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the tops, according to requirements, is taken and
washed, or steeped for three or four hours in a
stone or earthen pipkin (kundi). Sometimes,
after being cleaned by picking out the stems and
blackened pieces, the fresher leaves are washed
several times to get rid of sand and so forth, and
then steeped and strained. The tops are further
slightly squeezed, and excess moisture removed by
exposure in a draught, and the next step is to
pound the wet pulp in a stone mortar with a
wooden pestle (sotha), or triturate it, in the same
way as curry powder is prepared, on a slab of stone
or slate with a wedge or block of the same (sil-
batta). The fine pulp then has water poured upon
it, and the mixture is strained through a piece of
coarse cloth to remove all but the finest particles
of the plant. The cold infusion thus prepared is
ready for use. Among the Hindu Jats of the
south-eastern districts as well as among the
Sikh communities of the same nation in the tracts
along the Sutlej an earthen firkin (matka) is kept
always replenished in the assembly room (Chaupar-
baugla or baitak) of the village or ward; the
farmers take the provision of the bhang and the
brewing of the infusion in turns, or an attendant of
the meeting room is charged with the replenishment
and expenses charged to the village fund (malba,
etc.). Well-to-do people have the infusion prepared
in their own houses, and for home consumption it is
often mixed with black pepper or milk, and served
with rose leaves floating in the mixture. Sugar
is sometimes added to disguise the taste, which is
peculiar, and, to many consumers even, perman-
ently unpleasant.
Bhang is also used to flavour cream cakes and
the like, by trying the leaves (tops) in ghee, and
mixing the ghee thus flavoured with sugar.
It is used in the form of a confection (majun)
and of lozenges (mufarrah) also.
Sweetmeats flavoured with bhang are made at
home, or by confectioners (Halwai).
Majun and lozenges, I believe, are prepared
chiefly by apothecaries (Pansari).
In the hills about Simla it is put in a sort of
pudding called halwa which is sometimes like the
halwa (plum-pudding) of the plain, but oftener a
kind of hasty-pudding or brose. This is a sacri-
ficial usage, mainly at least.
Bhang is also used to flavour various other
kinds of sweetmeats (kachouri, etc.) at Hindu
weddings.
The most universal preparation, however, is the
cold infusion, which is used by different classes,
chiefly of the rural population, in different parts
of the province, the chief consumers being the
Jat peasant proprietors, by whom it is known and
praised under the names of thandai or sardaiyan,
from the Jamna to the Ravi at least.
Charas is smoked, always or almost mixed with
a little fine tobacco to prevent too rapid burning
away, in a specially constructed pipe (chillum)
with a short straight stem at an acute angle with
the bowl, or without a stem at all from the bowl
itself, a wet rag being commonly employed to
protect the face and lips. The hemp smoke is
inhaled with a long rather severe inspiration, and
this appears to be the origin of the cant name for
charas smoking, viz., lamba damra, or, the long
pull.
I should add, as to bhang, that the Chaube
Brahmans, who are found in places in the south-
eastern districts of the Punjab as immigrants
from the Mathra country, take bhang in the form
of pills. The Orwal jewellers (largely Jains) are
also said to use such pills to clear their eyesight.
16. Bhang is usually infused by all classes in
their own houses. It is bought of the licensed
vendors in the form of the dried leaves, and the
potation made at the home; pretty much as one
buys tea at a grocer's and has it brewed when re-
quired. I am speaking of the bhang infusion;
in this sense bhang is usually prepared at home
or at least socially. This question is already met
in my reply to question 15 preceding.
18. The dried hemp leaves improve by a little
keeping. They are said to lose effect after a
time. They will keep in an ordinary Punjab
district, it is said, up to eighteen months, and
retain their average narcotic efficacy.
Charas is alleged to deteriorate rapidly in the
eastern districts, and this is attributed to the
action of the seasonal rains upon its resinous
properties.
19. So far as I know, charas is used in this
province for smoking only.
20. The proportion of the population which
smokes charas in the Punjab must be small. For
Sikhs it is forbidden by their traditions. Muham-
madans also are much less addicted to it than to
other narcotics as a body.
Among Hindus even who are not restricted by
any sanction, the practice is very little known
among natives of the province.
Charas-smoking is most common, and most
carried to excess among the different Saiva orders
of Hindu sadhus; and among these again, with
those that are sedentary or collected in monasteries.
Nagas, gosains, bairagis and jogis, both Hindus
and Muhammadan jogis, are commonly given over
to charas-smoking. Of Muhammadan fakirs the
Benawa and Madari orders are understood to
indulge in it. Besides these classes the bulk of the
charas smokers in this province are probably to be
found in cantonments, large stations, and great
centres, where there is an appreciable admixture
of people from the lower provinces (Purbias).
Grooms, sweepers, native valets, and other
menial or domestic servants who hail largely from
Oudh, Behar, and the districts bordering on the
province of Lower Bengal, and belong to the
skinner (chamar), weaver (Julaha kori), and water
carrier and bearer (kahar) castes, or analogous
subdivisions, and also washermen (dhobi) from the
same country, are often and excessively at times
addicted to the charas habit.
I question if the proportion of charas smokers
for the province reaches 1 per cent. of the total
population, and 2 per cent. even in urban localities.
I should not think it is anything like 1 per cent.
in rural areas.
22. So far as I know, the charas used in the
Punjab is all imported from Turkestan. It used
to be brought by Kashgaris, Andijanis and others,
and by Sikh traders by the Ladakh route over the
Karakoram, Bara Lacha and Retang Passes. In
18S3 I believe this trace was diminished by the
Chinese trade policy; now the trade is principally,
I think, through Afghanistan. I think His
Highness the Amir Abdul Rahman has lately
exercised a monopoly of the export trade to India
from his territories. He had a charas agent at
Delhi in 1890, I remember.
23. I am not aware that in this province bhang
is ever used for smoking.
24. The answer to this question has been given