The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 84

The leaves are picked from the trees three or four times a year, and carefully dried in the shade; they are then packed in small baskets.

The greatest quant.i.ty is grown about 30 leagues from Cicacica, among the Yunnos on the frontiers of the Yunghos. Some is also cultivated near to Huacaibamba.

The natives in several parts of Peru chew these leaves as Europeans do tobacco, particularly in the mining districts, when at work in the mines or travelling; and such is the sustenance that they derive from them, that they frequently take no food for four or five days. I have often (observes Mr. Stevenson) been a.s.sured by them, that whilst they have a good supply of coca they feel neither hunger, thirst, nor fatigue, and that without impairing their health they can remain eight to ten days and nights without sleep. The leaves are almost insipid, but when a small quant.i.ty of lime is mixed with them, they have a very agreeable sweet taste. The natives generally carry with them a leather pouch containing coca, and a small calabash holding lime or the ashes of the molle to mix with them.

_Cocculus indicus_, or Indian berries.--This is the commercial name for the berries or fruit of the _Menispermum Cocculus_ of Linnaeus, _M.

heteroc.l.i.tum_ of Roxburgh, _Animerta paniculata_ of Colebrooke, _A.

Cocculus_ of Wright and Arnot, and _Cocculus suberosus_ of Decandolle.

It is a strong climbing shrub or tree, native of Malabar, Ceylon, and the Eastern Islands. The seeds or drupes contain a bitter poisonous acid, and are used for the purpose of stupefying fish, and, in the form of a black extract, for fraudulently increasing the intoxicating power of malt liquors; one pound of the berries, it is said, will go as far in brewing as a sack of malt. The berry is kidney-shaped, with a white kernel. Whilst the imports in 1846 were but 246 bags, in 1850 they had increased to 2,359 bags of about 1 cwt. each. The price is 19s. to 24s. the cwt.

A crystalline, poisonous, narcotic principle called picrotoxin, has been detected in these seeds, and occasionally employed externally in some cutaneous diseases. _Cocculus crispus_ is used in intermittent fevers and liver complaints.

The annual imports now average 250 tons, and nearly the whole is consumed for illegal purposes by brewers. Though the practice is nominally discountenanced by the Legislature under the penalty of 200 upon the brewer and 500 upon the seller, yet under the recent tariff great encouragement is given to the introduction of these berries, the duty having been reduced from 7s. 6d. to 5s. the cwt.

The capsules and seeds of _Xanthoxylum hostile_ are also employed for the same purpose as cocculus indicus. The bark of _Walseria piscidia_, a native of the Circar mountains, also intoxicates fish.

About 250 tons of _Nux vomica_, another species of dried flat seed possessing intoxicating properties, are also imported annually for the same purposes, and they fetch about 6s. to 8s. the cwt.

BETEL LEAF.--_Piper Betel_, a scandent species of the shrubby evergreen tribe of plants belonging to the pepper family, furnishes the celebrated betel leaf of the Southern Asiatics, in which they enclose a few slices of the areca nut and a little sh.e.l.l lime; this they chew to sweeten the breath, and to keep off the pangs of hunger, and it acts also as a narcotic.

Such is the immense consumption of this masticatory, termed Pan, in the East, that it forms nearly as extensive an article of commerce as that of tobacco in the West. The tax on the leaf forms a considerable portion of the local revenue of Pinang; in 1805, the tax yielded as much as 5,400 dollars.

Rumphius describes six species of this vine, besides several wild and cultivated varieties. It is very easily reared in the Indian islands, but in the countries of the Deccan requires manuring, frequent watering and great care, and in the northern parts of Hindostan it becomes an exotic very difficult to rear. The vine affords leaves fit for use in the second year, and continues to yield for more than thirty, the quant.i.ty diminishing as the plants grow older.

