201
8 . N o n e o b s e r v e d .
9. Pilichai seed is sown with ragi crops, etc.,
and in garden lands, and shanal is raised on wet
lands.
10. No. Agriculturists raise the varieties for
their fibre.
11 to 18. No information available. The drug
is sold in very small quantities, and no stock is
kept.
19. Ganja is used for smoking. The principal
trade is in making a compound called lahiam,
which is chewed like betel. The preparation is
made by pounding the leaves and mixing with
jaggery syrup, dried ginger, etc.
20. Religious mendicants as well as day-labour-
-ers smoke ganja.
21. Flat ganja is used for smoking.
22 to 24. Charas or bhaug not known, in these
parts.
25. The use of ganja is so very limited that
any increase or decrease is not perceptible.
26. No information is available.
27. The lower orders form the main class, al-
though consumers may be found among all classes;
they want something strong after their daily
labours; and as the prices of alcoholic drinks are
becoming prohibitive, the poorer classes take
lahiam. The latter is very cheap, being sold at
four pies a tola.
28. (a) 1/4 to 3/4 tola. (b) Anything in excess of
the above average.
29. For lahiam, syrup of jaggery, dried ginger,
ghi, pepper, cloves, etc., are ordinarily added to
give taste to the preparation. Nothing excep-
tional. The method is as follows: Ordinary flat
ganja is cleaned several times, soaked in milk,
and dried in the shade. The roots of vilra, sara--
saparilla, kuskus, and sirukirai are powdered, and
a decoction prepared therefrom. Dried ginger
, pepper, thippili, thesavaram, cardamom, etc., are
dried and powdered. The dried ganja is boiled in
ghi and the juice extracted. The powder of gin--
ger, etc., being then mixed with the decoction, the
extracted juice, honey, sugar, etc., is again boiled
and converted into lahiam.
30. Ganja is consumed both in solitude and in
company. Information as to extent not available.
It is mainly confined to the male sex. Lahiam
is given to children to induce them to sleep and
as a preventive of diarrhœa. No smoking dens
are set apart. The mendicants smoke in manta-
pams and other unfrequented places.
31. The habit is, I believe, difficult to break
one's self off when once formed like every other
habit. I am unable to give an opinion on the last
point, as I have never been in any district where
the drug was used very extensively. My subor--
dinate officers answer all these questions in the
affirmative.
32. As is the case with alcohol, ganja is offered
to Karuppawaswami and other village deities, and
libations are poured. The pusari or the people
about the temple take it afterwards for private
consumption. It is not certainly an essential
offertory. The offertory varies with the size of
purse of the worshipper. These offertories may
lead to a development of the habit by the pusari,
but the amounts offered are very small.
33. All the higher castes in India view the use
of alcohol and narcotics as vicious, if nothing
more; and Muhammadans are strictly forbidden
to use it in the Koran. Nobody worships the
plant.
34. Ganja is used as a stimulant by working
classes to alleviate fatigue and to overcome exhaus--
tion. To forego the consumption of the drug will
no doubt be a serious privation.
35. As the number of consumers is limited, the
use may be prohibited by abolishing the shop.
But the effect will, of course, be to make these
take to alcohol as the only alternative.
36. No.
37 to 39. No information available.
40. Ganja is prescribed by native doctors to
promote digestion, to check diarrhœa, and to
revive appetite.
41. Native doctors weaken its power and use it
in preparations to accelerate digestion, to prevent
indigestion, and to invigorate the nerves. All
classes use this when administered as a medicine.
42. I have no reason to believe it harmful if used
in moderation any more than is tobacco to a
European.
43. Not known to be offensive.
44.
It first refreshes and excites them, and
they afterwards become sleepy. The soporific
effect of eating it lasts about six hours; of smok-
ing it one or two hours.
45 to 48. No information available.
49. It is said to be used as an aphrodisiac.
50 to 52. No information.
53. It is said to lead to crime by exciting the
person at first.
54 and 55. No information.
56. Dhatura is known here as "Ooma thangai."
It is not known to be ever mixed with the drug
in this division.
57 to 67. No information.
68. Two shops in Dindigul and one in Palni and
Periyakolam. The consumer swallows the thing
as he goes from the shop or takes it home. No
licensed smoking dens.
69. Yes. The Municipal Council is consulted.
I doubt if there is any "public opinion" as we
understand the term in England in the matter.
25. Evidence of MR. W. FRANCIS, Acting Head Assistant Collector, Ramnad.
1. No special opportunities.
2. Yes. The names used here are those em-
ployed in Ramnad. Flat ganja alone is met with
here.
3. Hemp does not grow spontaneously in Ram-
nad division.
4. Only one name, ganja.
Vol. vi.
5.
Vide
answer to No. 3. I have no knowledge
of its habit.
7. Six years ago before the introduction of the
ganja license system, the plant was very generally
grown here. It it now grown nowhere but in
a few flower gardens for medicinal purposes. Only
flat ganja was ever manufactured from it.
2F