrace each other.’’
APPENDIX.
TABLE I.
A.D.
1496
1519
1535
<>
1559
1565
1570
1574
1575
1585
)*
1590
1601
1604
1610
1615
1616
1619
1620
1622
1624
1631
1634
1639
1653
1661
CHRONOLOGY OF TOBACCO.
Romanus Paine published the first account of tobacco,
under the name cohoba.
Tobacco discovered by the Spaniards near Tabasco.
Negroes cultivated it on the plantations of their masters.
It was used at this time in Canada.
Tobacco introduced into Europe by Hernandez de Toledo.
Conrad Gesner became acquainted with tobacco.
Sir J ohn Hawkins brought tobacco from Florida.
Tobacco smoked in Holland out of tubes of palm-leaves.
Tobacco cultivated in Tuscany.
First figure of plant in Andre Thevot’s Cosmographie.
Clay pipes noticed by the English in Virginia.
First clay pipes made in Europe.
Schah Abbas, of Persia, prohibited the use of tobacoo in
his empire.
Tobacco introduced into Java. Smoking commenced in
Egypt about this time .
James I. laid heavy imposts on tobacco.
Tobacco-smoking known at Constantinople.
Tobacco first grown about Amersfort, in Holland.
The colonists cultivated tobacco in Virginia.
James I. wrote his “ Counterblast.”
Sale of tobacco prohibited in England till the custom
should be paid, and the royal seal affixed.
Ninety young women sent from England to America, and
sold to the planters for tobacco at 120 lbs. each.
Annual import of tobacco into England from America
142,085 lbs. ’
The Pope excommunicated all who should take snuflf in
church.. King James restricted the culture of tobacco
to V lrgmia and the Somer Isles.
Tobacco-smoking introduced into Misnia.
A tribunal formed at Moscow to punish smoking.
The Assembly of Virginia ordered that all tobacco planted
m that and the succeeding two years should be destroved
Smoking commenced at Apenzell (canton) in Switzerland!
Ihe police regulations of Berne made, and divided
WM°prohibit°ed ' ° tC“ commandments> in which tobacco
2 B
358
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
(Tulle I. continued).
A.D.
1669 Adultery and fornication punished in Virginia by a fine
of 500 to 1000 lbs. of tobacco.
1670 Smoking tobacco punished in the canton of Glarus by
fines.
1676 Customs on tobacco from Virginia collected in England,
£120,000.
„ Two Jews attempt the cultivation of tobacco in Bran-
denburg.
1689 Dr. J. E. Vicarius invented tubes containing pieces of
sponge for smoking tobacco.
1691 Pope Innocent XII. excommunicated all who used
tobacco in St. Peter’s Church at Rome.
1697 Large quantities of tobacco produced in the palatinate of
Hesse.
1709 Exports of tobacco from America, 28,858,666 lbs.
1719 Senate of Strasburg prohibited the culture of tobacco.
1724 Pope Benedict XIV. revoked Pope Innocent’s Bull of
excommunication .
1732 Tobacco made a legal tender in Maryland, at one penny
per lb.
1747 Annual exports of tobacco to England from the American
colonies, 40,000,000 lbs.
1753 The King of Portugal farmed cut the tobacco trade for
about £500,000.
„ The revenue of the King of Spain from tobacco,
£1,250,000.
1759 Duties on tobacco in Denmark amounted to £8,000.
1770 Empress of Austria derived an income of £160,000 from
tobacco.
1773 Duties on tobacco in the two Sicilies, £80,000.
1775 Annual export of tobacco from the United States
1,000,000 lbs.
1780 King of Prance derived an income of £1,500,000 from
. tobacco.
1782 Annual export of tobacco during the seven years revo-
lutionary war, 12,378,504 lbs.
1787 Tobacco imported into Ireland, 1,877,579 lbs.
1789 Exports of tobacco from the United States, 90,000,000 lbs.
„ Tobacco first put under the excise in England.
