In the land of the lion and sun, or, modern Persia

by C. J. Wills

It is first spread perpendicularly, then horizontally, just as in old days medical men used to spread a blister; it is done with great rapidity and exactness. As each plank is covered it is placed on end in the strong sun, and when sufficiently dry, scraped off for rolling into cakes. If the opium be very moist, or the sun weak, this has to be done many times.

The washings of the pots and utensils are carefully boiled down that nothing may be lost, and after many weighings and much manipulation, the opium, in theory absolutely pure, is made into pound cakes, generally the shape and appearance of a squared penny bun of large size, each weighing exactly one pound. The cakes are varnished with some of the liquor or a composition, having in the case where I was present been stamped with a seal bearing the name of the makers.

Each cake, after it is thoroughly dry, is wrapped in a sheet of clean paper, folded as a neat parcel and packed in chests. The tax on each chest is heavy, and as the duty is levied per chest and not per pound, a small profit may be made by having light cases and making them hold, by careful packing, a little more. The cases are marked, sewn up in hides, or, still better, dammered, i. e. packed in tarpaulin.

The preparation is an anxious time, as the workpeople will steal the opium if they can, and it is very portable. Opium is also made up with oil in masses for the Chinese market and in round cakes packed in poppy refuse to simulate Turkish, but this manœuvre is not adopted by the English firm, who attempt by great care in the manipulation, and by only buying of the respectable among the farmers, to prevent anything but pure Persian opium being sold under their brand.

Of course the smaller native makers try every means in their power to increase the weight by fraudulent additions—starch even has been employed—but these specimens often betray their admixture by a peculiar appearance or fracture, and defeat their object—often indeed bearing their own punishment by being unsaleable, save at a loss. At the time I saw the manufacture, Persian opium of the best quality was selling in London at sixteen shillings a pound.

Large quantities of opium are consumed in the country. Almost three-fourths of the aged, of both sexes, are in the habit of taking from half a grain upwards, three times a day. And I am unable to state that the moderate use of opium by the aged or those travelling is attended with any ill effects. Of course the abuse of opium is well known for its terrible results.

The “teriakdan,” or opium pill-box, is in as common use in Persia as the snuff-box was in England. The pills are usually about one grain in weight, and mostly contain spices to the extent of one half. But I have occasionally seen pills of five grains in weight of purest opium—indeed, one of my patients, who was an opium-eater, used to take seven such pills in the twenty-four hours!

The Prince-Governor kindly placed at my disposal the rooms in the town that had been previously occupied by Dr. Pollak, the king’s physician, as a dispensary, and I saw many patients among the very poor there; but as these rooms were over the public prison, of course no respectable people, particularly women, would come. So after some months I engaged rooms looking into the great bazaar over the door of the principal caravanserai, the caravanserai Mokhliss. Here for two tomans (eighteen shillings) a month I had three handsome rooms, a servant’s room, and a kitchen; and three times a week I saw patients. As a rule the attendance was gratuitous, though some few of the wealthier paid a fee.

A curious instance of Persian would-be smartness was shown here. A baker in the neighbourhood had suffered from cataract, and had come to me for relief. I had been happily successful, and to my satisfaction had restored sight to both eyes. For this I was rewarded with the sum of four pounds, and as the man was a thriving tradesman and well to do, I thought him the obliged party; but he regretted the four pounds.

One day, as I was sitting in the dispensary surrounded by a crowd of sick and their friends and relatives, a melancholy procession entered the room. The baker, with a rag of a different colour over each eye, and a huge white bandage round his head, was led, or rather supported, into the apartment; and on my expressing astonishment, his relatives informed me that his sight was quite gone through my unfortunate treatment; and that he had come to get his four pounds back, and any compensation for the loss of his eyes that I might be pleased to make would be thankfully accepted.