198
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
authentic sample of ganja from Coimbatore was obtained with the view of comparing, it with
the " country ganja." The Tanjore sample was sent by Dr. Mootoosawmy of that city, who
stated that all the ganja was " imported from Chittore, Vellore and a mountainous village in
the latter district called Kaleyimbody."* Bangalore also appears to be supplied with ganja
from Vellore. The sample from Madras city purchased by the Commission was said
to have been imported from the Jawadis. It had a cummin-like odour. Mr. Benson,
Deputy Director of Agriculture, obtained several specimens of Ganjam ganja which
varied very much in colour, odour and proportion of seeds. My analysis was made on a
mixture of the better kinds containing few seeds. I am also indebted to Mr. Benson for
procuring for me sample of the ganja prepared in Daggupad in the Kistna district. The
small leaves alone with the flowering tops were very numerous, linear, with revolute margins,
and very brittle. The fruit was set, and the bracts were covered with brownish glandular
hairs, and the whole was very fragrant of southernwood. This sample is remarkable in yield-
ing the largest amount of resin of all the others, including the Naogaon ganjas.
The samples of bhang.-With the exception of the samples from Bhagalpur and Monghyr
which were sent by the Collectors of those stations, all the others were forwarded by the
Commission. They varied in odour and in amount of seeds and impurities. Some had entire
leaves, in others they were broken up to a coarse powder. The bhangs from Bhagalpur and
Monghyr had a marked peppermint odour, those from Bijapur and Sholapur had only a
slight fragrance. The Khandesh sample was very much broken up and contained some
seeds, while that from Amballa had its leaves twisted up like green-tea, and was remarkably
free from seeds and foreign bodies. The samples from Surat and Hyderabad were much
contaminated. In these cases the Surat bhang was powdered up and analysed just as it was
received, and the Hyderabad mixture was sifted and the cleaned leaves only were used for
analysis. The wild bhang from Assam had broad thin leaves, and a mousey odour. The
leaves from the cultivated Rajshahi plants were lighter in colour, thicker, linear, with revolute
margins, and a "herby" smell.
The samples of wild hemp plants were allied to those of bhang, but being in smaller
quantities they were analysed by a different process. From Basti, North-Western Provinces,
three interesting specimens were submitted-a sample of bhang with staminate flowers, female
hemp called the " ganja plant", and male hemp called the "bhangi plant." From Gonda
two plants representative of the sexes were sent. One was said to be obtained from Ammar-
pur, 21 miles east of Gonda, and was bearing staminate flowers; the other was a female plant
from the same village in which the young fruits were developing. The specimen of wild hemp
plant from Jaunpur, North-Western Provinces, consisted of leaves without any flowers or seeds
and was stated to be used as ganja for smoking; but nothing definitely was known about this.
Bhang does not seem to be sold in South India as a commercial article, but the leaves of the
wild plants grown near houses are used by the natives for smoking. A specimen of such a
plant was obtained from Pykara, on these hills, and its analysis resembles very strongly that
of the wild bhang from Assam.
The samples of charas.-In Amballa district, charas "mashak" sells for Re. 1-8-0 per seer.
It has a dark olive-green colour, tough consistence and a peculiar fragrant aroma. The
Amritsar, Delhi and Bombay drugs are very much like the above, although called by different
names, such as "mashak", "bhara" and "dust", and sold at prices ranging from 12 annas
to Re. 1-9-0 per seer. Gwalior charas occurred in black balls from the size of a pea to that of a
nutmeg. The sample from the wild plants in the Kumaon terai were spindle-shaped and
about 11/4 inch long. They contained seeds and much vegetable matter, and were very prob-
ably obtained by rolling ganja in the hand. The Himalayan charas from Kumaon cultivated
plants was in the form of large balls made by massing about a dozen small balls together.
The Himalayan charas made from cultivated plants in Gurhwal was in two forms-flat, square-
shaped pieces about 3/4 inch across, and round disc-shaped flattened pieces about 1 inch in dia-
meter, with a hole in the middle by which they were strung together on a string. These
had a heavy tobacco-like odour, and were black in colour. The Yarkand charas was a small
hard cake weighing a few grains, sent in the samples of ganja and bhang from Allahabad.
The Almora charas was a portion of a hard ball in which seeds and other vegetable debris
were present. The two specimens from Nipal had the odour of musk. " A " was a sample of
1892 manufacture of good quality, and occurred in small rounded discs like Pontefract cakes.
Sample "B" was two years old, and in cylindrical pieces, black and hard; it was called Shah-
jahani charas.
The methods of analysis.—The samples of ganja were broken up by hand, the stalks
removed, and the loose seeds rejected, and the matted heads at the extremities of the smaller
twigs were only taken. This "chur" was then powdered and made to pass through a sieve
with 36 meshes to the linear inch, and the resulting powder was kept for use in a stoppered
bottle. A tincture was made by macerating a weighed quantity of the powder for 48 hours with
rectified spirit, percolating to exhaustion, and evaporating to dryness in a water-oven. The
result would represent the amount of extract, the chief preparation of Indian hemp adopted by
the pharmacopoeias. The infusion was prepared by allowing five grammes of the powder to
* Kaniyambadi, North Arcot, a village not far from Vellore, where some of the dealers in Javadi ganja
live.—(C. Benson)