Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-05-31
A GORGEOUS OPIUM DEN.
TIE LARGEST EsrABL1sHmENT OF
ITS KIND IN THE WORLD.
a PaiatiaI Building In Shanghai.
Furnished in Extravagant Chi
nose Style--1OOO Smokers Daflv


Furnished in Extravaganza Chi
nose Style--1OOO Smokers Daily
visited last night the biggest opium
don OF the world, says Frank G. Carpen-
ter, In letter from Shanghai. II is
situated on the edge of this groat cosmo-
poiitan city of Shanghai, in which Chi-
neso rowdics from all parts of the Empire
congregate, and where the Chinaman
has learned to play billiards, to drink
whisky and to practice the rencments
OF Eastern as well US Western vice. The
palatial saloons OF New York, the bnr-
room OF the Holman House and the
gilded palaces of sin in San Francisco
have cost hundreds of thousands of dol
lars. This opium den OF the Chinese
has likewise eaten up fortune and it is
more like palace than an opium smok-
ing joint for pig tailed celestials. Three
stories high aud covering what would be
nearly half an American block, its en-
trance is lighted with the electric light
and its interior is furnished in the most
cxtravagant Chinese fashion. The cell
ings arc OF richly carved wood and tho
finest of Chinese lamps, each OF which
cost hundreds of dollars, throw soft
light over the hazy smoking crowd
within. The painted walls are inlaid
with curious marble, the grain Of which
IS such rs to give the idea of landscape
sketches, and the finishing of the rooms
is in carved teak wood, which, oiled and
colorcd, shines like ebony.
There was, perhaps, thousand smok-
ers in this opium den when visited il
last night, and pushed my way into it
through n throng representing cvery
class of Chinese life. There was the
pompous mandarin in gorgeous silks be.
side the half nakcd coolic in ragged cot
ton. There were bad women and dcs
peratc looking men; quiet, intellectual
scholars and wealthy Chinese merchants.
All stopped under the electric light to
buy little pots of opium as thick as
molasscs, and each holding about what
could be crowded into the smallest OF
our American individual salts. The
coolic and the mandarin were 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 ten cents a smoke
and the dearest was sold for not much
more than fifteen cents. The pipes, how.
ever, were different. They were about
two feet long with u big, round bowl
set into the handle. The mandarins
smoked pipes of ivory, some of which
were deliberately carved, while the cool.
les were satisfied with plain pieces of
wood. The receipts of this opium den
are SAID TO be more than $1,000 day,
and l am told it is always full.
Passing the electric light you enter
hall after hall filed with hazy fumes of
sickly smelling vapor through which the
rays oil gorgeous lamps struggling find
their way, and cast weird ghost.lik
AR over the smokers resting below.
The smoking compartments are divided
cells open at the front and separated
from one another by gorgeous carvings
OF tcek wood, which, colored with the
smoke of thousands, has turned from u
rich brown into an oiled jet. Each cell
accommodates two or more pcoplc. and
the most Of the men | saw SMOKING were
III couples. On each side of little elass
lamp the men lay on red cushions. some
times dropping their feet upon n chair
and resting their heads on blue pillows,
en- III about II foot square and Il foot long.
The most expensive of the compart
ments had cushions of fine velvet and
the frames of some couchcs were inlaid
with mother pearl and jade. In some
oil the private rooms l noted women
smoking with the men. They were not.
L was told, the wives of the smokers
and 1T Is no more crcditablc for n Chinese
woman to smoke opium than it is for IN
American girl TO drink whisky. Opium
smokers always lie down while smoking.
They bend themselves spoon fashion IA
they manipulate the opium, draw it into
their lungs and blow it out of their
nostrils. In some cases ! noted LARGE
rooms in which private parties seemed
10 have assembled for an opium smoke
together, and l passed through evcry
hall OF this large opium joint and did not
see bit of disorder Your opium
smoker is different from the drunkard.
The opium Gains instead of excites.
was treated with po!itcncss everywhere
and the drowsy, sleepy crowd did not
seem to care that stopped and looked
at them.
This is, however, only one of hun.
dreds of opium shops in Shanghai. I
visited another den upon leaving this
Big one and found it nearly as large.
1t is said that CHM uses $500, 900. 900
worth OF opium every year, and it is
rightly called the curse Of the people.
Opium IS now grown in every province
III China. The seed of the poppy il
sown IN November and its uice is col.
lected in February and March. The
opium is gotten by cutting the capsule of
the poppy flower with notchcd iron in.
strnment at sunrise, and by the next
morning drop or so of Juice has oozed
out This is scraped oil and saved by
the grower and after he has vessel full
of it, it is strained aud dried It takes
n great many peoples to make q pound
OF opium, and it goes through number
of processes before it is ready for the
market. In liquid state it looks like
dark strawberry jam, and when pre-.
pared for shipment it is put into chests.
each OF which contains about forty balls
of opium. These balls are rolled in
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 mum.
Der 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 pre-.