The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-03-24
AN OPIUM PALACE.
A Look at the Biggest Opium
Den Of the World.
SHANGHAI THE. PARIS OF ASIA.
gea and Women Boiled for Drugs---Chinese
Dentists and the Worms which Cause
the TOOthaehe.


Correspondence of THE HERALD. I
visited, last night, the biggest opium den of
the world. 1t is situated on the edge of
this great cosmopolitan city of Shanghai
in which Chinese rowdies from all parts of
the empire congregate, and where the
Chinaman has learned to play billiards, to
drink whisky and to practice the refine
ments of
WESTERN AS WELL AS EASTERN VICE.
The paiatial saloons of New York, the bar
room of the Hoffman House and the gilded
palaces of sin in San Francisco have cost
hundred of thousands Of dollars. This
opium den of the Chinese has likewise
eaten up fortune, and it is more like a
palace than an opium smoking joint for pig
tailed Celestials. Three stories high and
covering what would be nearly half an
American block. its entrance is lighted with
the electric light and its interior is fur
Hished in the most eXtrayagant Chinese
fashion. The ceilings are of richly carved
wood and the finest of Chinese lamps, each
NJ which cost hundreds of dollars, throw a
soft light over the hazy smoking crowd
within The painted walls are inlaid with
curious marble the grain Of which is such
as 10 give the idea Of landscape sketches
and the finishing Of the rooms is in carved
teak wood which, oiled and cOlored, shines
like ebony. There were, perhaps a thou
sand smokers in this opium den when !
visited it last night, and pushed my way
into ii through q thrOng representing every
class of Chinese life. There was the pomp-
Gus mandarin in gorgeous silks beside the
half-naled cooley in ragged cotton. There
were loose women and eSperatelOOking
men. quiet intellectual scholars and
wealthy Chinese merchants All stopped
ander the electric light to buy little pots of
opium as thick rs mOlasses, and each hold
ing about what could be croI, ded into the
smallest of our American individual salts
The cooley and the mandarin are charged
the same for their opium, but they paid
different prices according to the rooms
which they occupied and the pipes which
they used in smoking. The cheapest cost
about 10 cents a smoke, and the dearest was
sold for not much more than IS cents. The
pipes, however, were different. They were
ab0fIt two feet long with a big, round bowl
set into the handle. The mandarins smoked
pipes Of ivory, some of which were elabOr-
Ately carved while the coolies were satisfied
with plain pipes of wood. The receipts of
this opium den are said to be more than
$1,000 day, and, l am told, it is always
fun
WHERE THEY SMOKE.
Passing the electric light. you etter hall
after hall filed with hazy fumes of sickly
smelling VapOr through which the rays Of
gorgeous lamps struggling find their way,
ana cast a wierd, ghOSt-lile air over the
smokers resting below. The smoking com
DSrtments are divided into cells open at the
front and separated from one another by
gorgeous carvings of teak wood which,
cOlOred with the smoke of thousands, has
turned from rich brown into an oiled Jet.
Zach cell accommodates two or more people,
and the most of the men | saw smoking
were fn couples. On each side of little
glass lamp the men lay on red cushions,
sometimes dropping their feet upon chair
and resting their heads upon blue pillows,
each about foot square and a foot long.
The most expensive of the compartments
mad cushions of fine velvet, and the frames
of some couches were inlaid with motherof-
pearl a1d Jade. In some of the private
rooms l noticed women smoking with the
men. They were not, was told the wives
of the smokers, and it is no more creditable
for a Chinese woman to smoke opium than
II is for an American girl to drink whisky.
Opium smokers always lie down while
smoking They bend themselves spoon
fashion as they manipulate the opium,
draw IL into their lungs, and blow 1t out OF
their nostrils. In some cases noted large
rooms ia which private parties seemed to
have assembled for an opium smoke to-
gether, and passed through every hall Of
his large opium joint and did not see bit
OF disorder Your opium smoker is differ
e.nt from the drunkard. The opium Gains
instead of excites. l was treated with
DOlteueiS everywhere, anu GLS uLONoJi
sleepy crowd did not seem to care that
stopped and looked at them.
THE CURSE OF THE PEOPLE.
This is, however, only one of hundreds
. Of opium shops in Shanghai. l visited
another den upon leaving this big one, and
found it nearly as large. 1t is said that
China uses about $500, 900 worth o.
opium every year, and it is rightly called
the curse of the people. Opium is now
grown in every province in China The
seed of the poppy is sOwn in November,
and its Juice is collected in February and
March The opium is gotten by cutting the
CAPSULE of the poppy flower with a nOtched
ron instrument at sunrise, and by the next
morning a drop or so OF Juice has OOZed out.
This is scraped off and saved by the grower,
and after he has vessel full OF II, 1t IS
strained and dried. 1t takes a great many
pOppies TO make a pound OF opium, and 1t
goes through a number of processes before
Il is ready for the market In liquid
state it looks like a dark strawberry Jam,
aud when prepared Tor Shipment II Is put
into chests, each of which contains about
forty balls of opium. These balls are
rolled ia dried poppy leaves, and here IN
China the duty on opium IS so heavy that
the customs officers watch these chests
very closely. At Shanghai there are a
number of large ships which look like float
ing swimming baths or naval training ships
IN which the opium passed upon by the
customs is stored, and by which method
smuggling is somewhat prevented. The
Chinese are the greatest smugglers in the
world, and it is only by the aid Of foreign
ers that they are able TO have good Gus
toms service. And their receipts from for
eign customs are now four times as great
as they were several decades ago.
FOREIGNERS TAUGHT THEM.
The Chinese are naturally opium smokers
but it is due TO the foreigner that the druG
has become a national evil The official!
and the emperor saw the danger before i
cSme, and they tried to keep the opium on
Of the country. The English, however, wht
were bringing in large quantities from
India, we're making too much money out o
Il 10 lei it go, and one of the most disgrace
full pages OF history is the record of how
John Bull, philanthropic and moral, a
he pretends to be, forced China to take
poison which its officials knew would de
Grade its people The Emperor of China a
the start taxed the cons lmers Of opium
and threatened them with death. OpiGn
smugglers were seized and tortured, AM
the native dealers were executed. TIL
Chinese, however, could do nothing wit
the foreigners, and they became the smua
gIers. The government then appealed
fhe foreigners, and one of the gOyernmen
commissioners asked the English merchant
m rive up their opium that it might be do
Stroyed They gave up 10000 chests, wort
iii 600 600 China refused to pay for 1t o
II I'D sarrA nFlafs nod