573
these liquors is constantly apparent in mortality
from choleraic diarrhœa, dysentery and pneumonia,
probably owing to exposure to cold when stupefied
by drink; but with all these drawbacks I would
not restrict the opportunity of all who desire to
use the stimulants, as the freer they can be obtain-
ed the less likehood is there of over-indulgence
on special occasions. With bhang these sequences
are not brought home to one in the same way, so
I think its hurtfulness, if it exists, is less. Please
observe that our people have no opportunity of
having what may be called sound good liquor to
drink, and the fiery stuff offered by the distilleries
as soon as it is made is dear as an intoxicant com-
pared with bhang and opium, and it is for its
results that a coolie takes a stimulant at all. He
gauges its value by the effect produced for the
money.
Liquor of the above description gives us the
most trouble, has the more injurious effects on the
individual, and on the labourers collectively.
I advocate no prohibition on ganja. There is
no crying evil of any magnitude justifying inter-
ference with the habits of the people, and if pro-
hibited, the health of our coolies would suffer and
their lives would be sacrificed, and of course dis-
content would ensue.
The only improvement which suggests itself to
me is that greater conveniences might be offered
for the purchase of the drug were it not that the
weed and its preparations are already within reach
of any one who wants to get them. Nagas, As-
samese, imported village squatters and even fac-
tory residents all have a never-failing supply at
their doors. I think the price at which it is sold
at the licensed vendor's shop is as high as the
people can afford to pay for it, and at the same
time too high for excessive indulgence as a habit.
It is of no use to suggest a limit of purchase, as
it would be practically impossible to enforce it, but
nominally one should be laid down, if it is not so
already, and any proved case of over-selling the
limit to any one individual, especially to one al-
ready under the influence of the drug, should be
severely punished; but these conditions apply
equally, if not more, to the sale of spirits and
opium, and I do not advise them with special
reference to bhang, charas or ganja.
The plant is not used for any other purpose in
Assam.
36. Evidence of MR. W. SKINNER, Manager, Tezpur and Gogra Tea Company,
Bindukuri, Tezpur, Darrang.
I have to thank you for your letter of the 21st
ultimo, which I regret not to have answered be-
fore; but your memorandum necessitated some
enquiry, which has been the cause of delay. I
may premise my remarks by stating that I have
nearly 22 years' experience with coolies, and until
your visit to Assam, I have never known that
any of my coolies used ganja. This fact cer-
tainly goes far to prove that there can be little
harm in its use; for though I have very often
had trouble with labour owing to drunkenness,
at no time has ganja been the cause of quarrels or
insubordination.
You may remember that Mr Anderson, in his
examination in Tezpur, mentioned having met
that morning a planter, who informed him that
none of his coolies used the drug to his knowledge.
At that time I believed this to be the case. Since,
I have made searching enquiry, and find that out
of some 1,600 souls employed on this estate, 60
use it in varying degrees. Of these 60, all men,
I find—
2 who take 8 annas worth and more a week.
9
"
" 4 "
"
only a week.
49
"
"
2
"
"
"
"
The castes who use it most and form the largest
proportion of those smoking it are Moosoahs
from Gaya and Chapra. Three are Musalman
bricklayers from Calcutta, and of the jungli caste
such as Mundhas and Sonthals; only eight are
known to consume it. I can only point to one
man, who is debilitated and of poor physique, and
who admits that ganja is the cause. He is the
heaviest consumer of the drug of those enumerated,
and, though quiet and peaceable, is of very little
use as a coolie. All use the excisable drug, but
some Moosoahs admit that when sent to the
villages for bamboos they collect some of the wild
bhang, and after drying it, use it when they can-
not afford to purchase the better article, or mix it
with the bought drug to make the latter go
further. They all take it in the form of smoke.
The wild bhang is found everywhere, comes up
of itself, and in April and May often quite covers
the "baris" of Assamese villagers. They make
no use of it whatever, and in most cases it is
ploughed down as jungle, though if not, when the
rains set in, it dies down of itself. There seems
to be a Hindu festival kept by the Assamese
called Sivaratri, when the Gosains make sweet-
meats with ganja or sometimes wild bhang, and
then each devotee who visits the shrine has to
partake. This is also sometimes given in the form
of a liquid, being mixed with milk and sugar.
So far as my experience goes, and from the
enquiries made, I cannot say there is any harm
in the use of the drug. All those who appear to
use it are good, quiet, and willing coolies; and
the drug certainly, save in the one case named,
seems to have no deleterious effect. With regard
to the wild plant, it is very harmless; its action is
almost nil, and it is used, as I have said, only
when the want of funds prevents the purchase of
ganja. Its extirpation would be very difficult
and costly, while from its innocuous qualities it
would hardly be worth attempting.
I hear there is a case of a lunatic who was in
the Tezpur Asylum and said to belong here,
whose lunacy was ascribed as due to ganja-eating.
The man I know, but he never belonged here, and
was merely employed as a ticca carter, and lived
some distance from here, and so I know nothing
of his habits.
Trusting these facts may be of some service to
you.