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these bracts are covered. with glandular hairs which are full of the resin that
constitutes the narcotic principle of hemp.
The large leaves of the stem and branches are all removed from the plant,
so also, as far as possible, are the small leaves of the twigs close to the
flowering-tops. These last, however, can never be completely got rid of ; partly
because they themselves are somewhat glandular and sticky, partly because of
their proximity to the very sticky bracts, they become agglutinated to the latter,
and therefore incorporated in the commercial article gánjá. It is, however, by
its relative freedom from these small leaves that the gánjá dealer to a great extent
assesses the value of a sample. Colour as an index to the manner in which it
has been manipulated. and smell as a guide to its richness in narcotic also are
used, but, other things being equal, the best gánjá is that which has least leaf. 1
T wo sorts of gánjá are manufactured ; three varieties are sold ; one of
these varieties occurs in two states ; it is therefore necessary, in order to prevent
confusion, to explain the exact relationship of these.
Gánjá is usually manufactured by being trodden under foot so that the
agglutinated flower-tops assume a flattened shape. This is cháptá, or flat' gánjá.
If after being manufactured this flat gánjá is left upon the branches, which are cut
about two feet to two feet six inches long, it is in the state known as 'large flat' ;
these branches are baled, heads inwards, in somewhat barrel-shaped bundles, a
maund in weight, about 3 feet long, 1 foot 8 inches across, and 5 feet 8 inches
round. If, on the other hand, instead of being thus baled, the branches are
first broken into twigs about a foot long which are loosely tied into small flattish
bundles ' whose girth is roughly the grasp of both hands, and whose weight is
roughly a quarter-seer, the state is known as 'flat twig' ; bundles of flat twig
gánjá occur heads inwards, in bales weighing a maund each, which are about
1 foot 8 inches long, 2 feet across, and 6 feet 6 inches round.
The other sort of gánjá is not trodden but rolled under foot, so that the
agglutinated flower-tops are less closely adherent and assume a rounded shape.
This is goli, or 'r o u n d . '
g á n j á .
S o m e w h a t m o r e c a r e i s t a k e n w i t h t h i s a t a l l
stages of its manufacture; it is always less leafy than flat gánjá, the final dressing
for removing the leaf ' being clone by hand; only one-fifth of the whole gánjá
crop is thus prepared. ' Round 'g á n j á
i s n e v e r b a l e d l a r g e ; a n d e v e n a f t e r b e i n g
broken into small twigs, these twigs are sickle-trimmed at the ends into lengths
varying from six to nine inches. The twigs are tied, the short ones innermost,
into neat round bundles, whose girth is the grasp of one hand with the breadth
of the other, and whose weight is approximatly a quarter-seer. These bundles
are packed, heads inwards, in bales that weigh a maund, and that are about
1 foot 1 inch thick, 2 feet. 2 inches across, and 7 feet 6 inches round.
The flower-tops of gánjá detached from the twigs, whether of flat' or of
round' gánjá, and whether the detachment has been accidental or deliberate,
form chúr, or 'broken' gánjá. In making gánjáo f e i t h e r s o r t a c e r t a i n n u m b e r o f
flowering-tops get detached when the branches are being beaten to get rid of
loose dry leaves and seeds ; this is more common with 'round' than with flat'
gánjá owing to adjacent flower-heads being less closely adherent round' than
in the other sort. There is another reason also why, from round," broken'
gánjá, as an accident of manufacture, should be in excess of 'broken' gánjáfrom
flat,' Much of the flat ' is exported large,' and therefore there is no production
of chúr by trimming. Even when reduced to small twig' the quantity of
chúr produced from trimming is not great ; from every 100 seers of small twig'
made, only 8½ seers of ' brokeng á n j á '
r e s u l t . W i t h c a r e , d o u b t l e s s , t h i s m i g h t b e
reduced, but it is of little consequence to the cultivator, as he sells his chúr quite
as readily as his small twig.' In the case of 'round,' however, all of it is trim-
med, not merely, by being broken into what is the natural length of the twig, but
by further cutting the twig to a standard length. Very frequently (one might
almost say always) a flowering-top or two will be found attached to the piece cut
1 The 'leaves' to which the dealer refers when he speaks of a sample of gánjá bei ng ' l eaf y' or t he
reverse, are the small leaves which have been already described as occurring towards the ends of twigs close
under flowering-tops ; they have short stalks and have usually only one, at most three, leaf segments. It
is necessary to repeat this because, in some accounts of gánjá. writers who have not seen the plant growing,
have spoken of the article being sometimes largely mixed with leaves, in such a way as to convey the impres-
sion that gánjá, the flowering-tops, is at times adulterated with stem leaves, i.e., with siddhi. From the
nature of the case, this is, of course, as impossible as it would be to pass off a mixture of coffee-beaus and
cowrie-shells. What is meant in the original descriptions which have been thus inaccurately paraphrased
is that some samples of gánjá are much less completely divested of these leaves than others are.