ARECA PALM (_Acacia Catechu_).--This is a fine, slender, graceful tree, rising from 20 to 30 feet high, which, being a native of the East, is found abundant in many of the forests of India, from 16 to 30 degs. of lat.i.tude. The princ.i.p.al places of its growth are the Burmese territories, a large province on the Malabar coast called the _Concan_, and the forests skirting the northern parts of Bengal, under the hills which divide it from Nepaul, the south and west coasts of Ceylon, the south of China, &c., the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and the Eastern islands, it produces fruit at five years old, and continues bearing till about its twenty-fifth year, when it withers and dies. It thrives at a greater distance from the sea, and in more elevated regions than the coco-nut palm. In Prince of Wales Island some hundreds of thousands of these palms are cultivated.

The seeds or nuts form a chief ingredient in the celebrated eastern masticatory called Pan and which seems to owe its stimulating properties to the leaves of the _Piper Betel_. When prepared for use, the nut is cut into slices and wrapped in the fresh leaves of the betel pepper vine, together with a quant.i.ty of quicklime (_Chunam_) to give it a flavor. The flavor is peculiar, between an herbaceous and an aromatic taste.

All cla.s.ses, male and female, chew it; they say it sweetens the breath, strengthens the stomach, and preserves the teeth, to which it gives a reddish hue; there is probably less objection to its use than tobacco or opium, and its taste is more pleasant; but, if taken to excess, it will produce stupor like other narcotics, and even intoxication. The nuts grow in large bunches at the top, and when ripe are red and have a beautiful appearance; they resemble the nutmeg in shape and color, but are larger and harder. When gathered they are laid in heaps until the sh.e.l.l be somewhat rotted, and then dried in the sun, after which the process of sh.e.l.ling commences. The trees vary in their yield from 300 to 1,000 nuts, averaging about 14 lbs.; which the cultivators sell at about half a dollar (2s.) a picul of 133 lbs.

As these palms are planted usually at the distance of 7 feet, it follows that the produce of an acre is about 10,841 lbs. The tree bears but once in a year generally, but there are green nuts enough to eat all the year long. Betel nut is a staple article of import into China; 25,000 piculs annually is the amount returned, but there is an immense quant.i.ty imported in Chinese junks from Hainan, of which there is no account kept. In the single port of Canton alone, 15,565 piculs were imported in 1844, and about 400 to Ningpo. 3,005 piculs of betel nuts, valued at 8,700 dollars, were imported into Canton in 1850, and as much as 4,000 tons of areca nuts are shipped annually from Ceylon.

The astringent extract obtained from the seeds of the Areca-palm const.i.tutes two (or perhaps more) kinds of the catechu of the shops.

According to Dr. Heyne ("Tracts Hist. and Statist. on India"), it is largely procured in Mysore, about Sirah, in the following manner:--

The nuts are taken as they come from the tree and boiled for some hours in an iron vessel. They are then taken out, and the remaining water is insp.i.s.sated by continual boiling. This process furnishes Ka.s.su, or most astringent terra j.a.ponica, which is black and mixed with paddy criu, husks, and other impurities. After the nuts are dried, they are put into a fresh quant.i.ty of water, boiled again; and this water being insp.i.s.sated, like the former, yields the best or dearest kind of catechu, called c.o.o.ny. It is yellowish brown, has an earthy fracture, and is free from the admixture of foreign bodies.

Most of the betel nuts imported into China come from Java, Singapore, and Pinang. Betel nut is not so generally used in the South of China as among the Southern Islands, and in the north of China it is a luxury, as the pepper does not grow freely there. Formerly there was a considerable trade in betel nuts with the Coromandel coast, from whence the natives brought back manufactured goods and other necessaries in return, but this has ceased for some time. The common price was 20,000 for a dollar. These nuts are seldom imported into England, though they might be of use as a dye in some manufactures.

The natives of the East chew the fruit of _Elate sylvestris_, (which is something like a wild plum), in the same manner as the areca nut, with the leaf of the betel pepper and quick lime.

The inner wood furnishes a kind of _Catechu_ or _Cutch_, which contains much tannin and is a powerful astringent. It is obtained by the simple process of boiling the heart of the wood for a few hours, when it a.s.sumes the appearance and consistency of tar. It hardens by cooling, and when formed into small squares and dried in the sun is fit for the market.

The produce of Bombay is of uniform texture and of a dark red color.

That of Concan and other parts of India is of chocolate color, and marked inside with red streaks.

