My feast is now of the Tooba tree,[19]
Whose scent is the breath of eternity.”
Moore’sLalla Rookh.
That opium is the milky juice of the capsules of a species of poppy, evaporated by exposure to light and air, is a fact so well known, as scarce to require repetition. This species of poppy contains two well marked varieties, the black and the white, a circumstance noticed by Hippocrates long enough ago. The black variety derives its name from the colour of its seeds. The original home of the poppy is Asia and Egypt. But it is extensively cultivated for the sake of its juice in British India, Persia, Egypt, and Asia Minor, and might be cultivated, were it more remunerative, in England, France, and Germany, where good samples of opium have been obtained experimentally. Dr. Royle states that the black variety is cultivated in the Himalayas, but generally the white is preferred. The poppy is grown in Europe for the sake of the capsules and seed: from the latter a mild oil is extracted.
The cultivation of the poppy in British India is confined chiefly to the large Gangetic tract, about six hundred miles in length, and two hundred miles in depth, extending from Goruckpore in the north to Hazareebaugh in the South; and from Dingepore in the East, to Agra in the West. This extent of country contains the two agencies of Behar and Benares, the former sending to the market about treble the quantity of the latter. In the Benares agency, there are about 21,500 cultivators, and the total number of under cultivators of the opium poppy 106,147.
After all the preliminaries of preparing the land, sowing, and cultivating the plant, all of which are much more interesting to the parties concerned than ourselves, if all goes well, the whole field of poppies presents a sheet of white bloom, which generally occurs about the month of February. When nearly ready to fall, the white petals are gathered, and made into circular cakes; these are preserved to form the outer coverings of the balls of opium. In a few days after the “leaves” of the flower are collected, the capsules or poppy heads are ready for operation. At from three to four o’clock in the afternoon, individuals go into the fields and scratch or cut the poppy heads with iron instruments called “nushturs.” This instrument consists of three or four thin narrow strips of iron, about six inches in length, and about the thickness and width of a penknife at one end, but extending in width to nearly an inch at the opposite extremity, where it is deeply notched. These plates are bound together by means of thread, each plate being kept a little distance from its neighbour by means of thread passed between them. Thus completed, it has the appearance of a scarificator with four parallel blades. This instrument, which has the angles sharpened, has one of its sets of points drawn down the poppy capsule from top to bottom, or rather upwards from the base to the summit, making three or four parallel incisions, corresponding to the number of blades in the poppy head. These only pass through the outer coating or pericarp. Each capsule is scarified from two to six times, according to its size, two or three days intervening between each operation. In Asia Minor, a different course is pursued. One horizontal incision is made nearly round the capsule, with a single blade. After the scarification of the capsules, the juice exudes and thickens on them during the night, which is collected early the next morning, by means of little iron instruments called “seetooahs,” and which resemble small concave trowels. When sufficient is collected into the trowel, it is emptied into an earthen pot which the collector carries at his side.
When all the opium is collected which the plants will yield, the capsules are gathered and broken, and the seed preserved for the extraction of their oil. Of these seeds comfits are also made resembling carraway comfits, and, without doubt, great comforts they are to naked little squalling Hindoos whenever they can be obtained. After the extraction of the oil, the dry cake, called Khari, is either made into unleavened cakes for the very indigent, or cattle are fed upon them, or when necessity requires, it is converted into poultices after the manner of linseed meal.
In poor districts, where the people cannot afford the luxury of opium, the broken capsules are made into a decoction and drank instead, says Mr. Impey. This liquid is termed “post,” from the Persian name of the capsule. There is also another use for the capsules. They are ground into fine powder, and sold under the name of “boosa,” and sprinkled over the buttees of opium to prevent their adhesion. In the Benares agency, the stems and leaves, when perfectly dry, are collected and crushed into a coarse powder called “poppy trash” which is employed in packing the opium cakes.
One acre of well-cultivated ground will yield from 70 to 100 lbs. of “chick” or inspissated juice, the price of which varies from six shillings to twelve shillings per pound; so that an acre will yield from twenty to sixty pounds 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.
When freshly collected, the mass of juice is of a pinkish colour. This is placed in shallow vessels to drain. A coffee-coloured liquid, called “pussewah,” is drained off, which is used to cement the poppy-leaves round the cakes of opium, under the name of lewah. After exposure to the air in the Benares agency, the opium is made up into balls. In Turkey it is the custom to beat up the juice with saliva. In Malwa it is immersed as collected in linseed oil. In Benares it is brought to the required consistence by exposure in the shade only.