The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-06

ing on his side my friend held out his
pipe to receive a tiny piece OF opium
which the woman sklllfully made up,
stuck on the end Of long spoon-headed
needle and placed In the aperture OF this
door-knob bowl; then she held the lamp
so that he could set the pill on fire, and the
whole thing was Inhaled at one Whit.
Being an old smoker he kept the stuff
IN his lungs "a long time and then let IT
escape slowly through his nostrils. He
smoked three pipes and then mouoned
the Celestial maiden to take cognlzance
of my poor personality. Now I labored I'M
der a great disadvantage In this affair.
had not learned even to inhale cigarette
with safety and anyone who VIII recall
the first time he Inhaled even a cigarette
will remember that it made him first
quite dizzy ana then probably he had mai
a Icstornac.
/ put up my pipe bravely to be filed.
The donzee punched the opium into the
bowl with her needle and held the lamp
and grnned. There was no backing out.
MY friend was beneVolently regarding me
and advising me to quickly draw In all
the smoke so as to lose none of the pre-
cious fumes. / pulled one pun out into
the room. and ] got two down inside me
somewhere. l swallowed, / suppose,
which Is not the way to inhale, but OF
all the vile tastes 1 ever tasted or smelt
commend me to that smoking of pure
Dldgk SMOKE. Was not sith at bHiNs bhl
that gaisha was a mind-reader. or. per-
haps, had been a stewardess on some
channel steamer, ana calling for the at
tendant she made preparations which
did not see ut to object to.
My friend In the meanwhile was very
much amused and seemed to be having
a great deal OF fun, but that was only the
natural course of the opium After smok-
ing eleven pipes he turned over and went
to sleep. having consumed his usual guam
tity. about as much as would balance
quarter of a dollar, for measured It with
an old quarter had for a pocket piece.
Now he was a sensible man; he had been
smoking ten years and rarely exceeded
this limit of a dozen pipes and II really
had little or no effect upon him. white
man cannot smoke as much opium as an
East Indian, and Chnaman can smoke
for years without being done up, whereas
few white men. or what is worse, white
women can retain their self-respect above
a year.
The taste Of very fine malwa smoke is
swedish and oily, but the smell of the
smoke is nauseatng IN the extreme. and
when gradually the large room became
dark with the fumes Of the opium escaping
from the dozens of cabinets particulieres,
the smell TO novice is almost overpower-
ing This gaisha, seeing ] did not care
for any more smoke" Just then, called
for two ppefus for herself but mixed the
black smoke with the tobacco she had
mixed with green tea leaves, and mixed
some opium and green tea leaves alone
and offered me her pipe. which was not a
regular yen tsiang," or smoking pistol,
as the Chinese not inaptly term their
opium pipes, but a sort Of hubble bubble.
She managed 70 make me understand
that this was not as bad as pure opium,
and 1 smoked this easily, but the inhaling
made me worse, while she smoked as
cornpos ed1y as though II We're an every
day occurrence, which it doubtless was.
/ waited, hoping | would dream dreams
and things like the fellow in Monte
Cristo." who ate that hashesh paste stuff |
and who could not possibly have seen the !
things we arc told about; but no dreams
come to me; my head commenced TO whirl |
and l got very, very sick. and my friend /
slept very calmly and that woman was /
very kind to hold my head and tell me /
l wasn't dead yet. Now and then ! won 1
dered IL this was a dream, and I was 1
dreaming was as sick as I was, and II |
so 1t was the mixture Of opium, green tea 1
and tobacco which ] had smoked. and /
thereupon ! vowed never again to in /
dulge in such a combination and / never |
did
have since learned to inhale. and have |
many a time watched Christians and /
heather lying down smoking the pure !