The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-11-18
NECTAR OF THE ORIENT.


Win udSnln8 Dlack eyes, curly Dlack nalr
and dusty complexion. He speaks
English fuently, though with a decided
ly foreign accent. 10 those to whom he
has unbosomed himself (and their num-
ber is quite limited) he has often com
lplainea thatthe great grief OF is life
since he embraced the barbering profess
sion, is that he has been taken tor an Or
ldinary African. African he is, to be
sure, but a native of Moroeco, and his
aquiIine nose shows that he is of good
descent. In his native country his
)name was All Ben Kolar, and since his
Iyouth he mas seen a great deal of the
world. A Mohammedan by faith, he is
still ready to argue with any upholder
of different creed; and he asserts
lvehemently that there are no people SO
HAPPY as those who live under the cres.
cent, and whose bible is the Koran.
What he was in Africa, Turkey and Per-
sia, all of which countries he visited be-
fore he was twenty years old, he has
never diyulged to anybody; but when
he came to the United States, some
twenty years ago, he made great deal
of money as a juggler or an athlete.
| Finally he broke his left wrist and he
| had to abandon the show business. So
he became barber.
| A reporter of the Mercury happened
| "A
Ben Kolars razor. He was in unusally
good humor, and he talked more than his
habit. He even cracked harmless jokes
about the women that were passing his
shop-harmless we say, for one OF the
good traits of the Mussulman is that he
never indulges in offensive or indecent
remarks about the fair sex. For ought
we know. The Koran forbids him to do
SO. Suddenly the barDer's attention
was attracted by fashionable carriage
stopping in 'front.' OF house on the other
side OF the street.
| "rhere's another one," he said, with q
significant smile. "Another what p"
asked the reporter. "AnoGher woman
that is going 70 be transported" he re-
piled.
The mystitied reporter requested MI.
All Ben KUlar to speak in more intelli-
gent terms. Instead OF giving a straight =
forward answer, he simply replied,
| Look at the house across TIE street! p
"rhe reporter looked at it. 1t was u
nice house, and on u large door-plate
was the word dentist"
| "Weii," he said to the barber, "a den-
tst lives over there, and l suppose the
lady that entered the house just now
wanted to have her teeth pulled"
All Ben Kolar burst into laughter.
| mo" he said; "she went into that
| house to eat hasheesh."
| "What, to take that Intoxicating
drugp exclaimed the reported.
"intoxicatingw exclaimed the bearer,
contemporary. "Why, il is u prolana.
| ton to use that vulgar word in connec-
| tlon with hasheesh, the gilt of Allah, to
| Tighten the burdens of poor mortals, ana
make them see heaven while under its
1iutluence."
"Ah, you have taken it, too thenW re-
marked the reporter. 81 can not deny
| it, and / have never felt the worse Tor
| it. IhaVe eaten opium. Fiel you feel
SO nasty after you have got over its in
fluepce. But hasheesh makes you feel
like a god, and when you awake from
your enchanting dream you are as sound
as you were before taking it. When l
wake up from q hasheesh dream inYar-
iably am hungry, and can eat hearty
meal.'
"But what about the house across the
wayp ut is the only hasneesh house
N New York, sir. However, you do not
get the article as good as you find it in
The Orient. Still IL is fair enough, and
coed dose of it over yonder will give you
very delightful dream. The man who
keeps it pretends 10 be Saracen from
| Damascus, but that is all m0onshine. He
| is either a SIcIllan or q Maltese, for l
have heard him speak Italian, and he is
running after a Jewish girl. But he
speaks Turkish very tluenty, and he is
as sharp as a steel trap. l shave him
occasionally, and he pays me by letting
me eat as much hasheesh as l want. l
do not indulge very often, however, as
it makes me feel 100 good for my humble
position i'll lie. lie has his rooms ntt9d
up elegantly"
"But who are his customersW "He
has plenty of them. He manages to find
out what wealthy families have been to
the Orient. Most young New Yorkers
that visit the East Try hasheesh, and
curiosity, Of appetite makes them in
dulge in it here if they know that they
can do so without attracting any atten-
ton. That opportunity they have at
that house over yonder. But he has not
only male customers; plenty of aristo-
cratic ladies also paJronlze him. In the
Orient we do not allow woman to eat
hasheesh. We're he a true Turk he
would not do SO either. But he is
Frank, and believe more woman 60 to
his place than men," r
"What does he charge for-? cone
seano, as he calls-it. ., So to men and
L $40 10 women. o, he is making money;
he lS bdlhlu5 dUooU wy Ing GnS uou5e ue
occupies"
Chow does he administer the hash
eeshp "He gives it 10 women as tea
| to drink, TO men to smoke i'll Turkish
pipes, and to me to eat. In that way
get more OF it, for 1 require strong
dose. He must have been in that busi-
| ness in the Orient, Tor he knows how to
| make the hasheesn paste very excellent
lily. He imports all the raw material
from Aleppo."
"Could he not make the drug from
American hempW o "My friend, no. L
have tried that myself. A decoction OF
the American hemp-plant makes a
| nauseous beverage, although it eXcites
YOU to a certain degree. Even the splen-
did Turkish hemp is not good for the
purpose; the Constantinople hasheesn
men have TO import it from Damascus,
wnere it is only raised in its perfect
state. But, if you want to try it, sir,
do it before eating a meal. On a full
stomach hasheesh will conjure up before
you frighttul apparitions, enough
| to haunt your slumbers tor many a
day."
The reporter assured An Ben Kolar
| that he did not feel inclined to invest a
V in pipe oil extract OF hemp, and lett
him wondering how great a city New
| York had become that she should have