1820 Quantity of tobacco grown in France, 32,887,500 lbs.
1828 Tobacco revenue in the State of Maryland, £5,400.
1830 Revenue from tobacco and snuff in Great Britain was
2^ millions of pounds.
1834 Value of tobacco used in the United States estimated at
£3,000,000.
1838 Annual consumption of tobacco in the United States
estimated at 100,000,000 lbs.
1840 It was ascertained that 1.500,000 persons were engaged
in the cultivation and manufacture of tobaeco in the
United States.
APPENDIX,
359
TABLE II.
CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO.
COUNTRIES.
Average consump
of male population
per head, over IE
years of age.
Nett Revenue
from Tobacco.
Austria
Zollverein ...
Steurverein, including Han- )
over and Oldenburg ... |
France
Russia
Portugal
Spain
Sardinia
Tuscany
Papal States
Two Sicilies
Britain
Holland
Belgium
Denmark
Sweden
Norway
United States
6-75 lbs.
9-75 „
12-50 „
5*50 „
2- 50 „
3- 50 „
4- 75 „
2-75 „
2-50 „
2-00 „
4-10 „
8- 25 „
9- 00 „
8-00 „
4-37 „
6- 40 „
7- 60 „
£1,212,530
296,560
12,420
3,058,356
284,280
304,140
1,268,082
246,192
84,860
297,252
168,422
5,272,471
6,210
28,014
10,488
14,766
23,322
TABLE III.
DUTIES ON IMPORTATION OF TOBACCO.
United States
30-
per cent, ad
Belgium
13-9
do.
Great Britain
933-3
do.
Hanover
9-6
do.
Holstein
10-
do.
Holland
3-5
do.
Russia
161’
do.
Switzerland ...
3.
do.
Zollverein
45.
do.
360
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
TABLE IV.
Nett Profits of the French Regie on Tobacco, after paying all
expenses of purchase, transportation, manufacture, and sale.
Showing the increased consumption, in decennial periods, from
1811 to 1851.
Tears.
Francs.
1811
26,000,000
1821
42,219,604
1831
45,920,930
1841
71,989,095
1851
92,233,729
Total gross revenue^
in 1857 1
185,000,000
TABLE V.
Consumption of Tobacco in Britain, with rate of Duty and
Revenue therefrom.
Years.
Consumption.
Duty.
Revenue.
Population.
1821
15,598,152 lbs.
4s. per lb.
£3,122,583
21,282,903
1831
19,533,841 „
3s.
1J
2,964,592
24,410,459
1841
22,309,360 „
3s.
)»
3,580,163
27,019,672
1851
28,062,978 „
3s.
?>
4,485,768
27,452,262
1856
32,579,166 „
3s.
9)
5,216,770
*
1857
32,677,059 „
3s.
»
5,231,455
*
1858
34,110,850 „
3s.
5,272,471
*
* Owing to extensive emigration, especially from Ireland, the popula-
tion must be considered as but little above that of 1851.
TABLE YI.
Consumption of Tobacco in the Austrian Empire.
Tears.
Quantity consumed.
1850
34,457,513 lbs.
1851
54,217,578 „
1852
61,805,697 „
1853
57,926,925 „
1854
62,020,333 „
1856
85.161,030 ,.
APPENDIX,
361
TABLE VII.
Statement exhibiting the quantities of Tobacco exported from
the United States into the countries named, during 1855.
Countries.
Quantities.
Bremen
38,058,000 lbs.
Great Britain
24,203,000 „
France
40,866,000 ,,
Holland
17,124,000 „
Spain
7,524,000 „
Belgium
4,010,000 „
Sardinia ...
3,314,000 „
Austria
2,945,000 „
Sweden and Norway
1,713,000 „
Portugal
336,000 „
TABLE VIII.
Disposition of Tobacco the growth of the United States in 1840
and in 1850, with the Home Consumption at each period.
