( 16 )
(b) It presses together the resinous parts on which the active principle
is most plentifully deposited. These being rendered somewhat
sticky by the presence of the resin, become more or less aggluti-
nated, and are thus less liable to fall off in transit and so reduce
the active power of the gánjá.
The principles by which the manufacturer is guided are, therefore, simple
in the extreme. Their application, however, is not so easy, since it is evident
that the two results aimed at in the kneading process are somewhat antagonistic.
The more thoroughly the flowering-tops are compressed, the greater number of
small leaves must become inextricably imbedded in them;the more completely
the small leaves are removed, the less thorough is the agglutination of the
flower spikes:for, while the plants are becoming dry enough for the leaves to
fall easily away, the stickiness pari passu disappears.It is this that explains
the brittleness of 'round ' as compared with flat ' gánjá, shown by the fact already
mentioned, that the amount of natural chúr or broken gánjá is greater in the
c a s e o f ' r o u n d , ' wh i c h a l wa y s s h o ws l e s s l e a f , t h a n i n t h e c a s e o f f l a tg á n j á ,
a s
well as by the fact that 'round'g á n j á
i s t h e m o s t t r o u b l e s o m e t o k e e p i n s t o r e ,
owing to the readiness with which it becomes powdery and falls to pieces.
It will be seen, from what has been said in a previous paragraph, that the
formation of chúr. or broken gánjá cannot be legitimately looked upon as waste
in the process of manufacture or, if there is waste in this direction, that it is
not appreciable.There is, however, a cause of loss,equally active in the
manufacture both of 'round ' and 'flat'g á n j á ,
that is very appreciable indeed.
In making both kinds of g á
n j á ,
t h e r o l l i n g a n d p r e s s i n g o f t h e p l a n t s c a u s e
the soles of the feet to become covered, especially during the first stage of the
work,with a sticky black coating. Considering the care that is taken by means
of mats to keep the plant from coming into contact with the ground, there can
be no more dust in this coating than was attached. to the presser's feet when first
he stepped on to the mat. Practically, therefore, this black substance is pure
charas, collected as the charas of the Himalayan tracts is collected, only by the
soles of the feet instead of on the palms of the hands. There is this difference:
the substance so obtained is the article for which the hillman grows,or at any
rate uses, the plant; the cultivator in the plains throws it away. I took some
care in investigating the matter, it being one regarding which it was particu-
larly essential to betray no interest, because of the possibilities—for it will be
seen at once how great these are—of smuggling in connection with what is in
reality the most powerful form of narcotic produced by the plant they grow,but
which finds no place in the Excise Regulations that control their cultivation
of hemp and manufacture of gánjá ;if the article is collected and smuggled
there would, of course, be no possibility of obtaining information by interroga-
tion.From what I was able to observe I am convinced that the substance
is not collected, and is not smuggled;the people wash it off—and a great
deal of trouble it causes them—and throw it away; they would be very pleased,
not because it diminishes the value of their drug, but because it would be
more convenient, if it did not stick to their feet in this way. That its
value is not known to them I hardly believe, though, as I have said, I was
careful not to enquire what they thought about it. I have already said that I
think this may have been the substance exported early in the century from
Jessore under the name of madat, and I imagine that it is the excellence of the
regulations of the Board of Revenue and the attention of the gánjá officers at
Naogaon to their duties that make the collection of this substance impossible.
The consequences of smuggling any gánjá product—the loss of his license to
cultivate—are too serious a matter to the cultivator; he will not risk against
this certainty the chance of a little present gain. His gánjá gives him anxiety
and trouble enough as it is, for him to waste his time in collecting a bye-product
such as this charas must be. Last, and perhaps most sufficient, reason of all,
there is no demand in commercial circles for the article.
The amount thus lost is difficult to estimate with exactitude, but during
some experiments which were made for another purpose it was found that
in breaking off the flowering-tops and stripping these as far as possible of
leaves, one's fingers were coated with charas; this charas was carefully collected
and afterwards weighed; the average weight obtained from each plant was