41
66. I understand that different rates of taxation
are levied in Bengal on all ganja exported thence
to the North-Western Provinces, namely:—
On flat ganja .
On round ganja .
On chur ganja .
. Rs. 4-8 per seer.
. „ 6-4 „
. „ 6-8 „
These rates vary according to the strength of
the ganja, and are, in my opinion, fair enough.
67. The ultimate incidence of the tax on the
consumer is practically imperceptible, and I have
no objections to urge to the present method of
taxing the drugs.
68. There are no such houses or shops.
69. An official local enquiry through the Teh-
sildar is invariably made before a new shop is
opened in any locality.
70. Smuggling of hemp drugs from Native
States into British provinces does, no doubt, exist
to a certain extent, especially in those parts of
the British territory which border upon Native
States. The excise rules and regulations check
smuggling so far as it is possible ; but even the
most perfect system of codes cannot altogether
stop smuggling or contraband traffic in these
drugs.
4. Evidence of MR. J. COCKBURN, Assistant Sub-Deputy Opium Agent, Meja Road,
Allahabad District.
1. Have travelled across India from the far
North-West to Sadyia in Assam. Am also a
trained Naturalist and Anthropologist ; belong to
the undermentioned Scientific Societies—Asiatic
Society, Bengal ; Anthropological Society, London;
Anthropological Society, Bombay ; Microscopical
Society, Calcutta; and have written various
papers on scientific subjects for these Societies.
Have served in 12 districts of the North-Western
Provinces and Oudh. Have inspected 1, 500 rural
villages. Take a deep interest in the people.
2. Yes ; bhang is called bhang, siddhi, and
subji ; charas is called charas and momea ; ganja
is called Bengalia or baluchur and Dukunee or
pathar. It must also be borne in mind that the
narcotic principle cannabin can be obtained from
any of the three. Chur is called chur, rora, and
gurda ; ganja buds are called kulee.
3. The Gangetic valley in the North-Western
Provinces is a plain 480 miles long and 200 miles
wide on an average, Ganja, bhang, and charas
are produced in nearly every village along the
mountains forming the northern boundary. As
regards the southern, bhang and ganja are pro
duced along the entire southern border. It is pro
duced in quantities in the Native States which
intersect and interlace the border. In the plains
of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh pathar
ganja is produced in the Haidargarh tahsil,
Barabanki, in Fyzabad, and Pertabgarh.
The
best bhang comes from Gonda in Oudh; it also
grows largely spontaneously in Kheri, Bahraich,
Gonda, Basti, and Gorakpur. It is abundant
in all these eastern districts, covering hundreds of
square miles of waste. In Kumaon, Garhwal,
and the Terai Cannabis sativa ferus forms the
dominant weed to the exclusion of every other
over hundreds of square miles. It is cultivated
in the interior for charas, fibre and seed.
4. Yes, Cannabis indica is now considered only
a variety of Cannabis sativa; the wild hemp,
carefully grown and well manured, passes into
the cultivated variety. The cultivated variety
grown in the Himalayas attains from 10 to 14 feet
in height. Both the cultivated and wild hemp
plants are called "bhang" over all India. In the
Himalayas the male and female plants are known
as ♀ gul bhang and phul bhang ♂.
5. Grows everywhere from 20 feet, above the
level of the sea in Lower Bengal, with a rainfall
of 80 inches, to 700 feet in the Himalayas and in
the desert and arid regions of Rajputana and Sind,
with a rainfall of 10 inches. Is a most hardy
plant, and even in the wildest places yields large
quantities of cannabin.
6. Ordinarily very dense for a wild plant. No
other weed succeeds alongside it—that is, it kills
out any other. Looks as if artificially sown when
perfectly wild. The wild hemp is usually from
3½ to 5 feet high according to the soil. It is very
partial to the sandy soil covering boulder stone in
the Bhabur. When it is said the growth is dense,
it must be understood that it is not so dense as if
thickly sown for fibre as in the Himalayas. I
suspect that the Indian wild hemp is protected
from the attacks of herbivorous animals and birds
by its narcotic juices. I saw nothing eat it when
in the Terai last year. The seed, if eaten, should
be a valuable source of food to seed-eating wild
birds.
7. Yes ; (a) in Barabanki, Fyzabad, and Par-
tabgarh ; (b) in Kumaon, Garhwal, and Nepal ;
but any ganja, if dusted, will yield charas ; (c)
everywhere in small plots or independent plants
in the waste land behind cultivators' houses ; (d) in
Kumaon and Garhwal and Nepal, where the fibre
is so important that the cultivators could not do
without it. The seed is an important article of
food in these barren regions, being roasted and
caten, and is also used for extracting the oil, the
oil-cake being given to the cattle. Blankets and
clothing made of hemp are worn by the entire
population. The rope made of it is also indis
pensable for making rope bridges.
8. Difficult to answer. I should say a decrease
of the cultivated variety owing to the pressure of
population on the soil. The wild variety which
grows on waste land is more in demand. But
our knowledge of what goes on in Native States
is very small, and in them population has not
increased in the same ratio, I have travelled in
the Native States of Punnah, Rewah, and Chota
Nagpur, etc., etc.
9. These have been fully given by various
authorities, such as, Watt, Hem Chunder Kerr, etc.
But little is known of the methods employed in
the Native States of Bundelkhand and Indore.
A full account of the hemp grown in Kumaon
for resin and fibre will be found in "Field and
Garden Crops." It is a common habit to prune
down the hemp plant when grown for narcotics, to
prevent it becoming high and running to wood,
and also to gain numerous flowering shoots.
10. In Kumaon the lower castes chiefly; in
Bundelkhand, Kachis and Koeries. Any cultivator
who likes grows a few plants in an arhar field or
close to his hut. There are no means of prevent
ing this. See Excise Report, 1883, report from
Fyzabad by C. L. M. Eales, Esq., c.s., where it is.
stated that a considerable quantity of both ganja
and bhang is got from this source,
vol. v.
K