Years.
Growth.
Exports.
Consumption.
Rate pr.
Head.
1840
1850
219,163,319 lbs.
199,532,494 „
184,965,797 lbs
122,408,780 „
34,543,557 lbs.
81,933,571 „
32i oz.
56 „
TABLE IX.
Statement showing the Exports of Tobacco from America
(United States) in decennial periods, from 1820 to 1850, and
in 1855.
Years.
Quantity exported.
1820
66,000 hogsheads.
1830
83,810 „
1840
119,484 „
1850
145,729 „
1855
150,213
362 THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
TABLE X.
ANALYSIS OF TOBACCO BY POSSELT & REENMANN.
Nicotina
0-06
Concrete vegetable oil
0-01
Bitter extractive
2-87
Gum, with malate of lime
1-74
Chlorophylle
0-267
Albumen and gluten
1-308
Malic acid
0-51
Lignin and a trace of starch
4-969
Salts (sulphate, nitrate, and malate of")
potash, chloride of potassium, phos-f.
phate and malate of lime, and malate V
of ammonia)
Silica mi ••• ••• ... ... ... ...
0-088
Water
88-280
Fresh leaves of tobacco
100-836
TABLE XI.
Return showing the quantity of Chests of Opium exported by
the East India Company between 1846 and 1858.
Tears.
No. of Chests.
1846 — 47
22,468
1847—48
22,879
1848—49
33,073
1849—50
35,919
1850—51
32,033
1851—52
31,259
1852—53
35,521
1853—54
42,403
1854—55
49,979
1855—56
49,399
1856—57
66,305
1857—58
68,004
* Each Chost of Opium contains about 140 lbs.
APPENDIX,
363
TABLE XII.
Amount of Income derived by the East India Company from
the Opium Monopoly.
Years.
Amount.
1840—41
£874,277
1341—42
1,018,765
1842—43
1,577,581
1843—44
2,024,826
1844—45 ... ...
2,181,288
1845—46
2,803,350
1846—47
2,886,201
1847—48
1,698,252
1848—49
2,845,762
1849—50
3,309,637
1850—51
3,043,135
1851—52
3,139,247
1852—53
3,717,932
1853—54
3,359,019
1854—55
... ... 3,333,601
1855—56
3,961,975
1856—57
3,860.390
1857—58
5,918,375
TABLE XIII.
OPIUM STATISTICS OE GREAT BRITAIN.
Years.
Imports.
Consumption.
1826
79,829 lbs.
28,329 lbs.
1827
113,140 „
17,322 „
1830
209,076 „
22.668 „
1833
106,846 „
35,407 „
1836
130,794 „
38,943 „
1839
196,247 „
41,632 „
1842
72,373 „
47,432 „
1845
259,644 „
38,229 „
1848
200,019 „
61,055 „
1849
105,724 „
44,177 „
1850
126,318 „
42,324 „
1851
118,024 „
50,682 „
1852
205,780 „
62,521 „
1853
159,312 „
67,038 „
1854
97,427 „
61,432 „
1855
50,143 „
34,473 „
1856
51,479 „
38,609 „
1857
136,423 „
56,174 „
1858
82,085 „
77,639 „
364
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP.
TABLE XIV.
ANALYSIS OF OPIUM, BY MULDER.
Morphia
...
... 10-842
4-106
Narcotina
...
6-803
8-150
Codeia
...
... 0-678
0-834
Narceine
...
6-662
7-506
Meconine
...
... 0-804
0-846
Meconic acid
...
... 5-124
3-968
Fat
... 2-166
1-350
Caoutchouc
...
6-012
5-026
Resin ...
... 3-582
2-028
Gummy extractive ...
... 25-200 -
31-470
Gum
1-042
2-896
Mucus
...
... 19-086
17-098
Water
...
... 9-846‘
12-226
Loss ... ... ... ...
