151
13. I have no personal knowledge about the
cultivation of ganja in the Rajshahi district. As
regards Gurjat ganja, 1 beg to refer to my replies
to questions Nos. 5 to 12. 1 think the cultivation
of ganja in tracts of country along the sea side in
Orissa, where the soil is very sandy, will not be
successful, unless the soil is specially prepared for
its cultivation.
14. (a) Yes.
(b) No.
(c) Yes. In the Tributary States of Orissa.
As regards extent, vide my reply to question
No. 7.
15. The particulars about the preparation have
been given in my reply to question No. 9. The
cultivated and the wild plants are treated similarly.
(A) Gurjat ganja is smoked as well as drunk as
patti. In one particular instance I have seen
Gurjat patti smoked. The man, a fakir, resorted
to it on account of high price of Rajshahi ganja.
The drug is mixed up and well compounded with a
little of tobacco leaves and smoked.
(B) Majum, a sort of confectionery, is prepared
with sugar from the decoction of ganja (both
Rajshahi and Gurjat) or patti and is eaten. I have
seen a man to chew ganja and to swallow it.
(C) Patti as well as Gurjat ganja is drunk with
the addition of certain spices and sugar. For
particulars of the spices used—vide reply to ques¬
tion No. 29. Well-to-do persons sometimes adopt
a different plan. They boil the leaves with cow's
milk and sometimes with cocoanut water. The
milk or water is thrown off; but the leaves are
strained and dried and stored up for use with spices
and sugar. Some, when going out on a journey,
prepare large pills, with patti and spices, which
they swallow with or without water.
16. (a) Yes.
(b) Yes.
(c) I do not know anything about the prepara¬
tion of charas. Ganja is prepared from the wild
plants in the Gurjats.
17. It is not restricted to any particular class—
vide reply to question No. 10.
18. Ganja and bhang deteriorate by keeping:
both of them lose the greater part of their effect
of time. I am not sure whether they entirely
lose their effect. They keep good for about two
years, though they deteriorate gradually. The
causes of deterioration are—(1), production of
insects in the drugs, (2) dampness on account of
ill ventilation of the warehouses, and (3) loss of
resinous matter in the ganja on account of damp
and air. A thicker covering of the bales in which
ganja is imported and better ventilating arrange¬
ments of the warehouses will stand in the way of
deterioration. The full prevention of deteriora¬
tion cannot, I am afraid, be effected, except by
scientific measures, which will be prohibitive on
account of their high costs. Tin cases like those
used for storing tea are likely to prevent much
deterioration.
NOTE.—I have no personal knowledge about charas.
My answers, therefore, will be confined only to ganja
and bhang.
19. Ganja is used in this district for smoking
as well as for eating in the form of majum—vide
reply to question No. 14; while in my native
place in the district of Jessore, I found a person
chew and eat nearly a tola of Rajshahi ganja,
for which he did not appear to be worse. Gurjat
ganja is also drunk as siddhi or patti, especially by
the pandas (priests) of Jagannath at Puri.
20. The smoking of ganja is not restricted to
any particular class. As a rule, the lower classes
smoke more ganja than the higher all over the
Cuttack district and the Gurjats. The classes of
fishermen and boatmen are mostly ganja-smokers.
Roughly speaking, percentage of ganja-smokers
in the district of Cuttack is one as deduced from
the annual consumption of licit and illicit ganja
to the extent of 120 maunds by a population of
about nineteen lakhs, the average quantity con¬
sumed by each person being taken to be 24 tolas
per year.
21. Round ganja is preferred for smoking.
Very little quantities of flat and chur ganja are
imported into the Cuttack district. The cause of
preference to round ganja is probably the fact
that it retains resinous matter longer than the
flat and chur ganja.
22. Charas is not known to be used in the
Cuttack district.
23. I have known only one man, a Muham-
madan fakir, to smoke bhang or patti. He said
that he preferred ganja, which he could not al¬
ways afford to smoke on account of its high price.
24. Bhang or patti is generally drunk by a few
of the Marwaris and Bengalis who have settled at
Cuttack, and by Brahmins and certain other
higher classes of Uriyas. Its use is ordinarily
restricted to the towns of Cuttack, Jajpur, and
Kendrapara. The proportion cannot be given.
25. The use of ganja and bhang is on the de¬
crease in the Cuttack district, as is known by the
fall of the consumption on account of high price.
The gradual falling-off is proved from the follow¬
ing figures:—
Year.
Quantity of ganja consumed.
Year.
Mds. Srs. Chs.
1886-87
174
4
11
1887-88
164 13
4
1888-89
152
7
0
1889-90
141
7
12
1890-91
136 22
7
1891-92
112 10
3
1892-93
112 21
9
As regards siddhi, licenses began to be regularly
issued from 1890-91, in which year the consump¬
tion was 3 maunds 13 seers and 8 chittacks. In
1891-92 the consumption was 9 maunds 2 seers
and 3 chittacks; from this it fell to 5 maunds 5
seers and 12 chittacks in the last year. A part of
the falling-off is due to smuggling of Gurjat
ganja and patti.
26. The proportion cannot be given. Exces¬
sive consumers of ganja are generally either fakirs
or madmen.
27. Vide reply to the last question.
28. Ganja—(a) About one-eighth of a tola, cost¬
ing two pice.
(b) About one tola, costing 4 annas.
Patti.—(a) About one-eighth of a tola, cost¬
ing half a pice.
(b) About one tola, costing one anna.
29. Ganja.—
(a) Tobacco leaves.
(b) I have been informed that seeds of
dhatura and sometimes of kuchila
(nux vomica) too are mixed with
ganja to make its effects more last¬
ing and strong. One consumer in-
formed me that when he and others
could not afford to purchase ganja