“But,” remarked van Beneden, “Kaligaweh probably forms an exception.”
“Not by any means,” rejoined Verstork, testily; “during my official career I have been stationed in several residencies, and I venture to affirm that, as far as opium is concerned, their condition is much the same as that in Santjoemeh. You will find hundreds of dessas in the island like Kaligaweh.”
“I suppose,” put in Grenits, “we must except the Preanger districts?”
“Oh yes, certainly,” assented Verstork, “the use of opium is altogether forbidden there.”
“And does that work well?”
“Excellently,” said Verstork.
“That is, I have no doubt,” asked Grashuis, “a tentative measure on the part of the Government which, if it succeeds, will be extended to the whole of Java?”
“Not at all,” replied Verstork. “In the first place the prohibition has been in force too long to be merely tentative for it dates back as far as 1824; and then, in the next, it was not at all adopted with the view of checking the abuse of opium; but merely because it was feared that the people would take to coffee-stealing in order to be able to satisfy their craving.”
“Come,” said van Rheijn, “that is not at all a bad idea.”
“Is it possible,” exclaimed Grashuis, “to conceive a more cynical confession of the fact that opium demoralises the people?”