...
... 2-148
2-496
Total
... 100-000 100-000
PRISONERS SENTENCED BY THE POLICE TO THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION AT SINGAPORE.
APPENDIX.
365
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366
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP,
TABLE XVI.
OPIUM CONSUMED BY FIFTEEN PERSONS FROM
THE PAUPER HOSPITAL, SINGAPORE.
Quantity
of Opium
consumed
daily.
Years
habitu-
ated.
Monthly
Wages.
Excess
Df expenditure over
income.
Grains.
s.
d.
s.
d.
1
36
7
11
6
5
8 excess
2
36
3
8
0
6
6 „
3
24
5
8
0
1
8 »
4
36
8
12
0
2
6 „
5
42
20
16
0
0
10 „
6
30
10
10
0
2
1 „
7
24
7
8
0
1
8 „
8
30
10
12
0
Income and expenditure equal
9
24
5
8
0
1
8 excess
10
30
10
8
0
4
0 „
11
30
8
12
0
Income and expenditure equal
12
36
10
12
0
2
6 excess
13
30
15
12
0
Income and expenditure equal
14
30
25
12
0
1)
15
42
22
12
0
4
10 exces
TABLE XVII.
REPORTS OF OPIUM-SMOKING IN CHINA.
In the Chung-wan (centre bazaar) there are about 5,800
inhabitants.
The number that smoke opium merely because they like it
are upwards of 2,600.
The number that smoke opium are upwards of 300.
In the Hah-wan (Canton bazaar) there are upwards of 1,200
inhabitants.
The number that smoko opium merely because they like it
are upwards of 600.
The number that smoke opium are upwards of 100.
The number that died for cause of smoking opium Tory few.
(Signed) Chung-wan & Hah-wan Teatoa’s Repost.
Dated Tuei-man year , 11/A month, 20 th day
( December 20th, 1806).
APPENDIX. 367
The number of male residents at Sheong-wan are estimated as
following : —
This year have ascertained the number of male residents are
13,000.
There are 3,000 opium-smokers ; 300 smoke 8 mace a-day;
700 smoke 5 mace each day; 1,000 smoke 3 mace each day; the
rest smoke 1 mace, more or less.
The number that smoke opium merely because they like it are
upwards of 4,000.
The number that got sick for cause of opium-smoking went
home, and did not die here.
(Signed) Teapoa of Sheong-wan Tong Chew’s Report.
Dated December 29th, 1855.
By order, have ascertained the number of inhabitants of Tai-
ping-Shan.
There are upwards of 5,300 men.
The number that smoke opium because they like it are
upwmrds of 1,200.
The number that smoke opium are upwards of 600.
The number that died for cause of opium-smoking very few.
(Signed) Tai-ping-Shan Teapoa’s Report.
Dated Tuet-man year, 1 1th month, 20 th day
(. December 29 th, 1855).
By order, have ascertained that in Wan-tsai there are up-
wards of 1,600 inhabitants.
Those that smoke opium merely because they like it are
upwards of 500 men.
Those that smoke opium are upwards of 200 men.
I hose that died for cause of smoking opium, none.
(Signed) Wan-tsai Teapoa’s Report.
Dated Tuet-man year, 11 th month, 20 th day
C December 29 Ik, 1855).
By order, have ascertained that in Wanc-nai-clioon there are
upwards of 200 men.
368
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP,
The number that smoke opium are upwards of 10 men.
The number that smoke opium merely because they like it are
few only.
The number that died for cause of smoking opium, very few.
(Signed) Wang-nai-choon Teapoa’s Repokt.
Dated. Tuet-man year , 11 th month, 20 tli day
( December 29th, 1S65).
By order, have ascertained the number of inhabitants of Ting-
loong-chow (east point).
There are upwards of 2,500 inhabitants.
The number that smoke opium merely because they like it
are upwards of 300.
