Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1905-01-27
OPIUM IN THE EAST.
Rich Users Of the Drug In China Have
Luxurious Stacking Rooms.

Rich Users Of the Drug In China Have
Luxurious Smoking RoOmss
Although there are in the Orient
various liquors that will produce In
toxication, the favorite method Of
reaching that condition is by the use
OF opium or hasheesh.
Opium smoking does not conduce to
conviyiality and sOciability as drink
ing whisky does; the smoker in time
becomes a skeleton and half-dumb
beast. He loves a gloomy corner,
where he may be left to darkness and
to himself.
The chair coolies Of China and the
house servants, too, are very much
given to the use of opium. The for
eigner often finds himself exasperated
almost beyond the point of endurance
by the dullness, apathy and disinclina-
ton to move that steal almost fmper-
cepHbly over his household staff. Ex-
postulation, entreaties, threats have
no effect; one might as well talk
against stone wall as to try to rea-
son with a coolie while under the in
fiuence of his smoke.
Rich men in China often have lux
urious smoking corners arranged in
their reception rooms. Again, man
who is confirmed smoker will have
den set up quite apart from the re-
mainder of the house. The only sign
of comfort to a great barren Chinese
bo11so fo fv.oo.Iov,4l,, A. -,,,,.1.s... -.
ner. Here will be found nm opium
divan, covered with red cloth, sym
bolic Of pleasure, standing on dais.
The bed is fat and hard, with big
bolster for the head. A stand with a
night light of smoldering charcoal dust
balls is near. A tray containing the
pipe, a big hollow piece Of bamboo,
usually with the tiniest possible bowl,
and small receptacle for the opium
rests on the tripod or another stand.
Some Of the public opium dens of
China are elegantly fitted up with
carved and gilded holdings and very
handsome furniture, but the ordinary
ones are not much, if any, better than
the cellars that are fitted up in Amer
lean Chinatowns for that purpose.
There are hunks for the smokers and
tables covered with mating for the
convenience of those who desire to
play dominoes. The profit on the
opium consumed and the portion of
the Winnings set aside for the use Of
the tables soon brings to the owner a
comfortable income.
When a certain point is reached in
a Chinaman's career, the confirmed
smoker desires to quit the world
That he may help him in the laudable
desire the opium dealer keeps on hand
a mixture of opium refuse and ash,
and upon application he deals out a
quantity sufficient to destroy life.
1t is mixed with water, and when
drunken the victim finds a place and
stretches himself out to die, and little
more attention is paid to him than
dead dog. The narcotic taken in this
form is invariably fatal, as it adheres
tenaciously to the lining of the stom-
ach and withstands all antidotes.
Hasheesh, which is largely used in
Persia, India and Egypt, is the top
leaces and seeds of Indian hemp. It
is a curious fact that the hemp plant
will produce the intoxicating resin
only when grown in India; on being
to colder climates it loses
this quality entirely. The ancients
knew it and used it to produce an ex-
intoxtcation. 1t was intro
duced into Egypt in 1850, and since
that time has been in common use
there. particularly by mendicant
priests. It's effects are quite contrary
to those of opium; whereas the latter
produces apathy and sleep, hasheesh
produces a boisterous mirth that is
difficult to subdue and is often the oc-
casion Of quarrels and ultimately Of
madness.