Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/855

OPIUM 791 sidered so valuable. The cultivation in Malwa does not differ in any important particular from that in Bengal. The opium is col lected in March and April, and the crude drug or "chick" is thrown into an earthen vessel and covered with linseed oil to prevent evapo ration. In this state it is sold to itinerant dealers. It is after wards tied up in quantities of 25 lb and 50 ft in double bags of sheet ing, which are suspended to a ceiling out of the light and draught to allow the excess of oil to drain off. This takes place in seven to ten days, but the bags are left for four to six weeks until the oil re maining on the opium has become oxidized and hardened. In June and July, when the rains begin, the bags are taken down and emptied into shallow vats 10 to 15 feet across, and 6 to 8 inches deep, in which the opium is kneaded until uniform in colour and consistence and tough enough to be formed into cakes of 8 or 10 ounces in weight. These are thrown into a basket containing chaff made from the capsules. They are then rolled in broken leaves and stalks of the poppy and left, with occasional turning, for a week or so, when the} become hard enough to bear packing. In October and November they are weighed and sent to market, packed in chests containing as nearly as possible 1 picul = 133 lt>, the petals and leaves of the poppy being used as packing materials. The production is said to amount to about 20,000 chests annually. The amount of opium revenue collected in India was 10,480,051 in 1881. It is a remarkable fact that the only Indian opium ever seen in England is an occasional sample of the Malwa sort, whilst the Government monopoly opium is quite unknown ; indeed, the whole of the opium used in medicine in Europe and the United States is obtained from Turkey. This is in some measure due to the fact that Indian opium contains less morphia. It has recently been shown, however, that opium grown in the hilly districts of the Himalayas yields 50 per cent, more morphia than that of the plains, and that the deficiency of morphia in the Indian drug is due, in some measure, to the long exposure to the air in a semi- liquid state which it undergoes. In view, therefore, of the probable decline in the Chinese demand, the cultivation of the drug for the European market in the hilly districts of India, and its preparation after the mode adopted in Turkey, viz., by drying the concrete juice as quickly as possible, might be worthy of the consideration of the British Government. Persia. The variety of poppy grown in Persia appears to be P. somnifcrum, var. y. album (P. ojftcinale, Gm.), having roundish ovate capsules. It is most largely produced in the districts of Ispahan, Shiraz, Yezd, and Khonsar, and to a less extent in those of Khora- san, Kermanshah, and Ears. The Yezd opium is considered better than that of Ispahan, but the strongest or Thcriak-c-Arabistani is produced in the neighbourhood of Dizful and Sinister, east of the river Tigris. Good opium is also produced about Sari and Balfarush in the province of Mazanderan. The capsules are incised vertically, or in some districts vertical cuts with diagonal branches are made. The crop is collected in May and June and reaches the ports for exportation between September and January. Al though the cultivation of opium in Persia was probably carried on at an earlier date than in India, Persian opium was almost unknown in England until about the year 1870, except in the form of the inferior quality known as "Trebizond," which usually contains only 2 to 3 per cent, of morphia. This opium is in the form of cylindrical sticks about 6 inches long and half an inch in diameter, wrapped in waxed paper. Since 1870 Persian opium has been largely exported from Bushire and Bandar- Abbas in the Persian Gulf to London, the Straits Settlements, and China. At that date the annual yield is said not to have exceeded 2600 cases ; but, the profits on opium having about that time attracted attention, all available ground was utilized for this to the exclusion of cereals, cotton, and other produce. The result was a severe famine in 1871-72, which was further aggravated by drought and other cir cumstances. Notwithstanding the lesson thus taught, the cultiva tion is being extended every year, especially in Ispahan, which abounds in streams and rivers, an advantage in which Yezd is defi cient. About Shiraz, Behbehan, and Kermanshah it now occupies much of the land, and has consequently affected the price and growth of cereals. The trade only 300 chests in 1859 gradually increased until 1877, when the Persian opium was much adulter ated with glucose. The heavy losses on this inferior opium and the higher prices obtained for the genuine article led to a great improve ment in its preparation, and in 1880 the export had increased to 7700 chests. About five-sixths of this total finds its way to the Chinese market, chiefly by sea, although some is carried overland through Bokhara, Khokand, and Kashgar ; a considerable quantity is exported by way of Trebizond and Samsun to Constantinople, and the remainder to Great Britain. The produce of Ispahan and Ears is carried for exportation to Bushire, and that of Khorasan and Kirman and Yezd partly to Bushire and partly to Bandar- Abbas. The Sinister opium is sent partly via Bushire to Muscat for transhipment to Zanzibar, and part is believed to be smuggled into India by way of Baluchistan and Mekran. Smaller quantities grown in Teheran, Tabriz, and Kermanshah find their way to