The a.n.a.lysis of Sir H. Davy gave the following result:--

Bombay. Concan.

Tannin 54.5 48.5 Extractive 34.0 36.5 Mucilage 6.5 8.0 Insoluble matters, sand, lime, &c. 5.0 7.0 ----- ----- 100. 100.

Catechu is in extensive use in India for tanning purposes, and of late years it has entirely superseded madder in the calico works of Europe for dyeing a golden coffee-brown, one pound of catechu being found equivalent to six pounds of madder.

Value of the areca nuts exported from Ceylon to the British Colonies and foreign States in the years named:--

1839 22,956 1840 23,096 1841 22,428 1842 29,222 1843 27,028 1844 20,978 1845 31,836 1846 34,209 1847 35,723 1848 42,482 1849 31,746 1850 42,907 1851 54,846 1852 52,230

THE POPPY.

OPIUM is the concrete insp.i.s.sated juice of the white poppy, _Papaver somniferum_ and its varieties, obtained by scratching the capsules and collecting the exuding juice. The plant has been long known, and is perhaps one of the earliest described. It is a native of Western Asia and probably also of the South of Europe, but it has been distributed over various countries.

In 1826 the imports of opium into the United Kingdom were 79,829 lbs., of which 28,329 lbs. were consumed in this country. The imports and consumption in subsequent years are shown by the following figures:--

Imports. Consumption.

lbs. lbs.

1827 113,140 17,322 1830 209,076 22,668 1833 106,846 35,407 1836 130,794 38,943 1839 196,247 41,682 1842 72,373 47,432 1845 259,644 38,229 1848 200,019 61,055 1819 105,724 44,177 1850 126,318 42,324 1851 118,024 50,682 1852 205,780 62,521

Few who have not looked into the statistics of this trade, are aware of the enormous consumption of opium all over the world, but chiefly in China and India.

In 1845, 18,792 chests of opium were sent from Calcutta to China, and nearly the same number of the Malwa opium from Bombay and Damaun. The total production of India exported to China, in 1844, was 21,526 chests from Bengal, and 18,321 from Bombay, in all 39,847 chests. The number of persons in China given to the consumption of opium was estimated, in 1837, at three millions, and the average quant.i.ty smoked by each individual is about 17 grains a day. The consumption of Indian opium (independent of Turkey opium) in China has gradually increased from 3,210 chests in 1817, to 9,969 chests in 1827, and about 40,000 chests in 1837, valued at 25,000,000 dollars. Now it has reached 50,000 to 60,000 chests. Notwithstanding severe penalties, imprisonment, temporary banishment, and even death, the number of those who smoke opium has multiplied exceedingly, and the contraband trade in the drug is carried on to so large an extent, that it is to be feared the practice will become general throughout the empire.

According to Mr. E. Thornton's statistics, the production of opium in Bengal has increased cent. per cent. in the last ten years:--

Chests.

1840-41 17,858 1841-42 18,827 1842-43 18,362 1843-44 15,104 1844-45 18,350 1845-46 21,437 1846-47 21,648 1847-48 30,515 1848-49 36,000

The chest is about 140 lbs., so that the production in 1849 was 5,040,000 lbs.

According to the statements annexed to the statistical papers relating to India, the income from the opium monopoly is obtained by two princ.i.p.al means, namely, by a system of allowing the cultivation of the poppy by the natives of British India on account of Government, and by the impost of a heavy duty on opium grown and manufactured in foreign states, but brought in transit to a British port for exportation. The former system obtains in Bengal, the latter in Bombay. According to the statements published, Bengal opium yields a profit of 7s. 6d. per lb., whilst the duty derived in the Bombay presidency is only equal to a surplus of 5s. 8d. per lb. By these means the total revenue realised by the opium monopoly, in Bengal and Bombay, in the year 1849-50 yielded 3,309,637.

