Wound up, and hung the boughs with greener wreaths,
And clusters not their own.”
M. Rouyer, of the Egyptian Commission, says, with the leaves and tops, collected before ripening, the Egyptians prepare a conserve, which serves as the base of the berch, the diasmouk, and the bernaouy. Hemp leaves reduced to powder and incorporated with honey or stirred with water, constitute the berch of the poorer classes.
Dr. Livingstone found hemp in use among the natives of Southern Africa under the name of mutokuane.
With the Hottentots it is known as Dacha, and another plant used for similar purposes among them is called the wild Dagga or Dacha. The use of hemp as a narcotic appears to be very general in all parts of Africa.
The D’amba possesses numerous native titles, but it is only understood by those distinctive terms which the negroes give it in their respective countries. By the people of Ambriz and Musula it is pronounced as D’yambah, while to the various races in Kaffraria, it is more generally known under the Hottentot name of Dakka or Dacha. This plant is extensively cultivated by the Dongós, Damarás, and other tribes to the southward of Benguela. Among the Ambundas or aborigines of Angola, the dried plant is duly appreciated, not only for its narcotic effects, but likewise on account of some medicinal virtues which it has been reputed to enjoy. The markets of St. Paul de Loanda are mostly supplied from the Dongós, and other adjacent tribes, and from St. Salvador, and the towns in the vicinity of Upper Kongo.
The mode in which it is prepared for sale, consists in carefully separating from the leaves and seeds, the larger stalks, retaining only the smaller stems, which are compressed into a conical mass, varying from two to four inches in diameter, and from one to two feet in length, the whole being covered by some dried vegetable, firmly secured by thin withes. The substance thus manufactured is ordinarily employed for the purpose of smoking, and is endowed with powerful stimulant and intoxicating principles, consequently it is proportionately prized by those nations who are familiar with those peculiar qualities, and is probably viewed more in the light of a luxury owing to the absence of all other sources of excitement, for which, perhaps, it was the only available substitute.
The Zulu Kaffirs and Delagoans of the South Eastern Coast use it under the same or like names. Amongst the former the herb is powdered and used as snuff. The true tobacco is known amongst them, and is grown to a certain extent, but the use of hemp both for smoking and snuffing, is far more common. Perhaps, requiring less cultivation, it suits best their indolent habits.
The most eminent of the Persian and Arabian authors refer the origin of hemp intoxication to the natives of Hindostan. But few traces, however, of its early use can be found in any part of India.
In the “Rajniguntu,” a treatise on materia medica, the date of which is vaguely estimated at about six hundred years ago, there is a clear account of this drug. The names under which it is there known are, “Bijoya,” “Ujoya,” and “Joya,” meaning promoters of success; “Brijputta,” or the strengthener; “Chapola,” the causer of a reeling gait; “Ununda,” or the laughter-moving; “Hursini,” the exciter of sexual desire.