The number that smoke opium are upwards of 100.
[ (Signed) Ting-loon-chow Teapoa’s Repout.
Dated Tuet-man year, 11 th month, 20 th day
(December 29 th, 1S55).
TABLE XVIII.
N
Professor Johnston’s estimate of the number of persons indulging
in the Seven principal Narcotics of the world.
Tobacco
Opium
Hemp
Betel
Coca
Thorn-Apple (no estimate)
Amanita ,,
800,000,000
400.000. 000
200.000. 000 to 300,000,000
100.000. 000
10,000,000
Less than Coca.
»»
APPENDIX,
369
TABLE XIX.
SYNOPSIS OF NARCOTICS, WITH THEIR
SUBSTITUTES.
I. — Tobacco.
Vulgar Name.
Virginian tobacco.
Orinoko ,,
European „
Javanese „
Billah ,,
Guzerat „
Chinese „
Thibetian „
Persian ,,
I.atakia „
Djiddar ,,
Indian „
Cuban „
Columbian „
Brazilian .,
Peruvian „
Coltsfoot leaves
Yarrow „
Bbubarb „
Bogbean „
Sage
Mountain tobacco .
Black holly ..
Stag’s hom sumach
Copal sumach
Water lily leaves...
Pucha-pat
Tombeki
Indian tobacco
Maize husks...,
Birch bark ....
Willow leaves .
Bearberry leaves...
Pimento berries
Cascarilla bark
Polygonum leaves
Camphor leaves -j
Wild dagga .,
Nicotiana tabacum ..,
macrophylla ...
rustica
Culcn
Purphiok
Camomile flowers
Beet leaves
Akel
Trouna
Kauw good |
Angelica root .
Botanical name.
Where used
or cultivated
,> var
„ varAsiatica.
„ var
„ varChinensis
., var
Persica
var .
Europe .
Java ....
Malwa .
Guzerat .
China ....
Thibet .
Persia....
Syria ....
cnspa
quadrivalvis ...
multivalvis
U. States
Smoked & chewed
Smoked.
nana
repanda
loxensis
glauca
andicola .
Tusiilago farfar
Achilloea millefolium
Rheum emodi, &c. ..
Menyanthes trifoliata ...
Salvia offic inalis
Arnica montana
Ilex vomitoria
Rhus typhina
Rhus copallina
Nelumbium speciosum
Marrubium odoratissi- \
mum j
Lobelia sp
Lobelia inflata
Zea Mays
Betula excelsa
Salix sp
Arctostaphylus uva-ursi
Eugenia pimento
Croton eleuteria
Polygonum hispida
Tarchonanthus cam- 1
phoratus )
Leonotis leonurus
I.eonotis ovata
Psoralea glandulosa
Tupistra sp
Anthomis nobilis
Beta vulgaris
N. America.
if
Rocky Mts.
Cuba
America
Brazil
Andes
Europe
Smok’d for tobacco
Himalayas...
Britain
Europe
Switzerland,
N. America.
Mississippi .
Moscmbryanthemum
tortuosum..
Archangclica officinalis...
China..,
India ..
E. Asia
N. America.
U. States
N.Brunswck
N. America.
Chenooklnd
W. Indies ...
S. America
Cape
Mauritius .
Sikkim ....
Britain ....
France ....
Algeria ....
Cape ....
Lapland.
How used.
Mix’d with tobacco
Mix’d with tobacco
Smoked as tobacco
ff
Patented for cigars
Mix’d with tobacco
Smoked as tobacco
Mix’d with tobacco
Smoked
Mix’d with tobacco
Smoked
Mix’d with tobacco
substitute
Mix’d with tobacco
Chewed
370
THE SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP,
( Table XIX. qpntinucd.J
Vulgar name.
Monkey bread )
leaves f
Rhododendron I
leaves j
Brown dust of)
petioles of. }
Asarabacca
'Grimstone's eye 7
snuff j
Various indigenous
Woodruff
Amadou ashes
Where used
or cultivated
Smyrna opium ..
