The Portland daily press., 1896-11-14
CALCUTTA SLUMS.
What They Revealed to a Party of
VISITORS

ahe Opium and Gambling Dens and Dance
houses-Depraved Human Nature In Its
Worst Form-A Nightly Scene In One of
the Coffee Houses.
The too great zeal of a native servant
was the unexpected means of enabling the
writer to crafty his wish to see something
of the darker side of that great city on the
banks of the Hughli. where it had been or
dained that he should dwell for time,
and these experiences are given in The
Scotsman. An interview with a most
charming and reasonable inspector, and
the soothing effects of a drink cooled by
more conventional means, led to his offer
ing to conduct us around the slums
After some delay in mastering forces we
started toexplore, forming digpifed pro-
cession. AS advance guard native police
man armed with lantern, which we
found was much needed; next, two in
quirers into things, escorted by two in
spectors, and the rear brought up by three
more natives. One of the party who had
been in a state of unrest, bewailing the
fact that he had not armed himself with a
large stick-what unknown periIs he was
prepared to brave who shall say-was
much conforted by the display of force.
First, then, through absolute darkness,
where we blindly followed the swinging
light ahead, between rows of native huts,
the caves of which on either side almost
overlapped, 50 closely were they packed, to
a miserable den where some habitual smok-
ers were easily distinguished, gaunt and
hollow checked. Our entrance seemed to
nor
would be thrown in our direction, but
what a change when q pipe was ready and
handed to a Gna0kerl
There was something terrible in the ca
gerness with which they inhaled the smoke.
It is a tedious process. Each pipe holds
bEB drop of opium, which, when prepar-
ed, is in soft, sticky state. This, held on
the point of wire over flame till it
gsNells to several times its natural size and
takes HIGHT is pushed into the little clay
bowl, which, inserted In straight stem
of bamboo forms the pipe. Three or four
powerful draws exhaust the charge. The
seasoned smoker win smoke several of
these pipes before he falls asleep. Having
seen how it was used, it was interesting to
come on one of the shops where the pre-
pared opium Is sold. 1t was the property
of some very amusing and friendly China.
men. Possibly the friendly spirit they
showed was aroused somewhat by seeing
with whom we were
Evidently the customers, of whom there
was no lack, were viewed with distrast, as
they were only admitted to eagelike in.
closure in frontof the counter, from which
there ran up to the ceiling stout wooden
bars. These people buy the pure opium at
the government auctions and then prepare
and retail il to their emaciated customers,
to whom, needless to say, no creditis CIV
en-. The worst feature Of the habit is that
the victim viii stop at nothing which may
enable him to get the drug. Evidently we
were In the Chinese quarter of the town,
for we were taken on through many turn
ings Of sqnalid streets, to where some of
these lovers of roast pig were gambling.
Our arrival seemed to alarm some of them
probably new hands-who thought they
were doing something very wicked, where
as the habitues knew that this mild form
of betting-the stakes are very small--was
winked at by the authorities. Their chief
game was extraordinary for the remarka-
BILE skill shown by the croupier. A num-
Der of coWries were thrown on the table,
perhaps couple of hundred or SO, and
partly hidden by an inverted saucer being
placed over as many as it might cover,
that one might have as little idea of the ac-
rtual number as possible. The shells were
then rapidly raked away in lots Of three,
and the players bet whether three, two
or one would be left When perhaps half
the number had been removed in this man.
ner, the saucer was lifted to get at the rest.
Strange as it may seem, the moment this
was DONE although there might still be a
large number Of cowries left, both around
and under where the saucer had been, the
bank at once stated what number would
remain and actually began to pay winners.
OF course the raking was not interrupted,
and We could thus see il the bank was cor
rect, but in the four games we watched
they were never wrong. Long practice
must have given them a sixth sense It
was not canny.
In the course of our wanderings we Wis
ited three coffee houses These consisted
of mere open sheds of great size, in which
on forms scattered about the most villain
Gus looking men Of all kinds were sitting
or squatting. drinking the innocent bev-
erage from which the places get their
name The policeman said that one of
these shops was generally safe draw for
any criminal they might want. 1t would
certainly have been far from pleasant to
have had to enter such a place by oneself.
In the center there were invariably one or
two nautch girls dancing. OF the dances
perhaps the less said the better We passed
on down a long, broad street, curiously
quiet and orderly, turned sharp to the left
through dark gateway and found our
selves looking through window on a 81
lent shape lying on stone slab - the
morgue One could not help being struck
by the very orderly appearance of the
streets, and, remarking this to one of our
guides, we learned that here, as elsewhere
over India, the nrestiee of theTruling race