QUANTITY.
Year.
Revenue to Government.
Maunds.
Seers,
R
1887.88 .
.
391
30
4,213
1888-89 .
.
154
...
4,052
1889-90 .
.
198
...
3,287
1890.91
.
204
25
3,301
1891-92 .
.
194
5
3,312
1892-93 .
.
183
18
4,109
19. Ganja itself is only smoked. Charas is
not used here.
20. Ganja is smoked chiefly by bairagis, fakirs
and gosains, and to a limited extent by all classes.
It is sparingly used by a few in all classes.
21. Only flat ganja is used here for smoking.
22. None here.
23. No.
24. A few of all classes drink bhang (ghota).
12
The rainfall varies from 120 inches on the Ghâts
to 25 in the eastern talukas.
6. There are so few plants in this district, I
cannot say. I have only seen one plant, about 8½
feet long, with branches proceeding from a cen
-tral stalk. The flowers were embedded amongst
densely packed small leaves.
7. See answer 4. Only ambadi and tag are
cultivated for fibres. No drug is made from them
in Belgaum. No ganja is cultivated, nor are
drugs made here from wild ganja.
8. There has been none.
9. Tag is sown as a whole field crop. A m b a d i
is sown as a row crop in fields of bajri and tur
and some others.
10. None in this district.
11.
and 12. Not in Belgaum.
13, There is no restriction on cultivating the
ganja plant in Belgaum. The talukas near the
Ghâts are said to be unsuitable. Those inland
from the Ghâts can grow ganja and fibre hemps.
14. None. They are imported ready-made,
that is to say, ganja (flower tips) is imported in
the form of dried and compressed tips.
15.
Majum is a sweetmeat looking like slabs
of cream toffee. it is made of powdered ganja
mixed with sugar and ghee boiled. It is eaten as
a sweetmeat. Ganja itself is wetted, then rubbed
in the hand to a sticky pulp, then mixed with
tobacco and smoked. Bh ang is powdered ganja
mixed with spices, sugar and milk or water, and is
drunk as a cooling mixture. It is called "ghota"
in Marathi; Kanarese name not known. "Phake "
is roasted ganja powdered and mixed with sugar
and spices, eaten by male professional singers.
16. Bhang or ghota can be prepared by people
in their houses. It can be prepared wherever
ganja is grown.
17. There is no particular class. The licensees
are Musalmans, Marathas, Jains and others.
18. It is said they keep for one year, but lose
their effect as drugs entirely after two and-a-
half years. This is stated by the ganja farmer for
this district. No measures are known to prevent
deterioration, nor are the causes known.
The import of ganja in this district has been
as follows, for the period for which information is
available :-
It is chiefly used by persons in good circumstances.
Majum sweetmeat is also eaten by a few of all
classes.
25. It has decreased in this district since 1887
- 8 8 o w i n g t o t h e c o m p l e t i o n o f t h e S o u t h e r n
Maratha Railway and the migration of the
labourers thereon employed elsewhere.
26. This can only be guessed at. Perhaps
—
(a) 80 per cent.
(b) 5 per cent.
(c) 13 per cent.
(d) 2 per cent.
100
27. (a) (c) and (d) are of all classes. (b) Habitual
excessive consumers are bairagis, fakirs and
gosains only. The reason for this is the life
of hard privation and exposure they lead in
their wanderings.
28. (a) One-fifteenth ounce, price 1 pie.
(6) Two-fifths ounce, price 6 pies.
29. Sugar and spices are used indifferently.
Dhatura is not used. I know of no preparation
such as bhang massala.
30. In solitude by classes other than bairagis.
Chiefly confined to males. It is not usual for
children to take these drugs in this district.
31. It is alleged that all these questions can be
answered in the affirmative, but I have never seen
any cases exhibiting excessive use or the difficulty
of abstaining.
32. No such customs are known here.
33. With indifference. There is no pronounced
opinion. It is, however, supposed to induce idle-
ness.
There is no custom of worshipping the ganja
plant. But it is offered to dead relatives who
used it in their lifetime, at the time of death anni-
versary ceremonies by Musalmans and Marathas.
34. Only to bairagis, fakirs and wandering
mendicants, and the few habitual consumers of all
classes. There are only about 200 maunds of 80
seers of 40 tolas each used=16,000Њ per annum.
The excessive consumers would take about 9 Њ
each per annum and the moderate 1 Њ lb 8 oz. The
total population is 1,013,000 in the Belgaum
district, giving an average of 1Њ to every 63
persons per annum. As only 16,000 Њ in all are
consumed, there could at most be only 1,600 per
-sons if all were immoderate users, and about
12,000 if all were moderate consumers. I estim-
ate the immoderate at 300 and the habitual
moderate at about 8,000 at the outside. The
farmer estimates his customers at from 1,000 to
1,200 in Belgaum town, which contains the
largest number of consumers. There are
minor shops in other parts of the district.
35. It would not be feasible, because where the
plant grows people can pick it for themselves and
make the preparation for themselves.
36. No.
37. Not smoked here.
38. Only flat ganja is used here. The effect
of others not known.
39. It is supposed that the drink is less injuri-
ous than the drug smoked, because of the greater
admixture of harmless ingredients.
40. Sometimes prescribed in the form of ganja
for wind in the stomach and stomach-ache.
4 1. (a) Said to be a digestive.