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Western Provinces and Amritsar in the
Punjab. It is said that charas is import-
ed from Central Asia.
(c) For use as bhang in Monghyr and
Bhagalpur.
(d) No. The tract of land upon which ganja
is cultivated is a circle with a radius of
about sixteen miles. The extent of bhang
cultivation is not fixed.
8. Neither considerable increase nor decrease.
9. I have heard that the ganja lands are
ploughed and levelled by the months of Chait
and Baisakh; that seedlings are raised during the
rainy season, after which transplantation follows.
By about Pous and Magh the plants flower, and
in Phalgun the flowers are cut and manufactured.
10. No; they are of the same class as other
agricultural cultivators.
11 and 12. No.
13. (a) Yes; to Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Bogra,
because the soil of this tract is especially favourable
to the growth of good ganja. The cultivation of
ganja is not common to all districts.
(b) Damp lands not very low are especially
suited for its cultivation.
(c) I do not think there is any district in Ben-
gal where the cultivation of ganja would be
altogether impossible.
14. (a) Yes.
(b) No.
(c) Yes.
Ganja is prepared in Rajshahi. Nearly 7,000
maunds of ganja are raised in a year. Bhang is
raised in Bhagalpur and Monghyr.
15. Three sorts of ganja are in use in this
province—(1) flat, (2) round and (3) chur. The
dried flower-tops of the ganja plant being trodden
upon by foot, assumes a flattened shape and the
ganja thus manufactured is called flat ganja.
When the flower-tops are not trodden, but rolled
under foot, they assume a rounded shape and this
gives rise to the name round ganja. Round ganja
is the twigs and the flower-tops. Chur ganja is
only the flower-tops without the twigs, and may
consist of broken particles of both flat and round
ganja. Siddhi is simply the dry leaves of the hemp
plant. The preparation of charas is unknown in
this province.
16. (a) People generally prepare bhang in their
own houses for the purpose of drinking.
(b) Yes.
(c) I think ganja can be prepared from that
particular variety of the wild plant which is known
to the people as the ganja plant. I cannot say
this about charas.
17. By the common class of cultivators who
are taught the process of the manufacture.
18. Yes, they deteriorate by keeping, and quite
lose their effect in time. They keep good for one
year. Deterioration might be prevented by keeping
the drugs away from a damp room, and closely
compact in bales or bags.
19. Ganja and charas are used only for smoking.
Ganja is sometimes used for medicinal purposes.
It is then used externally. It is used to cure itch
and stings of wasps and bees. It is then used with
cocoanut oil and applied to the afflicted parts.
The practice is prevalent in many villages of
Bengal.
20. Ganja is extensively used by religious
mendicants, especially by the up-country sanyasis
who frequent Bengal on occasions of religious
festivals. It is also used by labourers, such as
palki-bearers, boatmen, carters, coolies, etc. Low
class musicians sometimes use ganja, as ganja is
said to improve their voice. Men of debauched
character in towns, sometimes members of respect-
able families, use ganja. The use of charas is
almost unknown in this district. There are only
two or three shops with a very small consumption.
The consumers generally are not low-class people,
but often well-to-do.
21. Round ganja is prepared in these parts of
the province, as the duty upon it is one rupee
less than chur ganja. Practically chur ganja and
round ganja are the same.
22. Foreign charas is generally used. It is
imported from Central Asia and sometimes from
Nepal.
23. I have never seen any bhang smokers. But
I have heard that the poorest of the labouring
classes sometimes substitute it for ganja.
24. (a) Bhang is very rarely eaten. The people
of Behar sometimes eat it as majum, which is a
sort of sweetmeat. But I have heard that the
Hindu confectioners of Calcutta prepare sweet-
meats slightly mixed with bhang on the immersion
day of the Durga Puja festival. These are eaten
by the native gentry. I am told it produces slight
intoxication.
(b) Bhang is a favourite drink of the Uriyas
and the up-country men, especially of the religious
mendicants. A long stick and a wooden vessel
for the preparation of the drink is the precious
luggage of these people when they set out on a
long journey. The lower class Bengalis are often
habitually addicted to it. The upper classes some-
times resort to it as a digestive.
25. The consumption of all the three drugs is
on the decrease. The reasons of the decrease are
the general scarcity prevailing through the
Bengal districts, the increased rate of the duty on
ganja, a growing tendency of the people to use
imported liquor in place of these drugs.
26. (a) 80 per cent. are moderate consumers.
(b) 10 per cent. are habitual excessive con-
sumers.
(c) 5 per cent. are occasional moderate con-
sumers.
(d) 5 per cent. are occasional excessive con-
sumers.
27. (a) The habitual moderate consumers are
chiefly the manual labourers and the agriculturists.
These find the use of these drugs as refreshing, and
capable of removing the bodily pains. The use of
the drugs with such people is generally hereditary.
(b) This class of consumers are generally the
sanyasis and mendicants,as also the spoiled children
of the labouring classes. Excessive indulgence is
chiefly due to bad companionship.
(c) These are chiefly poor people who sometimes
enjoy the drugs as a luxury, such as coolies on
their journey who get a good supply at times by
the coolie recruiters.
(d) Some of the consumers belonging to class
(a) and class (c) when they can afford to pay,
indulge in the drug excessively to forget their
miseries and troubles and to pardon them for
excessive bodily labour.