NOTE ON OPIUM CULTIVATION IN CHINA AND INDIA.

In Chapter II. I made special reference to the cultivation of the poppy and to the method of harvesting opium in Western China; but subsequent personal observation in the eastern provinces has taught me that the process, employed in the west, of collecting the juice is not the only system practised in China. At Wênchow, in the province of Chêkiang, where the poppy is extensively grown, a small instrument resembling a carpenter’s plane takes the place of the multi-bladed wooden handle, and the workman planes the skin of the capsule from the top downwards, leaving a thin shaving adhering to the lower end of the poppy-head. This is repeated four or five times round the same capsule at due intervals. A dry cloudy day is selected for harvesting the drug, for sunshine and rain are said to be inimical to a good collection. In the former, the sap will not flow freely, while the latter dilutes the drug. As soon as the side of the capsule has been planed, the sap exudes from the exposed surface—sometimes so rapidly as to drop down on the leaves and stem and be lost—and the collector, provided with only a hollow bamboo wherewith he roughly scrapes off the juice, follows close on the heels of the workman with the plane.

That the system in use in Western China approximates very nearly to the Indian method will be seen from the following remarks on opium cultivation in Western Malwa, for which I am indebted to my brother, Andrew Hosie, C.M., M.D., Army Medical Staff, Mhow:—

“Opium cultivation in Western Malwa is carried on entirely by the subjects of the native princes who rule in this part of India. The seasons in Malwa are three, the hot, the rainy, and the cold; the hot prevailing from the middle of March to the middle of June, the rainy from the middle of June to the end of September, and the cold from that onwards to the middle of March. The average rainfall is about thirty inches, and the extremes of heat and cold experienced in Northern India are wanting in this region. The soil is of the cotton variety, resting on disintegrating trap rock. It is well watered by numerous small streams, which ultimately find their way into the Jumna. Along the banks of these streams, towards the end of the rainy season, the industrious ryot and his family set about preparing the fields for the poppy planting. They are first carefully manured with the village refuse, ploughed and rolled after a most primitive fashion, and then divided into rectangular plots about five feet by four, with a raised border of earth some four inches high all round. These plots are so arranged as to allow of their being watered with the greatest facility from the stream or wells in the immediate vicinity. The seed having been sown in the plots, the watering commences, the poppy, like the sugar cane, being one of the thirstiest of plants. Morning and evening, the ryot with his bullocks may be seen at the wells dragging up the big skins of water, which is run by a series of gutters into the plots all over the thirsty fields. This watering is carried out every third day. The seeds having germinated and reached a few inches in height, the superfluous plants are carefully weeded out, leaving ample space for every individual plant remaining. About the beginning of January they burst into beautiful red and white flowers, and the odour of the poppy pervades the land. Towards the end of February, when the petals begin to fall, and the capsules are still unripe and filled with milky juice, the collection of the crop begins. In the evening, the opium collector goes round and with a sharp knife scarifies each capsule on one side in three parallel perpendicular cuts. He is careful that these cuts are only superficial, for, if they penetrated into the interior of the capsule, a loss of opium would take place and the oil-bearing seed be spoiled. Next morning the collector goes round and collects the tears of opium which have exuded during the night; these, as he collects them, he either places in the palm of his hand or in a small flat dish. The morning collection having been made, it is placed in an earthenware vessel containing linseed oil. After this the process of scratching and collecting is repeated three times on opposite sides of the same capsule. It takes about a month to collect the whole crop. Here the ryot’s dealing with the opium ends; it is conveyed to the opium merchants at such centres as Indore, the capital of the Maharajah Holkar, where it is made up for exportation.

“Malwa opium is found in many varieties, the principal of which are flat circular cakes of about 4 to 8 and 16 ounces in weight, without any external covering, soft blackish brown, with a heavy odour, and pungent, bitter taste. Another variety occurs in balls about 10 ounces in weight, covered with broken poppy petals, dry, hard, and brittle, and of a reddish colour. The yield of morphia—the true test of quality—varies from 3 to 8 per cent., a very good percentage, so that Malwa opium is looked upon in the medical world as being a very reliable drug.

“After the opium crop has been obtained, the capsules are collected, crushed, and the seed gathered. From this a yellowish oil is extracted, much used by the natives for burning and cooking purposes. The seeds themselves have no narcotic properties, and enter into the ingredients of curries, and in some parts a sort of bread is made from them.

“Opium in its crude form is largely consumed by the cultivators themselves, but not, as far as I am aware, to much excess. I have often asked why they took it, and the answer has invariably been that it made them feel happy, and that they were only by it able to do their day’s work.

“Opium has been called the gift of God to man, and its many uses in alleviating human suffering justify the expression; but the miserable wrecks of humanity one sees from its abuse remind one forcibly how a good may be turned to an evil, a blessing to a curse.

“Mhow, May 8, 1889.”

INDEX.