131
decreases. The lungs are injured and digestion
impaired.
41. Ganja is said to counteract the effects of
bad water and unhealthy climate.
It is also said to enable greater fatigue to be
undergone.
42. Used in moderation it does not appear to
do much harm.
43. Yes, except ganja-smokers who sometimes,
if irritated when under the influence of the drug,
become very violent and unmanageable.
44. They stimulate, and produce feelings of
happiness, and make a man pleasant and sociable.
Bhang refreshes, but neither ganja nor charas;
all produce intoxication.
It does not allay hunger, but creates appetite.
Intoxication from bhang lasts about six hours;
from charas and ganja only an hour or two.
Heaviness and stupidity are the after-effects. If
not procurable, it produces a sense of longing and
uneasiness.
45. It is very difficult to say, as sepoys when
asked if they take the drug in any form, strenuous¬
ly deny its use, nor can others be got to say if a
particular sepoy is in the habit of using it or not;
but there is little doubt that some are addicted
to its use.
Used in moderation it apparently does not im¬
pair the constitution, nor injure the digestion,
nor produce any decided evil effects, physical or
mental, as cases have not come directly under my
observation.
It does not cause dysentery, bronchitis or
asthma.
It does produce insanity and seems to be the
predisposing cause. Of four cases of insanity in
the regiment in the last ten years, three have been
attributed to the use of ganja, and several cases of
temporary insanity have also been attributed to
the use of some narcotic drug, probably ganja.
There are no typical symptoms. Sepoys will
never confess to the use of the drug at any time.
Type of insanity produced. Two were cases of
acute mania marked by excitement. They were
noisy, troublesome and violent, abusive, talked or
sang incessantly, filthy habits and suffered from
hallucinations and delusions.
The third case was at first noisy, troublesome and
abusive, and subsequently passed into a state of
melancholia, became listless, taciturn and quiet.
Was also broken down and emaciated.
46. Produces insanity occasionally. Makes them
quarrelsome, troublesome and a nuisance to their
neighbours. Often become bad characters. Breaks
down the constitution, become weak, thin and
prematurely old. Destroys the appetite Often
taken on purpose when they want to commit
crimes and will commit murder under the influence
of the drug.
49. Yes, occasionally.
51. Those who are addicted to ganja often
become bad characters.
Often taken intentionally by those intending
to commit a crime.
53. Excessive indulgence is apt to deprive a
man of all consciousness of his actions, and in some
cases might lead to unpremeditated crime.
54. Frequently taken for this purpose.
55. Such cases are frequent.
Yes.
Answer No. 193.
20. The corps is purely local, entirely recruited
within the state from three classes only.
(a) Combatants
400
Konkan Muhammadans, 167
Mahrattas
180
Native Christians
53
(b) Non-combatants
Nil
(c) Authorised camp followers
4
None smoke charas, and there are no regular
daily consumers of ganja, but 12 men in the
corps, 9 of whom are Mahrattas, and 3 Konkani
Muhammadans, are believed to be in the habit of
smoking ganja occasionally.
24. None; the habit is unknown in the corps.
25. It has very greatly decreased as compared
with former times. It is among the old men only
that the habit has survived. The reason seems a
little difficult to arrive at, but it is said that the
habit was acquired in former times, when the men
of this corps came more frequently in contact with
regular regiments, in the ranks of which were
many men from Upper India. Of later years such
contact has ceased. The habit is not of the
country, and the younger men have not taken to it.
It will probably die out entirely in a year or so.
28. There are no habitual daily consumers,
but the Native Officers say that a paisa worth
would last any of the men in the regiment who
indulge in it for four days.
32. There are no such customs among the men
of the corps. The dozen men who occasionally
indulge in the habit are said to do so more or less
secretly, and the indulgence is not connected with
any custom, social or religious.
33. (a) It is regarded with disapproval; the
feeling in the corps is against it.
(b) There is an idea that the smoking of ganja
has a weakening effect on the brain.
(c) The Indian hemp, annabis I ndica or canna-
bis satira, is not indigenous to this part of the
country, and there is no custom of worshipping it
known in the corps.
39. Neither drinking nor eating being practised
in the corps, the comparison cannot be made.
41. The opinion seems to be that it is not bene¬
ficial, but it is said to be soothing in irritation and
consoling in time of trouble.
42. Though it does not appear that the occa¬
sional smoking of ganja has done any harm to the
few men in the corps who indulge in it, the general
opinion, in which the Medical Officer concurs, is
that it cannot but be harmful.
43. The men in the corps who occasionally in¬
dulge in the habit are said to be quite inoffensive
to their neighbours.
44. Ganja.—It is said to be refreshing, taken
in excess intoxicating, but not in moderation.
It does not allay hunger; on the contrary with
most it incites appetite. The effect lasts from two
to three hours, taken in the very moderate way
that it is in this corps; it appears to have no after¬
effects, and occasional indulgence does not appar¬
ently produce uneasiness or a longing for more.
45. There is no habitual use in the corps. The
use is occasional and confined to the smoking of
ganja, and the Medical Officer says that he has
observed no noxious effects, physical, mental or
moral, from it. He has seen no case in which it has
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