174
branches so as to favour the upward growth of the
shoots. The ridges are again redressed and man-
ured, the furrows ploughed and all weeds removed.
At this stage the plants begin to form their flowers
when the services of an expert are called in for
cutting down all the male plants colloquially
known as madi (female). This operation is most
essential for he production of ganja, for the pre-
sence of a single male plant in the field is sufficient
to fertilize all the plants in the field, and the
g a n j a y i e l d e d b y t h e m e i s t h e n v e r y i n f e r i o r a n d s c a r c e l y s a l e a b l e .
10. No ; the cultivators of hemp are of the
same classes as other agricultural cultivators.
13. Almost restricted to Khandesh, Ahmed-
nagar and Sholapur districts. These were selected
on account of the rich black soil free from shade,
dry sunny climate, and moderate rainfall. Ganja
is cultivated in other districts to a small extent.
Ganja can be only produced on the plains of tropi-
cal India with a moderate amount of rainfall, and
a dry sunny climate from sea-level up to an eleva-
tion of about 4,000 feet, the soil being a light
sandy loam, rich black or greyish white.
14. Out of these three, only ganja is prepared
in this province especially in Ahmednagar, Shola-
pur, and Khandesh districts, and to a small extent
in Broach, Surat, Poona, and Satara districts.
hardens into a solid mass when cooled, and is then
cut into small lozenges. These are called majum.
Yakuti is made from the ganja, ghee in a similar
way, with this difference that it is milder than
majum and contains saffron, which gives it its pecu-
liar colour. The same ghee mixed with confection
of roses forms gulkand, which is the mildest of all
the hemp confectionery. Added to molasses or
jagri it forms shrikhand, which is the strongest
of the series. These preparations are generally
r e s o r t e d t o a s a p h r o d i s i a c s b y p a r s o n s a d d i c t e d t o s e n s u a l p l e a s u r e s a n d o c c a s i o n a l l y b y t h o s e
suffering from diarrhœa, indigestion or some
painful complaint. Each lozenge of majum
or yakuti weighs about half a tola, and costs a
quarter of an anna. The dose for a moderate
consumer is one or two such lozenges, and for
immoderate consumer three or four lozenges. As
bhang is not procurable here, a substitute for it
(and a dangerous one it is) is found in broken
ganja or " chur," which is sold for bhang and is
used as such in preparing the drink by a majority
of those who wish to have recourse to it. Some
people know that it is not bhang proper, and being
aware of its virulence are careful never to use it for
a drink. Both the confectionery and the drink are
only used by a small portion of the population of
large cities and very rarely by people living in the
smaller towns or villages.
16.
Bhang is not generally prepared by the
people in their houses in this part of the presidency.
It is said to be prepared from wild hemp in Cen-
tral and North-Western Provinces, the Punjab,
Madras and Bengal, and also from the cultivated
plant in some parts of these presidencies. It can
be prepared from the hemp plant wherever grown,
although the narcotic principle is not developed to
the same extent everywhere ; ganja and charas
are not known to be prepared from the wild plant
wherever grown.
17. In this province the preparation of ganja
is not restricted to any particular classes, but in
Bengal the majority of the cultivators are said to
be Muhammadans. With regard to the other two
preparations I am not definitely informed.
18. Yes ; all of them deteriorate by keeping.
They lose a good deal of their effect in time. With
ordinary care they keep good for two years. The
causes of deterioration seem to be decomposition of
the resinous principle and evaporation of the vola-
tile oil which is said to be one of the active ingre-
dients of ganja and bhang. I think deterioration
can be prevented by keeping the drugs well pro-
tected from air and moisture. It is probable that
charas being the active principle of the plant may
keep longer than either bhang or ganja.
19. Ganja and chards are used only for smok-
ing in Northern India; but in this province, and
probably in many other parts of Southern India,
ganja is also taken internally in the form of
majum, yakuti, shrikhand and gulkand, and as a
drink called " ghota," which here takes the place
of a similar preparation of bhang used in Northern
India. The mode of preparing these forms of hemp
confectionery in this province is as follows :—
ganja (in Northern India bhang) is boiled with ghee
over water for a few hours, when the ghee gets
medicated with the resinous active principle of the
drug, which is freely soluble in oily and fatty sub-
stances. The medicated ghee which floats on the
water in the form of a green jelly is then separated
from the decoction and kept for use in suitable
vessels. A portion of this is added with spices to
syrup over a fire producing a paste which readily
20.
Chards is hardly known by people of this
presidency except the town of Bombay. It is
smoked in Bengal, the Punjab, and North-Western
and Central Provinces. Ganja alone is resorted
to for smoking in this province, and that too by
an insignificant portion of the population. Ganja
smoking is not confined to any particular class,
although the proportion is greater among the
lower classes than the higher. It is prevalent
among the working people in the various trades
of large cities (goldsmiths, blacksmiths, carpen-
ters, etc.), the indolent and the idle and the
wandering fakirs, gosavis and bairagis. In this
district, with a population of 1,067,800, about 300
maunds are consumed annually, nearly one-half of
it being consumed in the town of Poona including
cantonment. Taking half a tola as the average
daily consumption of a smoker, we get 5,333 ganja
smokers in the whole district, nearly one-half of
this being residents of the town of Poona with
cantonment. This gives an average of about
per cent as the proportion of ganja smokers to the
entire population of the district and nearly l.7 per
cent. for the town of Poona. In Northern India,
especially in Bengal, the proportion of ganja and
charas smokers to the entire population is far
greater than the above. The annual consumption
of ganja alone in Bengal is stated to be 500,000 њ .
(Journal of E. I. Assoc., May 1893). The popula-
tion of Bengal is 71,346,987, and calculating in
the same way as above we get 15 per cent as the
proportion of ganja smokers to the whole popula-
tion. The proportion of ganja smokers in this
presidency (Bombay) is by a similar calculation
33 per cent.
21. In this province preference is shown for
either flat or round ganja, the " chur " being
looked upon as comparatively worthless, In
Bengal round ganja is said to be preferred to flat
by some and by others flat is preferred to round,
the chur being equally rejected by both.
22. Foreign charas chiefly comes from Yarkand
and Herat, and it is preferred to native charas.
23. Some books say that bhang is used for
smoking in some parts of India occasionally.