Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/853

Rh OPIUM 789 of buyers and sellers takes place in each district, at which the price to be asked is discussed and settled, and the opium handed to the buyers, who in many instances have advanced money on the stand ing crop. When sufficiently solid the pieces of opium are packed in cotton bags, a quantity of the fruits of a species of Rumcx being thrown in to prevent the cakes from adhering together. The bags are then sealed up, packed in oblong or circular baskets, and sent to Smyrna or other ports on mules. On the arrival of the opium at its destination, in the end of July or beginning of August, it is placed in cool warehouses to avoid loss of weight until sold. When transferred to the buyer s warehouses the bags are opened and each piece is examined by a public inspector in the presence of both buyer and seller, the quality of the opium being judged by appearance, odour, colour, and weight. It is then sorted into three qualities : (1) finest quality ; (2) current or second ; (3) chicanti or rejected pieces. A fourth sort consists of the very bad or wholly factitious pieces. The substances used to adulterate opium are grape-juice thickened with flour, fig-paste, liquorice, half-dried apricots, inferior gum tragacanth, and sometimes clay or pieces of lead or other metals. The chicanti is returned to the seller, who disposes of it at 20 to 30 per cent, discount to French and German merchants for the manufacture of morphia. After inspection the opium is hermetically sealed in tin-lined boxes containing about 150 ft. Turkey opium is principally used in medicine on account of its purity and the large percentage of morphia that it contains, a comparatively small quantity being exported to China. A number of varieties exist in commerce, differing in certain qualities, and, to a certain extent, in external character. These are generally exported under the names of the districts where they are prepared, but are more generally known in English commerce by the name of the port from which they are shipped. Thus, Constan tinople opium includes the produce of Bogaditz, Karahissar Sahib, Kutchaya, Balukhissar, Kurkagatsch, Gheve, Beybazar, Angora, Malatia, and Tokat, as well as Macedonian opium from Salonica. Smyrna opium comprises opium from Afium Karahissar, Ushak, Akhissar, Tanshauli, Isbarta, Koniyeh, Bulladan, Hamid, and Magnesia, and the Yerli 1 varieties. In English commerce these are roughly divided into shipping, druggist s, and manufacturer s opium. Shipping opium includes varieties of a pale or yellowish colour internally, of a soft consistence, and free from poppy debris, &c. , or &quot;chaff, &quot; as it is technically called. Such opium affords a large amount of extract, and leaves very little insoluble residue when dis solved in water, and on this account is preferred in countries where opium-smoking or eating is practised. The principal varieties used for this purpose are Malatia (including that of Kharput), Tokat, Salonica, Balukhissar (including the produce of Kurkagatsch), Bogaditz, and the finest qualities of Angora and Yerli. The chief markets are China, Peru, the West India Islands, British Guiana, and Brazil ; and the United States also purchase the same kinds for reshipment. Druggist s opium includes the varieties purchased for use in medicine in European countries and the United States. It is generally of firmer consistence and rather darker colour than ship ping opium. The finest varieties of this kind in English commerce are Beybazar, Yerli, Karahissar (including Adet, Amasia, and Akhissar opiums), &quot;Current&quot; Smyrna, and Angora. Ushak, Yerli, and Karahissar opiums are purchased chiefly for the American market, and the Gheve or Ismid opium for the Continental. Manufacturer s opium includes chicanti or low-priced qualities of all varieties, and is used only for the manufacture of morphia. Persian opium is used for this purpose when Turkey opium is dear. Malatia opium usually occurs in pieces of irregular shape, weigh ing from 1^ to 3 ft, and about 1| to 2 inches thick, the &quot; paste &quot; or substance being soft and pale and remarkably free from foreign matter or &quot;chaff,&quot; and the exterior being covered with a bright bluish green leaf; the paste of Tokat is similar, but usually of thinner consistence and darker colour. Bogaditz opium is met with in smaller pieces, usually 2 to 3 oz., and is covered with a yellowish green leaf, the surface being rough with Rumcx fruit. Occasionally, however, pieces are met with from 1 to 1^ ft in weight, still more rarely up to 4 ft in weight, approaching more nearly to the Baluk hissar and Kurkagatsch varieties, which are usually similar to the Bogaditz, but in larger pieces. Karahissar opium is in rather large conical lumps ; formerly the pieces frequently bore the impress of a poppy-head pressed into the top. The Adet, Akhissar, and Amasia opiums are very similar in appearance, and usually pass under the name of Karahissar. Angora opium usually occurs in small pieces carelessly prepared, so as to be rough and unsightly in appearance although of good quality. Occasionally samples of good colour, soft consistency, and excellent quality are met with, and these are always used as shipping opium. Yerli is a fine pasty or gummy opium, with a rough surface and with much Rumcx fruit adhering to it. Gheve or Ismid 2 opium is usually in small rounded cakes, weighing 1 The word yerli means &quot; grown near,&quot; and is applied to opium produced in the immediate neighbourhood of Smyrna. 