The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1888-12-06
OPIUM INToxIcATloN.
Strange Things seen by a European
Traveller in Assam.


Traveller in Assam.
The Assamese dearly loves opium;
to him it is life. What matters it il
his awakenings are unpleasant; or that
his vitality is weakened; or that he Is
on the path TO premature senility,
wretchedaess and early death9 Moth
ing. "Hoi-yoi-oi!'' shrieks the opium
seller, and presently from the rice
fields and villages the "hoi-yoi-oi' Is
taken up, and anon. one by one, the
opium drinkers flock to the opium
sellers bamboo hut.
It IS evening in Assam, and about
the flooded rice fields thick vapor is
rising, impregnating the air with its
warm Naturalization moisture. Ener-
waiting indeed is the same climate Of
Assam: and the wretched Assamese,
with his inveterate love for the poppy
juice, adds but too surely to its bane-
full influence. Down by the opium
sellers hut squat the opium drinkers,
while their eyes roll strangely and
their parched tongues loll ovt in very
uneasy fashion indeed This far they
managed to drag their debilitaled
forms, and no further can they go IN
til the soul-reviying elixir has been
drunk Of.
The opium seller weighs out the
drug, eager hands clutch ct it, aud
presently it is dissolved in a brass YES
sci OF water Excited, eager looks
greet those who are tardily-oh, how
tardily it seems 10 the opium drinkers,
preparing the mass. When ready il
IS OF a dark brown color, of the con-
5istency and appearance Of English
porter. Let me have IT," Me-"
Me- yell the now thoroughly excited
mob. Rapidly it passes from hand to
mouth, and smiling, ghastly smiling
faces show how satisfied they all are.
1t is the Assamese opium drinkers es-
cape from purgatory-from weak, spir-
itless and enervated c Es tence to the
seventh heaven of bliss. As the drug
takes effect the victim dozes off into a
kind of reverie. Surrounding objects
assume a weird aspect-bambOO for
ests, banana bushes, rice fields and viii
lagos; the whole panorama OF land
seape before them is no longer a mis-
cradle reality, the scene of their daily
toll, but an ever-changing kaleido-
scope, the beauty OF which is beyond
the comprehension Of a sober mind.
Such, at least, is absorption given by
one of the opium drinkers.
Our party. now thoroughly intOxi-
Gated with opium fumes, lie about in
sprawling attitudes. In the first stages
OF intoxication all are smiling, and
their lips move in rapid speech; for
one hears an incoherent jabbering GO
ing on. broken occasionally by a loud
chuokle from one of the party. This
unseemly hilarity wakes up for a mo-
ment the other opium drinkers; and
they, after an angry look toward the
noisy one, soon relapse into their coma
tose state. A few of this party who
had evidently been INDUCING freely
fell Immediately into a heavy sleep,
out of which they did not wake until
the night was far advanced.
A rather amusing incident occurred
while | sat watching them. The opium
drinkers had taken up position on the
high road. probably because it was
tolerably dry and the Enclosure
around the opium sellers hut
where they usually sat-had
got flooded during the recent
heavy rains. A cart caravan of tea
from neighboring tea plantation
happened to come up while the opium
drinkers sat squatting on the road.
Vainly the cart-drivers called on the
opium drinkers to move out of the
way. So they reluctantly got off their
perch. and. taking the opium drinkers
bodily up, deposited them in shallow
pool OF water on the road. Those
wretched opium-drinkers wallowed for
awhile in the puddle, and not feeling
! quite comfortable in the water, merely
dragged their befuddled carcasses up
on to the bank, and there resumed
their dreaming again as II nothing had
happened. l learned while watched
them, too. that the opium-drinker has
AN instincsiye dread of a drunken man
II mean one drunk on sspirituous
liquors; for party of coolies who had
been drinking in ueighboring bazaar
came up while l sat there and
literally frightened the wits out
of the opium-drinkers The coolies,
who seemed to know something
OF the opium drinkers antipathies,
plagued them for awhile and then
went away. laughing heartily at the
other drunkards.
Toward midnight one by one they
awoke out Of their trance, and, SILVER
ing with the cold-for the night air
had cooled somew hat--they made for
their respective villages. AS | watch
ed them crawling home through the
rice fields, their forms STOPPING. and
their attenuated bodies besmeared with
the mud in which they had been roll
ing, Thought the moon could scarcely
shine on more miserable objects.
Such scenes may be witnessed by the
traveller any evening all over Assam.
II is sad state Of things truly, and II
not remedied the Assamese race viii
speedily die out.-St. James Budget.