(8)
than the other two kinds. The charas of Hirát is in some parts of the Panjab
supposed to be better and stronger than that from other places, and in conse-
quence of this it has been generally stated that Central Asian charas is more
powerful than Himalayan. So far is this from being the case, habitual users of
charas much prefer the Nepal and Garhwal article to the Central Asian one ;
consequently, though its transit charges must be much lighter, Himalayan charas
commands a better price than the best Central Asian charas. This is of course
very easily understood ; there must be less inert vegetable tissue in the resin
collected by rubbing the flower-heads between the palms of the hands than in
that obtained by beating the whole plant against a cloth; the facilities for adul-
teration, too, are much greater in the case of Central Asian than in that of the
Himalayan substance.
The kinds of charas of which mention has been made so far agree in being
the product of fresh plants. South of the Himalaya the substance is taken
without the plants being reaped; in the trans-Himalayan area it is obtained after
they are cut. But in the Panjab a substance which seems to be a kind of charas
is derived from the plant after it is harvested. and cured as bhang. 1 Cloths are
l a i d . o v e r h e a p s o fb h a n g ,
a n d t h a t s u b s t a n c e i s s t i r r e d u p v i g o r o u s l y u n d e r n e a t h
them, so as to cause a fine dust to rise, which pervades the store-room in which
the operation is performed and ultimately settles on the cloths in question.
Distinctions are even drawn between three kinds of this dust, the general name
for which is garda ; a certain quantity of the powder adheres to the cloth when
it is shaken ; this is supposed to be the poorest quality; its stickiness, however,
and its name, khaki, would indicate that it was at least to some extent of the
nature of charas.T h e d u s t t h a t i s e a s i l y s h a k e n o f f i s o f t w o k i n d s — a r e d d i s h ,
surkhai, considered good ; this, too, is probably of the nature of charas ; and a
greenish, called bhangi charas, which is not supposed to be so good and is
probably fragments of leaf and vegetable hairs. The surkhai is mixed with
water and converted into a paste.
It is worth mentioning that Kaempfer appears to describe two sorts of
this surkhai under the names Tsjersi Gobaar and Tsjersi Kamer2 Tsjersi is
evidently Kaempfer's method of transliterating charas; his account also refers to
bhangi charas, though he does not give it a name, and indicates that it is the
poorest of the three; the use of a sieve clearly indicates that the dried, not fresh,
plant is meant.
Perhaps the madat mentioned as being an exciseable drug in the Jessore
district in 18093 may have been a form of charas; for though charas itself is
mentioned in the same passage, so are both bhang and subji, which we know to be
identical. I am inclined to suspect that madat means, in the passage referred
to, the resin scraped from the feet of the men who manufactured gánjá as
opposed to the resin collected in other ways.
The name haschish is applied to this as well as to bhang, and not only is
it applied to the crude resin, but to the resin as obtained in. the form of
an alcoholic extract, which is only the resin in a nearly pure state. Charas
being the active substance of hemp almost freed from the inert vegetable
tissues—good Yarkand charas has been found to consist of 78 per cent. purè
resin' and only 22 per cent. residue, mainly vegetable hairs—is the strongest
of the three forms in which the narcotic is presented. It is consumed by
being smoked.
CHAPTER V.—GÁNJÁ.
Gánjá consists of branches or twigs of the cultivated female hemp plant
divested of leaves but with the flowering-tops, consisting of the spikes and
spikelets with their flowers and small flower-leaves (bracts), left attached;
1 Baden Powell, Panjab .Products, p. 293.
2 Kaempfer, Amœnilates exoticœ
, p. 646 (1712). The following translation of the passage may be
of interest :—In Persia the dust shaken off the flowers is sifted through a small sieve ; the substance
sifted is then converted into lozenges. What passes first and more easily through is called Tsjersi
Gobaar ; it is much the most valuable, and is only used internally ; it fetches five ounces of silver per
pound. What goes through the sieve at the second sifting is called Tsjersi Kamer ; it is used externally
and is employed to increase the strength of tobacco. What comes through last and only by severe shaking
is more worthless. It is of greenish colour and has a rather oppressive odour ; it is used like the last.
3 Westland, quoted by H. C. Kerr, Report, p. 12.