Lest objection should be taken to this large annual revenue derived from the cultivation of a drug, the unnatural consumption of which would be suppressed under any other European government, the Court of Directors is very anxious to show the benefit which the country derives from this monopoly; they say "that as the price of opium is almost wholly paid by foreign consumers, and the largest return is obtained with the smallest outlay, the best interests of India would, appear to be consulted." n.o.body at all acquainted with the financial resources and the capabilities of any country, would hazard such an a.s.sertion. By paying cultivators for the restricted growth of the poppy a price hardly yielding more than the average rate of wages to the common laborer, I do not see in what way the best interests of India are consulted, nor is it clear that the population derives any benefit by being prohibited altogether from manufacturing a drug, which may be brought from another country _in transitu_ on the payment of a heavy duty; unless indeed the Court of Directors are of opinion that in the event of the abolition of the monopoly, the people of the country would have to make up for the loss of the revenue by submitting to some other mode of direct or indirect taxation. There is an inconsistency in the statements of the Court of Directors, which is absolutely amusing. "The free cultivation of the poppy," say the Directors, "would doubtless lead to the larger outlay of capital, and to greater economy in production; but the poppy requires the richest description of land, and its extended cultivation must therefore displace other products." How very considerate on the part of the Directors, but how strongly at variance with facts, since all the fear of displacing other products, and all this appropriation of the richest description of land for other purposes has not prevented the Indian Government, within less than ten years, from more than doubling the cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium. The Directors tell us that the heavy transit duty charged at Bombay is to discourage production, but they do not say whether that discouragement applies, as one would imagine, to those foreign districts which have to pay the transit duty for their production. If so, the a.s.sertion is again at variance with facts, because in a subsequent statement they say, "It is stated that neither the price of opium, nor the extent of cultivation in Malwa, has been affected by the great enhancement of the pa.s.s duty, which has taken place since 1845."

The following will show that the Company loses no opportunity of applying the screw:--

The subjugation of Scinde afforded opportunity for the levy of a higher rate. Down to the period of that event, a large portion of the opium of Malwa had been conveyed through Scinde to Kurrachee, and thence onward to the Portuguese ports of Diu and Demaun. That route is now closed, and it was reasonably expected that an advance might be made in the charge of pa.s.ses without the risk of loss to the revenue from a diminished demand for them. The rate was accordingly increased in October, 1843, from 125 to 200 rupees per chest. Upon the principle that it was desirable to fix the price at the highest amount that could be levied, without forcing the trade into other channels, a further increase was made in 1845. when it was determined that the charge should be 300 rupees per chest. Under the like views it was, in 1847, raised to 400 rupees per chest.

The company was perfectly correct, for though the quant.i.ty of opium did not increase, the revenue did; and whilst in 1840-41 16,773 chests yielded an income of only 22,046,452 rupees--16,500 chests brought in 1849-50 actually 72,094,835 rupees into the coffers of the Government of Bombay. But the people of India earned not a pice by it, and those richest descriptions of land, which it was so desirable to reserve for other produce than the poppy, remained barren.

The white variety of the poppy is that which is exclusively brought under cultivation for the production of the drug in India and Egypt.

For the successful culture of opium a mild climate, plentiful irrigation, a rich soil, and diligent husbandry are indispensable. One acre of well cultivated ground will yield from 70 lbs. to 100 lbs. of "chick," or insp.i.s.sated juice, the price of which varies from 6s. to 12s. a pound, so that an acre will yield from 20 to 60 worth of opium at one crop. Three pounds of chick will produce one pound of opium, from a third to a fifth of the weight being lost in evaporation. A chief chemical feature, which distinguishes Bengal opium from that of Turkey and Egypt, is the large proportion which the narcotine in the former bears to the morphia, and this proportion is constant in all seasons. It is a matter of importance to ascertain whether the treatment which the juice receives after its collection can influence in any way the amount of alkaloids, or of the other principles in opium. In Turkey it is the custom to beat up the juice with saliva, in Malwa it is immersed as collected in linseed oil, whilst in Bengal it is brought to the required consistence by mere exposure to the air in the shade, though, at the same time, all the watery particles of the juice that will separate are drained off, and used in making _Lewah_, or inferior opium.

