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form of infusion or decoction generally. Decoction
is however, not so frequently resorted to. Dry
leaves are rubbed between the palm, mixed with
gur and eaten by some people. A form of sweet-
meat called majun is also prepared. On marriage
occasions bhang is mixed with several dishes in
small quantities, to make fun of the guests. For
smoking it is sometimes mixed with tobacco.
16. (c) Yes.
17. There is no special class.
18. Yes. Charas loses its effect after one year,
and bhang after two years. Damp air causes
deterioration. To prevent it, bhang should be kept
in a dry place, and carefully preserved from mois-
ture of all kinds.
19. Ganja and charas are used chiefly for smoking.
Sometimes they are administered in food, etc., and
to this fact much of the secret poisoning met with
in India is due, and I may mention that this cri-
minal use of ganja is the origin of the word assassin
as follows. This drug in the East is known by the
name of " hasheesh," and those desperadoes who
used it were called " hashasheen," hence the word
assassin.
20. The use of ganja is practically confined to
Bengal, which province consumes about five times
as much as all the rest of India put together.
Charas is smoked in the Punjab by jogis, fakirs,
palki-bearers, Hindustani syces, suthra fakirs, and
low caste people.
22. Foreign charas is chiefly used, and is import-
ed from the valleys of the] Himalayas and Thibetan
territory.
23. Occasionally, by the uneducated class of peo-
ple in Dera Ismail Khan, Multan, and Jhang dis-
tricts to the extent of half an ounce.
24. Brahmins, fakirs and uneducated people,
especially those who have nothing to do, drink and
sometimes eat it throughout the province.
25. On the increase, as they are cheaper than
opium and country spirits.
26. (a) 60 per cent.
(b) 20 „
(c) 15 „
(d) 5 „
The above apply to charas and bhang consumers.
27. Sec answer to question No. 24. Bad
company is the chief cause of the practice.
28. (a) Half to one ounce of bhang, cost 1½ to
three pies.
(b) Two to four ounces of bhang, cost six pies to
one anna. Half a pice worth of ganja or charas is
probably sufficient for habitual moderate smoker,
and four sutas, costing half anna, will intoxicate
habitual excessive smoker.
29. Some people in Jhang district take bhang in
country liquor and give it the name of Lutki. A
mixture of opium, bhang, poppy heads, dhatura and
country liquor is called " punjtool."
The power of opium, when combined with ganja
to control the exciting stimulation of the latter, is
well knowen to every professional dealer in special
drugs to supply loss of ( physical) power as in im-
poteuce or want of courage to meet danger, or per-
petrate a crime. Ganja is mixed with the country
spirit to secure noisy drunkenness, and it is this
practically drugged liquor which drives the soldier
mad.
The ordinary bhang massala in winter consists
of bhang, black pepper, and sugar, while that for
summer is called sardayee, and is composed of four
magz (seeds of melons, water melons, cucumbers
and gourd), kasni, poppy seeds, rose leaves, al-
monds, bhang, black pepper, and sugar.
30. Bhang in solitude is usually consumed to the
extent of one ounce, while in company it may be
consumed to the extent of four ounces. It is mainly
confined to the male sex, and it is not usual for
children to consume it.
Ganja and charas are very rarely used in this
district.
31. Yes, and it is not difficult to break off: in
the case of bhang.
Yes, in all of these.
32. On two Hindu festivals, viz., Shivratri and
Dushera, some Hindus take bhang or panjtool
(mixture of bhang, opium, poppy heads, dhatura
and country spirit). It is not essential, but probab-
ly the custom owes its origin to bhang drinkers.
Generally temperate.
Not likely to lead to the formation of the habit, or
to prove otherwise injurious, except in the Case of
vulgar people.
33. A ganja or charas smoker is looked upon as
a low and disreputable person. A bhang drinker
is called a bhanger (term of contempt). Drinking
bhang on Sivaratri and Dushera is considered reli-
gious by some Hindus. During the Holi festival
it is taken very largely. No custom of worshipping
the plant is known to me. Some Hindu ganja
smokers call it the lock of Siva, and both Hindus
and Musalmans who use ganja say that they do so
for concentrating their thought in worship.
34. Yes. To jogis, fakirs, sanyasis and other
mendicants who are accustomed to smoke ganja or
charas, and drink bhang. They are very fond of
the intoxicants, and attach a religious importance to
them. Thorefore the prohibition will create a spirit
of disaffection among them.
85. No. Yes, it would be consumed illicitly.
The sale might be restricted, but not prohibited.
The prohibition will create a spirit of disaffection
not amounting to a political danger. The prohibi-
tion would be followed by the use of alcoholic stimu-
lants by those who could afford it, and the poorer
classes would prepare for themselves new intoxicants
from the numerous wild plants which abound, and
thus satisfy their craving for stimulants.
36. No, owing to the greatly enhanced price of
alcohol and opium, the people are substituting hemp
drugs, and there are two men in the town of Maghi-
ana who use bhang, instead of alcohol, to which they
were addicted.
37. The effects of charas are practically instanta-
neous, and last only for a short time, while those of
bhang are produced after an hour or so, and last for
several hours. Ganja is more deleterious than
charas or bhang.
39. No. The effects of drinking or eating bhang
in excessive doses are similar to those of alcohol,
causing persons to talk freely and sometimes deliri-
ously, and occasionally to fall into a peculiar state,
called catalepsy, in which they are perfectly insensi-
ble, but have the power of maintaining their limbs
in whatever position these may be placed by other
persons, while they remain quite unconscious.
Occasionally, also, a peculiar kind of insanity is pro-
duced in which the patient has a great tendency
to laugh and to rub the feet of others, and to make
extravagant boasting of his power, wealth, etc.; this
is usually followed by sleep and return to the