218
of deterioration. Good storing is the only feasible
plan.
19. I have never seen either used. Ganja is
said to be smoked only.
20. Poor people are said to smoke ganja.
21. In Dumka flat ganja was mostly used, in
Deoghur round.
23. I have only heard of its being drunk as a
sherbet.
24. The Deoghur priests are the principal con-
sumers of bhang known to me.
25. In the Sonthal Parganas the consumption
of ganja is on the decrease.
26. I can't say.
34. I know that the Deoghur pandas are loud
in their complaints if from any cause there is
stoppage of the supply to them.
36. I have heard the contrary asserted, i. e.,
that when the supply of spirits is checked resort
is had to ganja.
37 and 38. I can't say.
44. I only know that there is a craving for
bhang.
53. I have known cases in which frenzy has
been ascribed to ganja, but it was not enquired
into.
59. In the Sonthal Parganas the supply of
ganja is greatly restricted, the shops are few, and
besides the duty on the drug there is a heavy
license fee.
80. Evidence of BABU HEM CHUNDER KERR, Kayasth, Retired Deputy Magistrate
and Deputy Collector, Sub-Registrar of Sealdah.
1. In 1876-77 I was placed on special duty
under the orders of Government of Bengal, to
enquire into and report on the cultivation of, and
trade in, ganja in Bengal, and the result of this
enquiry is embodied in the printed report submitted
by me on the conclusion of my labours. I had thus
the special opportunity of studying the minutest
details of matters connected with hemp drugs.
2. The definitions are generally correct. These
are the names by which these products are
ordinarily known in Bengal (vide my report,
paragraphs 26, 27 and 28).
Flat ganja, which is called in vernacular chapta
ganja, is of two varieties, mota (large twigs) and
mihi (small twigs). Round ganja is known as
gol ganja, but in some parts of Bengal it is called
the mihi ganja. Chur or broken ganja is also
called rora.
3. The wild hemp plant may be seen in almost
every district in Bengal, and it generally grows
in such a state spontaneously. It is abundant in
the districts of Bhagalpur, Monghyr, and North
Behar.
4. For a list of the different names by which
hemp is known I may refer to paragraph 10 of my
report. The names do not, I think, in every case
refer exactly to the same plant.
7. (a) For the production of ganja, the hemp
plant is cultivated in the Ganja Mahal of
Naogaon, which comprises parts of the three ad-
joining districts of Rajshahi, Bogra and Dinaj-
pur. In the Gurjat Mahals of Orissa also culti-
vation of the hemp plant for ganja is carried on
on a small scale.
(b) The hemp plant is not cultivated in Bengal
for the production of charas (vide paragraph 27
of my report).
(c) In Monghyr, Bhagalpur, Shahabad, Cham-
paran, and Patna, and particularly in the first
two districts, the hemp plant is cultivated for
the use of its leaves as bhang. It is also culti-
vated for the same purpose in some parts of Dacca
and the Tributary Mahals of Chota Nagpur.
(d) I am not aware of the real hemp plant
being cultivated for its fibres or seeds alone. But
the fibres and seeds are utilised for various
domestic purposes where the plant is cultivated
for its leaves or for its flowers.
8. At present I am not in a position to definitely
ascertain the increase or decrease in the area
under cultivation. The information on this point
which is available from the official reports is in
fact based on mere guesses, and no actual measure-
ment of the area is made annually. I am, how-
ever, disposed to think that, with the increase of
duty and the influence of education and culture,
the consumption of the preparations of the hemp
plant is diminishing, and hence the cultivation is
also declining to the same extent.
9. See paragraphs 38 to 60 of my report,
for a detailed answer to this question.
10. There is no special class of hemp culti-
vators, but they are of the same classes as other
agricultural cultivators (vide paragraph 88 of my
report).
11. No.
12. I am not aware of any such cultivation.
13. Yes, it is so cultivated only in a limited
tract of country known as the Ganja Mahal of
Naogaon, which extends over the borders of the
three adjoining districts of Rajshahi, Bogra, and
Dinajpur. This tract was, however, not at first
specially selected for the restriction of the culti-
vation, but the outturn in this tract being su-
perior to that of the other parts of Bengal, in
course of time the cultivation came to be restrict-
ed to this part of the province alone.
14. See answer to question 7.
15. For a full account of the method of the
preparation of ganja, which is used for smoking,
from the cultivated hemp plant, see paragraphs
61 to 78 of my report.
Charas, which is also used for smoking, is the
pure resinous matter which exudes naturally from
the flowers or leaves of the hemp plant. The
collection of this exudation is made in various
ways, generally from the leaves and flowers of
the cultivated female plants in the Himalayan
and Trans-Himalayan regions, This substance
is, however, never collected by the hemp cultiva-
tors of Bengal.
Siddhi or bhang, which is used for drinking,
is prepared by drying the green leaves of the
hemp, plant. It is prepared from either the culti-
vated or the wild hemp plant.
A preparation of siddhi mixed with sugar,