The lands selected for poppy cultivation are generally situated in the vicinity of villages, where the facilities for manuring and irrigation are greatest. In such situations and when the soil is rich, it is frequently the practice with the cultivators to take a crop of Indian corn, maize, or vegetables off the ground during the rainy season, and after the removal of this in September, to dress and manure the ground for the subsequent poppy sowings. In other situations, however, and when the soil is not rich, the poppy crop is the only one taken off the ground during the year, and from the commencement of the rains in June or July, until October, the ground is dressed and cleaned by successive ploughings and weedings, and manured to the extent which the means of the cultivator will permit. In the final preparation of the land in October and November, the soil, after being well loosened and turned up by the plough, is crushed and broken down by the pa.s.sage of a heavy log of wood over its surface, and it is in this state ready for sowing.

The amount of produce from various lands differs considerably. Under very favorable circ.u.mstances of soil and season, as much as twelve or even thirteen seers (26 lbs.) of standard opium may be, obtained from each biggah of 27,225 square feet. "Under less favorable conditions the turn-out may not exceed three or four seers, but the usual amount of produce varies from six to eight seers per biggah.

The chemical examination of different soils in connection with their opium-producing powers, presents a field for profitable and interesting inquiry; nor is the least important part of the investigation that which has reference to variations in the proportions of the alkaloids (especially the morphia and narcotine), which occur in opium produced in various localities. That atmospheric causes exert a certain influence in determining these variations is probable; that they influence the amount of produce, and cause alterations in the physical appearance of the drug, are facts well known to every cultivator: thus the effect of dew is to facilitate the flow of the juice from the wounded capsule, rendering it abundant in quant.i.ty, but causing it at the same time to be dark and liquid. An easterly wind (which in India is usually concomitant with a damp state of atmosphere), r.e.t.a.r.ds the flow of juice, and renders it dark and liquid. A moderate westerly wind, with dew at night, form the atmospheric conditions most favorable for collection, both as regards the quant.i.ty and quality of the exudation. If, however, the westerly wind (which is an extremely dry wind) blow violently, the exudation from the capsules is sparing. Whilst the effect of meteorological phenomena in producing the above results are well marked, their action in altering the relative proportions of the chemical const.i.tuents of the juice of the poppy plant is more obscure, and it is highly probable that the chemical composition of the soil plays a most important part in this respect. Dr. O'Shaughnessy is certainly the most accomplished chemist who had ever, in India, turned his attention to the subject, and he has published the results of his a.n.a.lyses of specimens of opium from the different divisions of the Behar Agency, which are worthy of much attention. In the opium from eight divisions of the agency, he found the quant.i.ty of morphia to range from 1 grains to 3 grains per cent., and the amount of the narcotine to vary from grain to 3 grains per cent., the consistence of the various specimens being between 75 and 79 per cent. In the opium from the Hazareebaugh district (the consistence of the drug being 77), he found 4 per cent, of morphia, and 4 per cent, narcotine; whilst from a specimen of Patna-garden opium he extracted no less than 10 per cent.

of morphia, and 6 per cent. of narcotine, the consistence of the drug being 87. With respect to the last specimen, Dr. O'Shaughnessy mentions that the poppies which produced it were irrigated three times during the season, and that no manure was employed upon the soil. It is much to be regretted that these interesting results were not coupled with an a.n.a.lysis of the soils from which the specimens were produced, for to chemical variations in it must be attributed the widely different results recorded above.

Opium as a medicine has been used from the earliest ages; but when it was first resorted to as a luxury, it is impossible to state, though it is not at all improbable that this was coeval with its employment in medicine, for how often do we find that, from having been first administered as a sedative for pain, it has been continued until it has taken the place of the evil. Such must have happened from the earliest ages, as it happens daily in the present; but as a national vice it was not known until the spread of Islamism, when, by the tenets of the Prophet, wine and fermented liquors being prohibited, it came in their stead along with the bang or hasch-schash (made from hemp), coffee, and tobacco. From the Arabs the inhabitants of the Eastern Archipelago most probably imbibed their predilection for opium, although their particular manner of using it has evidently been derived from the Chinese. China, where at present it is so extensively used, cannot be said to have indulged long in the vice. Previous to 1767 the number of chests imported did not exceed 200 yearly; now the average is 50,000 to 60,000. In 1773 the East India Company made their first venture in opium, and in 1796 it was declared a crime to smoke opium.