380
The drug is very little used in Kulu. Some of the
bairagis and the fakirs, who have come up here on
pilgrimage, are the principal consumers. It is con-
sidered to be more suitable for warm than for cold
climates.
(e) There is no export nor import of hemp leaves.
Kangra Proper also produces the wild plant in
great quantity. Charas passes through this sub-
division from Yarkand and Ladakh ; but charas is
not referred to in the circular.
(f) So far as this sub-division is concerned, any
restriction on the cultivation is in my opinion
uncalled for. The area under hemp cultivation is
small, and with the exception of bhangolu, no part
of the plant is used for purposes of intoxication.
It is cultivated exclusively for fibre, and the use
of the seed is a mere accident. If licenses were
required, zamindars would be obliged to buy the
fibre or turn to the nettle plant which in Kulu
grows to a considerable height, and which supplies
a fibre already used for common purposes. The
hemp fibre is here used principally where strength
is required without great bulk of fibre.
As to regulation of the sale and storing of the
wild hemp leaves, that seems to me an impossibili-
ty or nearly so in the hills, were the plant grows
spontaneously in such quantities. The evasion of
any rules laid down would be so easy, and any
attempt to carry them out would involve so much
interference that they would probably remain a
dead letter. The revenue would not henefit to any
extent, nor would the consumption be reduced.
The use of the drug in Kulu is not so excessive as
in itself to call for interference.
I am not sufficiently acquainted with the circum-
stances of other districts to be able to express an
opinion as to the general question, but there are
always and in all places two great differences
between the poppy and the hemp plant; the former
does not grow wild, the latter does; the former is
cultivated only for the drug it produces, the latter
is cultivated for its fibre as well as for its drug.
These differences are so radical that they appear to
me to show that hemp cultivation must be put on
a different footing from poppy cultivation, and
cannot be made subject to the same restrictions.
11. Evidence of MR. E. B. FRANCIS, Deputy Commissioner, Officiating as Director,
Land Records and Agriculture.
1. No special opportunities at any time except
that as Junior Secretary to the Financial Commis-
sioner in 1884, and one or two previous years I
compiled excise reports. For the last nine years I
have had nothing to do with excise matters.
2. I believe that ganja is hardly used in the
Punjab, and I am not acquainted with it. Charas
is imported from Yarkand and bhang is produced
locally ; some charas also comes from Khorasan.
8. In most hill and submontane districts of the
Punjab I believe the wild plant is abundant.
4. I am not acquainted with the hill districts
where it grows, and know no other names for the
plant but bhang.
5. I cannot say, but believe it grows from 1,000
to 7,000 feet.
6. Certainly dense in places as on the banks of
the Jhelum in Kashmir.
7. I have not seen the hemp plant cultivated
except in small patches in the hills and about
fakirs' huts.
8 to 11. No information.
12. I do not think ganja is produced in the
Punjab.
13. See last answer. I cannot answer the two
last parts of this question.
14. Charas is imported. Bhang is prepared
from the dry leaves by infusion when wanted for
use.
15. Bhang is prepared by infusing the leaves in
cold water and straining the liquor. This is for
drinking. Charas is smoked in a huka, so far as
I have seen.
16. Yes, by those who use it. Yes, to second
part of question. To third part no information,
but probably charas cannot be prepared from the
wild plant, or this would be done in Punjab
districts where the wild plant is plentiful.
17. Bhang is prepared by the users. The other
drugs are not made in the Punjab.
18. Cannot say at all.
19. Charas is, so far as I know, only used for
smoking. I know nothing about ganja. Bhang
is made into sweetmeats called majun. Possibly
charas is made up into some such forms also.
20. Purbias or down-country men, especially
syces (or grooms), are smokers of charas. Also
fakirs and loose characters generally. No inform-
ation about ganja.
21. Not known.
22. Yarkandi or Khurasani ; there is no native
charas.
23. Not so far as I know.
24. Fakirs, especially Sikh fakirs (udasis and
nihangs), drink bhang. No information about
eating it, except in form of majun (?).
25. It is sometimes said that the increased
excise on spirits has increased the consumption of
charas which is a cheap intoxicant.
26. In cases both of charas and bhang nearly
all the consumers may be regarded as habituals.
The proportion of excessive consumers to moderate
perhaps one to three. Bhang is occasionally used
by most Hindus at the Sheoratri festival, but in
small and harmless quantity.
27. See answers 20 and 24. No further details
known.
28. Charas sells at about 8 tolas to the rupee ;
about a tola is smoked in the day by a confirmed
smoker. Enough bhang may be obtained for one
pice to intoxicate 4 or 5 men.
29. Not known,
30. Usually in company ; confined I think to
grown men.
31. Charas-smoking I believe irritates the lungs
at first, and the habit is formed with some
difficulty. It does not seem difficult to make
charas-smokers leave off their habit when they get
into gaol. Yes, the consumers of these drugs
tend to exceed moderation.
32. None known, except that a little bhang
is, I believe, commonly drunk by most Hindus at
the Sheoratri festival, as stated in answer No. 26.
33. Bhang is believed to assist fakirs in abstrac-