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5. Wild hemp is found in wetty climate, rich or
well manured soil, up to the height of 6,000 feet
above the sea level.
6. Dense.
7. None, so far as I know, except in some part
of Jaunsar, Bewar and Tehri Garhwal.
10. The hemp is said to be cultivated in the hills
(Jaunsar, Bewar and Devalgarh side) generally by
people who are considered low; they do not specially
belong to any particular caste or class, as they be-
long to Rajputs down to Doomras.
12. I do not know any such place or district
where the wild hemp is specially cultivated for the
production of ganja; nor do I think any such
practice is in existence, though if it was, it would
be necessary to extirpate male plants.
13. I do not think the plant is cultivated in our
province. If it was, perhaps Dehra Dun would be
the best place for it.
14. No.
16. No; people do not generally prepare or care
to prepare bhang at their houses, though it would
be possible to do so if they cared; yes, all the three
drugs can be prepared from the wild plant, and
fakirs living in the jungle sometimes do prepare
one or other of the drugs from the wild plants; the
production, however, is of inferior quality.
17. It is not confined to. any particular sect or
class of people; the people making it are, however,
generally considered of lower class (in the hills).
18. Yes, all the three. Yes, it quite loses its
effect in time. The consumers have been known to
think the drugs can be kept for three or four years.
It is not known what special care (if at all) is taken
to prevent deterioration.
19. Ganja and charas are, as a rule, smoked.
It is said when a habitual consumer cannot find
a chance to smoke, he will eat it. But it is so
seldom done that it cannot be said either to be prac-
tice or habit with any particular class.
20. Ganja is not so much used as charas.
Fakirs, sweepers and sailors (mallahs) use one or
the other of them very often; otherwise it is not
confined to any particular class of people. Damp
localities or cold countries (for instance, Badari
Nath) are the places where people often take to
using them.
22. In Dehra it is imported from the Punjab
(Hoshiarpur). It is not produced here, and the wild
plant found scattered here is not sought after for
the purpose.
23. Bhang as such is seldom smoked.
24. Hindus, as a rule, have no scruple to the
bhang as a drink. They are not, however, given
to it, though the use of bhang is not restricted or
confined to any particular class. It is both eaten
and drunk; the only people that are known to take
it as a rule are the Chaubes (Brahmins mostly liv-
ing in Muthra and Mainpuri). Muthra and its
neighbouring part of the country as well as hot
places are the localities where it is generally taken.
In places like Gya, bhang is also frequently taken—
to save one's self from the effect of water which is
generally considered injurious otherwise. It is
very difficult to give a proportion of the people as
required. But he who drinks will have no objec-
tion in eating it, and he who eats will often drink.
Drink is, however, prepared and is generally in
vogue.
25. Bhang and ganja are not very much and
very often used. But charas is generally con-
sumed; the local reason is that. Dehra is too cold a
place for bhang, and it is not in vogue here to
smoke ganja; sweepers and khitmatgars, low people
as a rule, take to charas. In our district the use
is not on the increase. Increase, if any, is due to the.
increase in population. Otherwise the people
(respectable as a rule) have come to regard it as
obnoxious.
26. Cannot answer this with any reasonable pre-
cision.
27. Fakirs, sweepers and mallahs; the first and
the last are generally exposed to the inclemencies of
the weather; and in order to avoid its effect and be
better able to endure the hardships of their respec-
tive life, they take to the drug; the fakirs with
their eyes red and meaningless talk under the effect
of the drug can better pass themselves in the eyes
of the public as something divine.
Sweepers and other low people get into the habit,
because they very often find opportunities of mixing
up with such fakirs and others.
28. Bhang—(a) from half a pice to two. (b)
can hardly be fixed. Ganja from two pice to
one anna. Charas the same. For (b) it is difficult
to find any limit.
29. Fakirs have been known sometimes to mix
with their drug some quantity of dhatura. There
are certain things as petals of rose flower, almonds,
khaskhas, tukhm-i-khia-ren, etc., which are used as
ingredients of bhang by occasional or moderate
consumers of some wealth.
30. It is very seldom (if at all) that any of
these drugs is consumed in solitude. It is mainly
confined to males and not to particular times of life,
but children have only seldom been known to take
to the evil, except when their father was a habi-
tual excessive consumer.
31. Yes, very easily, and it is difficult to break
it off. There is a very great tendency of the
moderate use developing into excessive. In fact,
many people hold it is almost impossible to keep up
moderation.
32. Bhang and its admixture with milk called
dudhia as well as majum (sweetmeat prepared with
bhang) is often resorted to and rather freely taken
by Hindus except by those who drink liquor, on
the occasion of the social festival called Holi; the
worshippers of Shiva also take it on the occasion of
religious ceremonies and days; for instance, on
Shivaratri.
People make a vow to offer dudhia to Shiva on
certain occasions when they arc in difficulties, &c.
There is, however, no custom prevailing with
respect to charas and ganja, and the use of bhang
is generally even on such occasions not excessive or
apt to breed mischief or lead to formation of habit
as a rule. Charas on the day of Shivaratri is offered
to Daksh in Hardwar.
33. Apart from the religious sentiments, the use
of the drugs is generally deprecated.
People, it appears, have come to feel the disas-
trous effect of these drugs and do not, even from a
religious point of view, uphold the use thereof.
Several movements on foot now-a-days, and espe-
cially the temperance societies, have opened, and are
trying to open, the eyes of the people, and people
cannot but feel the effect whenever they turn their
yes to their moral, physical and pecuniary state;
they feel it all the more when they come to
know from the leaders of their religion that even
there it is not considered a good thing to indulge
in such drugs.
vol. v.
2 X