2 Gheve is the commercial name for opium from Geiveh on the river Saka- ria, running into the Black Sea. It appears to find its way to Constantinople via the port of Ismid, and hence is known also by the latter name. about 2 to 3 oz. in weight. The pieces, known in trade as &quot; Con stantinople pats,&quot; have a smooth shining appearance, with the midrib of the poppy -leaf they are wrapped in forming a median line on the surface. The interior often shows layers of light and dark colour. Yoghourma is a very inferior opium, and, as its name im plies, is &quot; remade&quot; or made up at the port of shipment. It is usually sold to morphia manufacturers at a price determined by analysis. In Macedonia opium culture was commenced in 1865 at Istip, with seed obtained from Karahissar in Asia Minor, and has since extended to the adjacent districts of Kotchava, Stroumnitza, Tikvish, and Kinprulu-veles. The crop in 1882 was 135,000 ft of opium and 500,000 to 600,000 ft of seed, most of the drug being exported under the name of Salonica opium to Great Britain at prices ranging from 12s. 6d. to 16s. per ft. Macedonian opium, especially that pro duced at Istip, is very pure, yielding about 11 per cent, of morphia, and is considered equal to the Malatia produce. The Turkish Government encourage the development of the industry by remit ting the tithes on opium and poppy -seed for one year on lands sown for the first time, and by distributing printed instructions for cultivating the poppy and preparing the opium. In these directions it is pointed out that the opium crop is ten times as profitable as that of wheat. Four varieties of poppy are distin guished, two with white flowers, large oval capsules without holes under their &quot;combs &quot; (stigmas), and bearing respectively yellow and white seed, and the other two having red or purple flowers and seeds of the same colour, one bearing small capsules perforated at the top, and the other larger oval capsules not perforated. The white varieties are recommended as yielding a more abundant opium of superior quality. The yellow seed is said to yield the best oil ; that obtained by hot pressure is used for lamps and for paint, and the cold-pressed oil for culinary purposes. Opium is also grown in Bulgaria, but almost entirely for home consumption ; any surplus produce is, however, bought by Jews and Turks at low prices and sent to Constantinople, where it is sold as Turkish opium. It is produced in the districts of Kustendil, Lowtscha, and Halitz, and is made into lumps weighing about 4 oz., of a light-brown colour internally, and containing a few seeds ; it is covered with leaves which have not been identified. Samples that have been analysed by Herr Theegarten have yielded from 7 to 19 per cent, of morphia, and only 2 to 3 per cent, of ash, and are therefore of excellent quality. India. The poppy grown in India is generally the same as that used in Persia, but in the Himalayas a red-flowered variety with black seeds is met with. The largest amount of opium is produced in the central tract of the Ganges, extending from Dinajpur in the east to Agra in the west, and from Gorakhpur in the north to Hazaribagh in the south, and comprising an area of about 600 miles lung by 200 broad. The region next in importance consists of the tableland of Malwa and the slopes of the Vindhya Hills in Indore. The opium industry in Bengal is a Government monopoly, and the districts are divided into two agencies, Behar and Benares, which are under the control of officials residing respectively at Patna and Ghazipur. In 1883 463,829 acres were under poppy cultivation in the Behar agency, and 412,625 in that of Benares. Any one who chooses may undertake the industry, but cultivators are obliged to sell the opium exclusively to the Government agent at a price fixed beforehand by the latter, which is approximately 3s. 6d. per ft, the Government selling it at about 11s. per ft. The peasant is, however, said to be fully remunerated by the price he receives. It is considered that with greater freedom the cultivator would produce too great a quantity, and loss to the Government would soon result. Advances of money are often made by the Govern ment to enable the ryots to grow the poppy. In Malwa the cultivation is free and extremely profitable, the crop realizing usually from three to seven times the value of wheat or other cereals, and in exceptionally advantageous situations from twelve to twenty times as much. On its entering British territory a heavy duty is imposed on Malwa opium, so as to raise its price to an equality with the Government article. The tax was formerly collected at Indore only, but since other stations have been made at Ujjain, Jaora, and Udaipur the export has increased to 500 chests a month. Malwa opium is shipped from Bombay. 3 The area under poppy cultivation outside these districts is com paratively small, but it appears to be increasing throughout the plains of the Punjab. The poppy is grown for opium, according to Stewart (Pu-njaub Plants, Lahore, 1869, p. 10), in the valley of the Bias east of Lahore. It is cultivated up to 7500 feet above sea-level, the opium of Kulu in this district being considered of excellent quality. In Nepal, Bashahr, and Rampur, and at Doda Kaahtwar in the Jammu territory, opium is produced and exported to Yarkaiul, Khotan, Aksu, and various Chinese provinces. The land intended for poppy culture is usually selected near vi ao-es in order that it may be more easily manured and irrigated Oil a rich soil a crop of maize or vegetables is grown during the rainy season, and after its removal in September the ground is 3 In 1SS2-S3 India exported to China and other places a total of 91,798 chests (126,789 cwts.) of opium, valued at 11,481,376.