Constantinople do.
Egyptian do
Trebizond do
Bengal do
Garden Patna do...
Malwa do
Cuteh do
Kandeish do
English do —
French do :..
German do
Lactucarium ....
Adansonia digitata ....
Rhododendron campa-
nulatum
Kalmia sp
Rhododendron sp
Asarum Europoeum ....
Various plants
plants
A specula odorata
Polyporus igniarius ....
II. — Opium.
Papaver somniferum.
W. Africa ...
India
N. America.
Europe
Britain
Erzegebirge.
Britaih
How used.
Kmtschatka|Snuffed.
Snuffed
Snuffed.
Mixed with snuff.
Dutchman’s lau- 1
danum J
Ditto
Syrian rue seods...
Seeds of
Seeds of
Juice of
Lactuca sativa
„ virosa
„ scariola
,, altissima
sylvestris
„ elongata
„ taraxacifolia
Levant
Turkey
Egypt....
Persia...
India ....
Gimjah and Bang.
Churrus (resin) ...
Powdered dacca '
and aloes /
Betel nuts
Murucuja ocellata ...
,, orbiculata
Poganum harmala...
Sterculia alata
Seopolia mutica ...
Chondrilla juncea ...
III. — Hemp.
Cannabis indica
England...
France ...
Gennany
Britain ...
Subs, for opium.
Guiana ....
Jamaica....
Barbadoes .
Turkey ....
Silhet
Arabia ....
Lemnos ....
Smoked, Ac.
To produce in-
toxication.
Subs, for opium.
S To produce in-
toxication.
Subs, for opium.
India, Africa Smoked, See.
Nepaul, Sec.
S. W. Africa.
IV. — Betel.
Snuffed
Kassu (extract) ...
Cowry (extract) ...
Kutt or catechu ...
Aroca catechu ...
Areca laxa
Areca Ndgonsis
Arena Dicksoni
Areca catccliu ...
Areca catechu ...
Acacia catechu
Malay Ponin
Andaman Is
E. Bengal ...
Malabar...
India
Mysore ...
India
Chewed.
APPENDIX.
371
(Table XIX. continued.)
Vulgar name.
Botanical name.
Where used
or cultivated
How used.
Gambir
Betelpepperleaves
it
Blk. pepper leaves
Ava pepper
Boots of
Boots of
Guayabo bark
Antipolo bark
Uncaria gambir
Uncaria sp
Chavica betle
Chavica siraboa 1
Piper nigrum
Macropiper methysticum
Derris pinnata
Cocos nucifera
Psidium guayaba
if ..»••••••
Singapore &c
if
Malay Penin
if
Singapore ...
S. Seas
Ceylon
Phillipines .
if
Chewed.
a
Chewed with betel
a
tt
if
Subs, for betel
ft
a
a
Coca leaves
V. — Coca.
.JErytliroxylon coca..,
VI. — Thorn-Apple.
Florispondio seeds
Thorn Apple leaves
seeds
Belladonna leaves.
Henbane leaves ...
Leaves of
Flowers of.
Foxglove leaves ...
Fly agaric
Datura sanguinea
N. Granada.
„ stramonium...;..
Europe
Atropa belladonna
Europe .. .’..
Hyoscyamus niger
India
f Bhododendron chry-
( santhum
Bhododendron arboreum
India .........
Digitalis purpurea
ft
Peru (Masticatory
Drank in infusion.
Smoked.
f By the Delphic
X oracle.
As an opiate.
Smoked.
C Mixed with has-
l chish.
Chewed.
/Mixed with has-
\ chisch.
VII. — Amanita.
Amanita muscaria jSiberia |Swallowed.
M ‘COBQUOD ALB b Co., PBINTEBS, LONDON— WOBKS, NlEWTON.