515
Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Jullundur districts,
and also in the Kashmir State.
4. Bhang is known by the names of sukka, buti,
sabzi and sardai.
5. The cultivators alone can answer this question.
6. Dense.
7. Bhang and no other drug is produced here
from the hemp plants, which grows spontaneously.
8 and 9. Can be answered by cultivators only.
10. No special class.
11. Ganja is not produced in the Punjab, but in
the North-Western Provinces and Oudh.
14. Only bhang from wild hemp plant.
16. Bhang does not grow in houses, but in
jungles (sic). Ganja and charas cannot be pro-
duced from the plant.
17. Ganja and charas are not prepared in the
Punjab. Bhang grows spontaneously.
18. Charas and bhang deteriorate in the Punjab
after one year, and they become quite useless after
two years. If kept in a cool place, they keep good
a little longer, but they quite lose their effects after
two years.
19. In the Punjab charas is smoked in huka or
chillum.
20. In this province sadhus smoke charas exces-
sively. Other people also, except Sikhs, smoke it;
but I am unable to give their proportion.
21. Ganja is neither produced nor smoked in the
Punjab.
It is excessively used in the North-
Western Provinces and Oudh.
22. Charas imported from Yarkand is the one
used in this province. A kind of charas is also
imported to India from Bokhara, but it is used in
the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, but not in
the Punjab.
23. Bhang is not smoked. It is drunk after
being pounded.
24. Bhang is excessively drunk by Nihangs and
Sikhs, and also by other people. No one eats it.
25. The use of bhang and charas is on the
increase owing to climatic reasons.
26. (a) Sadhus and fakirs.
(b) Brahmans and jogis.
(c) Shop-keepers, etc.
(d) Their number is not known.
27. Fakirs, sadhus and Brahmins, etc.
29. Charas is smoked after mixing it with to-
bacco. Consumers with moderate means mix
black pepper and poppy seeds with bhang ; while
well-to-do people mix almonds, cardamom, sugar,
milk and keora with it to prevent its arid effect.
30. In solitude charas 1½ masha, and bhang 1
tola ; in company more than the above stated
quantities. It is not usual for children to consume
any of these drugs.
31. The habit is formed by associating with the
habitual consumers. It is difficult for those long
accustomed to the use of these drugs to break off
the habit.
32. There is no religious custom (about the use
of these drugs), nor is its use compulsory.
33. No custom for worshipping the hemp plant
exists.
34. It would certainly be a privation to the
habitual consumers if they did not get the drugs
to which they are accustomed.
35. If the prohibition is enforced, it will occasion
discontent among the habitual consumers, and they
will surely resort to the illicit consumption of the
drugs. But such discontent will neither amount
to a political danger, nor will it be followed by re-
course to spirituous liquors.
36. Alcohol has no connection with the question
of any of these drugs ; nor can the consumers of
charas and bhang substitute alcohol for them, be-
cause one pice worth of these drugs would give
such gratification to the consumers as would be
given by 4 annas worth of alcohol.
37. Ganja is smoked in the same form as charas.
There is no difference in the way they are used.
38. Should be enquired from the North-Western
Provinces.
40. Can be answered by native physicians.
Bhang is used in treatment of bullocks (cattle?).
41. The use of bhang is beneficial in the hot
weather, and the use of charas in the cold weather.
Charas gives staying-power under severe exertion
and alleviates fatigue. There is no particular class
who use the drugs.
42. Bhang is neither beneficial nor injurious.
44. Should be enquired from the consumers.
58. The present system of excise administra-
tion works well, and there is nothing objectionable
in it.
93. Evidence* of GUJARMAL , Sud-Hindu, Licensed vendor of Opium and Drugs,
Hoshiarpur.
1. I know absolutely nothing about ganja on
account of the drug being neither produced nor
used in this province ; I have, however, experience
in respect to charas and bhang, both of which have
been sold at my shop for the last twenty years.
Charas is generally imported by traders from
Ladakh and Yarkand and sold at my shop. My
servants also have been visiting Yarkand for the
last five or six years. I have often sold bhang
after collecting it in the Hoshiarpur district.
2. I have not ever seen how the charas is manu-
factured, nor is the drug ever prepared in this
province. According to the information obtained
from the traders of this place and Yarkand, the
drug is manufactured at Yarkhand in the follow-
ing manner :—The hemp seed is sown by the culti-
vators during the month of Jeth. The harvest
when ripe is reaped in the month of Assuh.
After harvesting, the plants are dried and then
thrashed. A kind of dust thus obtained is sifted
and stored. In the hot weather the dust is placed
in the sun and rubbed by hands, after which it is
put into bags. These bags are then beaten to
flatness and after being covered with leather are
imported into this province. This preparation is
known by the name of charas and sulfa.
Bhang is prepared in this province as follows :—
The hemp plants when ripe are reaped in the hot
weather and placed in the sun. When the plants
are dried up, the leaves are thrashed and separated
vol. v.
* Translation.
3 Z 2