Smyrna, where it is mixed with the local drug for the European market, the same practice being carried on at Constantinople with the 1 ersian opium that arrives there from Samsun and Trebizond. For the Chinese market the opium is usually packed in chests containing 10J shahmans (of 13i ft), so that on arrival it may weio-h Chinese pienl(= 133^ ft), 5 to 10 per cent, being allowed for loss by drying. At Ispahan, Shiraz, and Yezd the drug, after bein" dried in the sun, is mixed with oil in the proportion of 6 or 7 lb to 141 ft of opium, with the object, it is said, of suiting the taste of the Chinese, that intended for the London market bein^ usually free from oil. Persian opium, as met with in the London market, occurs in several forms, the most common being that of broad rounded cones weighing 6 to 10 oz. or more, or rarely twice that size. These are packed in poppy trash, or are wrapped separately in paper, or some times in poppy, fig, or vine leaves. Ispahan opium also occurs in the form of parallelepipeds weighing about 16 to 20 oz. ; sometimes flat circular pieces weighing about 20 oz. are met with. The opium is usually of much firmer and smoother consistence than that of Turkey, of a chocolate-brown colour and cheesy appearance, the pieces bearing evidence of having been beaten into a uniform mass previously to being made into lumps. The odour differs but slightly, except in oily specimens, from that of Turkey opium. Great care is now taken to prevent adulteration, and consequently Persian opium can be obtained nearly as rich in morphia as the Turkish drug, on the average from 8 to 12 per cent. The greater propor tion of the Persian opium imported into London is again exported, a comparatively small quantity being used, chiefly for the manu facture of morphia when Turkey opium is dear, and a little in veterinary practice. According to Dr Keveil, Persian opium usually contains 75 to 84 per cent, of matter soluble in water, and some samples contain from 13 to 30 per cent, of glucose. China. The variety of poppy grown in China appears to be chiefly the P. somnifcrum, y. album, especially in the low lands, but red and purple varieties are also met with. The production is principally carried on in the south-western provinces of Szechuen, Yunnan, and Kweichow. It is grown to a less extent in Shanse, Shense, and Shantung in the north, as well as in eastern Mongolia and north-eastern Manchuria and Shingking ; but in these pro vinces the richest soil and the utmost care are necessary to ensure the success of the crop, and the area under opium cannot be greatly extended. Formerly the province of Shense produced 30 per cent, of the native product, but since the famine caused by the neglect of cereals for opium the extension of the cultivation has been rigidly prohibited in Shense, Honan, and Chihli. In Kwangtung the soil and climate have been found unsuitable, and in Fuhkeen sugar proves equally remunerative, if not more so. There can be no question, however, that, as already stated, the cultivation of the poppy is extending rapidly, in spite of prohibitory edicts issued from time to time ; four-fifths of the opium at present used in China is home-grown. According to Consul Spence s report (1882) the poppy is cultivated chiefly on land near villages where manure and labour can be easily obtained. As soon as the summer crop has been reaped the land is ploughed and cleaned, roots and weeds are burnt and the resulting ashes scattered over the ground, and dressings of night-soil are liberally applied. The seeds are sown in November and December in drills 18 inches apart. In January, when the plants are a few inches high, the rows are thinned and earthed up so as to leave a free passage between. The ground is afterwards weeded occasionally and the earth stirred up. The poppy blooms in March or April, according to the situation. As soon as the capsules begin to form, dressings of liquid manure are given, and in April and May the opium is collected. Vertical in cisions are made in the capsules as in India. In some districts, however, a vertical shaving appears to be taken off the surface of the capsule. The excreted juice is scraped off and transferred to a small pot suspended at the waist. The mode of preparation for the market has not been described, but, from the occasional samples that have been sent to England, the opium appears to have undergone manipulation, since it has a uniform pasty consistence and is with out any trace of the granular structure indicative of unmixed opium like that of Turkey. The colour is darker and the consistence softer than that of Persian opium, but the odour is good. Some of the Szechuen opium appears to have been mixed with oil. The Yunnan and Szechuen opiums are made into flat cakes, and are wrapped in white paper. Chekeang opium is in the form of treacly extract, and is sold in jars containing 2 to 4 ft. The yield of opium is calculated at 350 oz. per acre. The Shense drug is highly esteemed because it has a flavour resembling the Patna kind and gives 85 to 90 per cent, of extract. Yunnan opium comes next and Szechuen third in value. The use of foreign opium by the Chinese bears some relation to its introduction, which was in the following order : Patna, Malwa, Benares, and Persian. Thus the Patna opium is preferred along the south-eastern coast as far north as the Yangtsze river, except in the district about Ningpo. Malwa is chiefly consumed in the northern provinces, including part of Kwangtung, Kwangse, Keangse, and Ganhwuy, while Benares is the favourite kind in