Page:George Archdall Reid 1896 The present evolution of man.djvu/375

Rh and exaggerated statements in respect of this vice, it is only right to record that no China resident believes in the terrible frequency of the dull, sodden-witted, debilitated opium-smoker met with in print, nor have I found many Europeans who believe that they ever get the better of their opium-smoking compradores in matters of business."—Ibid. p. 139.

It is clear then that while most of the Chinese—at any rate the Chinese of the coast, who have been familiar with the poison for some two centuries—do not as a rule indulge in opium to excess, yet an appreciable number of them do take it in such amounts as to place themselves at a disadvantage in the struggle for existence. Probably in inland districts, to which opium has more recently penetrated, excessive indulgence is much more common.

Lastly, there is a consensus of opinion that indulgence in opium is extremely harmful to the Burmese, who have only recently acquired a knowledge of its use. In reply to the question—

"Can you give us the reasons which, in your judgment, actuated the Burmese authorities and led to the decision to prohibit the use of opium?"

the Rev. J. S. Adams, a missionary, said—

"From conversations that I had repeatedly with Burmese elders, with the Governor of Bhamo, and with the Buddhist Archbishop, I learned that the principal reason was that the people themselves were so weak in the face of such temptations as those offered by opium and liquor, and also that the Buddhist law prohibited the use of intoxicants to the people of the Buddhist faith; and there were also ancient laws of the kingdom of Ava which forbade the same thing."—Ibid. p. 24.