The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-06-21
THE HAsHEEsH SMOKERS
A Couple OF Places in New York De-
voted TO the Eastern Drug.
New York Sun.

New York SUM-
"There is not much hssheesh. inn
| ported regularly, not more than $4,000
worth year, but ten times the guam
tity is consumed" a custom house
broker asserted. Where does it go
to? can't say of my own knowledge,
but there is always large demand for
| it. I have passed it through the GUS
toms for doctors, actors, society men,
and even ladies. In point of nation
ality I think the eastern races use it
more largely. That is, they formerly
did. Nowadays it is pretty even all
| around"
I've been selling hasheesh for more
| than ten years now, Bowery drug
gist said. When began sold about
two pots month; now sell a hum
dred. I have all sorts. of customers,
Cinnamon. Malays, French, Italians
and Americans. Germans s.,ldom call
for it. One of my best customers is a
well-known actress; she usually buys
two pots month. What does it look
like? Here's some common stuff"
| displaying small china jar which con-
tanned heavy blackish brown paste.
This is worth 81 pot. This is first
GLASS;" showing pot of greenish- brown
resin, with slight half-pleasant odor,
and of about the consistency of opium.
"This is worth So pot, and it is five
times as strong as the other"
How is hasheesh used 2"
"The same as opium. Some smoke
it, others eat it in pills, while others
] dissolve it in strong wine and drink it
like punch. The use of it in liquid
form is, however, very rare. Orientals
| prefer smoking it, while the western
users of the drug take it solid. Hasheesh
is gathered from the Indian hemp, and
it contains almost always very small
| percentage of cannabin, the alkaloid of
the plant. / don't believe that Gamma
bin is the sole essential principal of
| hasheesh. It acts similarly, but it has
unpleasant consequences, (which hash
eesh never has. It is used good
! deal by some as substitute. Here is
prescription which I have filed a
| dozen times in the past three months.
The chief ingredient is cannabis, and
the purchaser is in reality no patient,
but confirmed hasheesh eater, what's
called in the east haschaschin. She
is lady living in the neighborhood"
Are there any hasheesh houses
here?"
only two that I know of -one in
Lexington avenue, kept by an Ameri-
can, and one in Pell street, kept by a
Chinaman. Both do good business,
and they enjoy the advantage of being
safe from the police, which the opium
Joints do not"
/ The reporter experiencedno difficulty
in entering both places referred to by
the druggist. At the Lexington
avenue house a colored waiter answered
the bell and ushered the caller into a
small but neat reception-roo1n. The
proprietor, tall, slender and emaciated
man, was the manager of an opium den
some years ago. He led the way to
the second story, where the windows
were thoroughly closed and the day
light excluded Six small co.ored lamps
ditfused a faint light through thick
smoke that filled the two rooms. The
carpets, walls, and furniture were sub
dued, but warm and pleasant in color
Engravings and simple but pretty chro
mos, few articles of brio a-brac, and 6
bust or two gave the interior cosy and
attractive appearance. A dozen large
easy chairs and fifteen low and roomJ
lounges were the chief articles of furni
ture, easily accommodating the twenty
haschaschins present. OF these, six
were women; all were we'll dressed and
seemingly of good social position. Hal
were asleep, or doing, few were be
ginning to come under the influence
while the rest were beginning the dissi
patton. The proprietor asked in wha
style the reporter would take the drug
and, on being appealed to, recommended
the nargile.
This turned out to be simple modi
fication of the Turkish article. A hand
some glass vase filed with water,
, long light tube with an amber mouth
piece, and brazier-a metallic cup o
the size and shape of an egg-wer
furnished. In the interior of the braZie
were two brass CRATES, and from th
bottom ran tube down into the waite
Of the vase. A piece OF hasheesh a
} large as an acorn was placed on tn
, upper CRATE, and on it was laid small
: mass of glowing charcoal. The brazie
t was then closed with perforated car
, and the reporter invited to begin. Th
7 first inhalation filled the upper part @
the nargile with thick blue vapor
3 the second filed the mouth and lung
with cool, aromatic smoke that i
flavor seemed half way between opium
and Latakia tobacco. The smok
, lasted about six minutes. The onl
sensation it produced was about tn
, same as that an old smoker experience
. with Reina Victoria-a feeling @
= mild satisfaction and content. Their
. were none of the grotesque or beautiful
!, visions that De Musset and Gautie
I have described. A second pipe pro
J duced headache, and the scribe pre-
q fes ed himself more than satisfied.
4 The Pell street place is q vivid cor
trast to the luxurious establishment i
Lexington avenue. The room is in th
third story of tumble-down tenement
Low ceiling, dirty floor and walls, wiz
: dows covered and plastered over Wit
o paper and rags, greasy hunks and grim
y Chinese couches, q foul atmosphere
# and all the other indications of Chimes
9 vice and squalor were there. Theroo
# not larger than 20x25, contained thirt,
), one inmates. Seven were Mongols, eigh
n women who had lost all womanhoo
r years before, and the rest variegate
assortment of loafers, tramps an
drunkards. AS the reporter entered
haschaschin was receiving from the pr,
n prietor his ration of the drug. 1t We
i the cheap kind shown by the druggis
n and was as large as hickory nut.
ia Bogus Butter Rest.
[Chicago Heraldl
Oleomargarine is preferred to butts
: by yachtsman who cruise in southel
6 waters, because it keeps sweet an
0 | f~oob -rI;1, h1&fnr rrnfc vov,o:l