113
also while I was Deputy Inspector of Schools in
the district of Rangpur, frequently to move in the
interior, which helped me to acquire some know¬
ledge of the hemp, as I saw it grow there in a
wild state.
2. Dr. Prain's definitions of ganja and bhang
may be accepted as correct. Charas is a product
of the North-Western Provinces and Nepal, and
it is not used in this district. I have no personal
knowledge of it; but, from what I have heard and
read, I believe the definition thereof to be also
correct.
In this, as in the other districts of Bengal, the
dry leaves of the hemp plant are known in¬
differently as siddhi or bhang. In the province
of Behar they are known as bhang or sabji. Some
Beharis call them patti, which signifies leaves.
Charas is not used in this district, but in
other districts of Bengal and in Behar. Where
it is consumed it is known by that name.
The local names of flat, round, and chur ganja
which are evidently mere translations, are respec¬
tively chipta, gol and chur ganja.
3. The hemp plant grows spontaneously in the
districts of Rangpur, Champaran, Saran, Shaha-
bad, and Chittagong—in the first three districts
abundantly.
4. In the districts named above it is known as
bhang. Wild hemp in the hill tracts of Chitta¬
gong is known as jumya or kaua ganja. They
refer to the same plant belonging to the natural
order Cannabinaceœ.
5. I believe it flourishes best on sandy soil
mixed with clay and in humid climate.
6. Ordinarily rather dense.
7. Not cultivated in this district.
12. I have no reason to suppose so.
13. Yes, it is cultivated in a tract of country
known as ganja-mahal, with its head-quarters
station at Naogaon in the district of Rajshahi.
I do not know why that tract was selected.
14. (a) (b) (c) Not prepared in this district.
Ganja is prepared in the ganja-mahal referred to
in the above. Charas is not prepared in the pro¬
vinces of Bengal and Behar. I do not know where
bhang is prepared. Having never been in Raj-
shahi, I cannot say to what extent ganja is manu¬
factured in the ganja-mahal.
16. Bhang is not prepared in this district. It
can be prepared from the hemp plant wherever
grown. I do not think ganja can be prepared
from the wild hemp wherever grown, because
male and female plants growing promiscuously
and the former not being extirpated, the female
plants will run into seed and thereby make the
flower tops useless for the purpose of smoking. Of
charas I do not know anything.
18. Ganja deteriorates by keeping, and so
does bhang. Bhang and ganja lose their effects
in time. With ordinary care ganja will keep
good for two years and bhang for one year. The
cause of the deterioration for ganja is the loss of
its intoxicating power, while bhang is liable to be
eaten up by maggots. I do not know of any
device, nor do the persons dealing in these drugs
seem to know of any for preventing deterioration.
19. Ganja is used mostly for smoking. Some¬
times it is used in the preparation of a kind of
sweetmeat known as majum, an exciseable article,
composed of ganja or bhang and milk, sugar,
aniseed and some other spices. Ganja is used by
kabirajes (native physicians) in the preparation of
medicines for chronic diarrhœa, piles, rheumatic
pain, skin diseases.
20. Charas is not used in this district. Ganja
is smoked by fishermen, Haris, Kahars, bearers,
coolies, mehtars, religious medicants, and also
other Hindus and Muhammadans as well as
Christians and Buddhists, the proportion being,
in the case of fishermen, etc., about 2/15, and that
in respect of other Hindus and Muhammadans,
etc., 1/200. As regards bhang, it is chiefly con¬
sumed by Hindustani sojourners and a few high-
caste Hindus.
21. Generally ganja-smokers in this district do
not make any difference between flat, round, and
chur ganja; but I have heard some of them say
that they would prefer flat ganja to round and
round to chur, the first being, they say, quantity
for quantity, more intoxicating than the second;
and the second than the third.
22. Not used in this district.
23. Yes, but only by inveterate ganja-smokers
when they have failed to procure ganja, which
happens very rarely.
24. Bhang is not much used in this district.
In the town of Chittagong sojourners from Behar
and from other places higher up are the chief
consumers. It is mostly drunk, and by high-
caste people.
25. Charas is not used in this district. As
regards ganja and bhang, they are neither on the
increase nor on the decrease.
26. (a) 14 annas.
(b) 1 anna.
(c) 1 anna.
(d) Nil.
27. Habitual moderate consumers are mainly
taken from fishermen, mehtars, Haris, coolies and
palki-bearers; habitual excessive consumers from
fakirs and sanyasis, and occasional moderate con¬
sumers from high-caste people. These remarks
apply to ganja. As regards bhang, its use in this
district is rather limited and is almost restricted
to high-caste people. Fishermen, Haris following
the profession of fishermen, coolies and palki-
bearers smoke ganja in order to bear up the fati¬
gue and to protect themselves from the conse¬
quences of exposure to weather—mehtars and
Haris following the profession of mehtars, to
enable them to carry on the work of cleansing
latrines and similar work without a feeling of
repulsion. Religious mendicants, i.e., fakirs, sany-
asis, etc., smoke ganja partly to be able to bear
up the fatigue and exposure to weather, and
partly to concentrate their minds on the contem¬
plation of the subject of their devotion when they
address themselves to it.
28. (a) 3 annas in weight per head, costing
9 pie.
(b) 8 annas in weight per head, costing 2
annas.
29. Ordinarily nothing is mixed with ganja.
After being washed with water it is placed in the
hollow of the palm of one hand, kneaded, and then
cut into pieces. The cutting and kneading are re¬
peated three or four times, and the quid thus pre¬
pared is filled in a chillum and smoked. Excep¬
tionally milk is used instead of water in wash¬
ing the drug when the smoker is a rich man to
make it more relishing. Dhatura seeds are mixed
with ganja to make the smoke more intoxicating,
8