CH. IV.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 53
ing on the frontier of Lower Burma. The Deputy Commissioner of Mergui states
that in those days the plant was cultivated in parts of the Tenasserim township,
and some other localities in that division of the province. The Deputy Commis-
sioner of Pegu also writes that before the prohibition the hemp plant is reported
to have been abundantly cultivated in Bassein district, and in small quantities
in Pegu.
Extent of cultivation in the set-
tled districts at the present time.
137. It does not appear that the Burmans proper were ever given to the hemp
drugs, and it is not therefore surprising that the more
extensive cultivation in Upper Burma should have
ceased with that of Lower Burma directly the prohibition was passed and the
market in Lower Burma was closed.
Some survival of the practice which
supplied the shops is, however, indicated in the evidence of Mr. Tarleton, District
Superintendent of Police of Thayetmyo (29), who says that "certain villages
round Tindau and Thetngaibyin in the Allanmyo Sub-division are in the habit of
trading in ganja, which they bring into Allanmyo and Thayetmyo and sell to natives
of India." Unfortunately this witness was unable to attend in answer to the invita-
tion of the Commission, and they are therefore left in doubt as to the precise
value of the statement. Mr. Bridges states that he has frequently noticed in the
diaries of excise officers in Upper Burma references to the cultivation of ganja;
and again—"In Upper Burma the growth of the plant in a small way by consumers
for their own use is general, but the consumers are few." Mr. Fowle, Sub-divi-
sional Officer, Kyauktau, in the Pegu district, reports that the hemp plant is
grown in back gardens in the Wuntho township at the base of the spurs of hills
radiating from the Maingthong peak. Other official witnesses state that a few
plants are still occasionally cultivated in secret, and that prosecutions are some-
times instituted on this account. This testimony comes from Lower as well as
Upper Burma. But it appears on the whole that the practice is efficiently checked
in the settled districts. The districts of Thayetmyo, Meiktila, Kyauksé, and
Mandalay are perhaps indicated as those in which it is most prevalent. It is
of course impossible under the circumstances to form any estimate of the
extent of this cultivation.
Cultivation on the frontier and in
the remoter regions of the prov-
ince.
138. The Deputy Commissioner of Mergui mentions the cultivation of the
plant in Siam beyond the frontier of Burma. The
Commissioner, Eastern Division, and the In-
spector-General of Police speak of cultivation in the
Danu country which lies between Burma and the Shan States proper, and
part of which is British territory. A former chief of the Shan State of Nyaungwe
describes the cultivation in his own country, which is probably typical of the
practice of the Shans over a much larger area. At this point the Kachin tribes
appear to be mingled with the Shans, and their habit of growing the hemp on
a considerable scale for fibre is described by Mr. Bridges and the ex-Sawbwa
of Nyaungwe. This habit probably adheres to the Kachin race in their own
country to the north, and there is no apparent reason why it should not be found
over the continuous mountain tract which stretches up to the Province of Assam.
In the Danu and Shan country the cultivation is of the homestead kind; a few
plants only are reared in each case for home consumption. The practice is
more common among the Danus than the Shans, and the produce would
appear to be more than sufficient for home consumption, for some quantity
14