CHAPTER VI. PREPARATION OF THE RAW DRUGS FROM THE CULTIVATED AND WILD PLANT.

220. The preparation of the finest sort of ganja is a somewhat laborious process, and requires skill and knowledge. For a full description of the preparation of flat, round, and chur ganja in the Ganja Mahal, the reader is referred to Babu Hem Chunder Kerr's report. Dr. Prain has given a shorter account of it. It must be remembered that the terms flat," round,' and chur' are peculiar to the Bengal manufacture and excise system. Their exact meaning is rarely understood outside the province. The more important details of the processes may be briefly noticed.
Bright sunny weather is essential to the best manufacture. The crop does not all come to maturity at the same time, and the plants must be manipulated within three or four days of maturity, or they become useless. These conditions have to be borne in mind in arranging for the manufacture, and it would seem that the plants have sometimes to be gathered before they are full ripe. The plants are cut in batches, as many as can be handled, by the available labour and means in three days. The Kkasia plants are left standing, or, if gathered by mistake, are rejected in selecting the portions of the plant to be worked up.

221. The manufacture of flat ganja takes three days, and is carried out on a piece of ground near the field which has been specially levelled for the purpose, and is called the chafor or khola. The number of plants handled in each three-days' operations is usually about fifty or sixty. The first day the plants are cut in the morning, brought to the manufacturing ground, and spread out in the sun till the afternoon. They are then cut up one by one into lengths of about one or two feet. Those having flower spikes upon them are retained, and the rest is thrown away. The portions selected are spread out in the dew for the night.
The work of the second day begins at noon. It consists in alternately pressing and drying the crop and getting rid of useless leaf and seed. The branches are piled by bundles of five or ten, flower spikes inwards and overlapping, in a circular heap about four feet in diameter. The workmen tread this down, moving round upon it and supporting one another. Bundles are added from time to time till the heap is about two feet high. A mat is then placed over the heap, and the men sit or place weights upon it. After half an hour of the pressure the pile is unstacked, the bundles are taken off and beaten together over a mat to shake out seeds and leaf. The heap is again built exactly as before, the upper layers of the previous heap being put at the bottom of this, and the processes of treading, pressing, unstacking, and beating are repeated. The bundles are now laid out side by side on mats and trodden individually, the workman holding the stem ends with one foot while he passes the other foot downwards over the flower. The bundles are turned and beaten against the mat during this process. When it is complete, they have been reduced in size, and consist of four or five twigs each. They are then laid in slanting position over a pole on the ground, and left for the night.
The third day's work begins in the early morning. The twigs are separated, and again piled in bundles in the same circular form as before, trodden for a short
while, and covered up. Work is resumed at 10 A.M. The heap is unstacked and the bundles are carefully handled to remove leaf. They are then laid out in rows and trodden. During this process they are turned over, and at intervals the sun is allowed to play upon them. They are then handled again and gently beaten, and spread out more completely than before. Those that have retained an undue quantity of leaf are stood up in the sun. The last process is to press the twigs individually with the feet in the way already described. The manufacture is now complete. The flower spikes have been pressed into flat masses, and the leaf and seeds have been as far as possible removed. In the larger specimens the branches stand out from the stem and one another, the whole being quite flattened. The twigs are gathered into bundles of two standard sizes—a certain quantity of large twigs in the one and of small twigs in the other. This is called fiat or chapta ganja.

222. The manufacture of round ganja is not completed till the fourth day after the plants are cut. The plants are gathered somewhat later in the day and laid out under the open sky for the night. The sorting is done the next morning, a great deal more of the woody portion being rejected than in the case of flat ganja. The twigs are laid out in the sun till noon, when the men return to the chator and rolling is begun. A horizontal bar is lashed on to uprights about four feet from the ground, and mats are placed on the ground on each side of it. Bundles of twigs, either tied together by the stem ends or not, according to the skill of the treader, are set out on the mats. The men range themselves on each side of the bar, and, holding on to it for support, proceed to roll the bundles with their feet. One foot is used to hold the bundle and the other to roll it, working down from the stems to the flower heads. This process goes on for about ten minutes, and during it the bundles are taken up and shaken from time to time to get rid of leaf. The bundles are then broken up and the twigs exposed to the sun. A second but shorter course of rolling by foot follows, and then the twigs are hand-pressed, four or five together. After this the twigs are opened up and exposed to the sun again. Towards evening the twigs are made into bundles of about one hundred, and placed on mats and covered up for the night.
The next morning the bundles are untied and the twigs again exposed to the sun. If they are sufficiently dry by midday, they only require a little handling and rolling to complete the manufacture. If they are not dry enough, the first course of rolling has to be repeated, after which the useless leaves fall off with a very little manipulation. The twigs are next sorted according to length and tied into bundles of three descriptions--short, medium, and long. In this process all useless twigs and sticks are eliminated. The bundles are placed in rows under a mat which is kept down by a bamboo, and left for the night. The manufacture is completed the next day by exposing the bundles to the sun, heads upwards, till the afternoon, and then searching them with hands and bits of stick for any leaves that may have remained in them. These are shaken out, and with them pieces of the compressed flower heads, which have been accidentally broken off, fall on to the mats.

223. Babu Hem Chunder Kerr writes that when the preparation of the round ganja is carried out by the dealer who has bought the standing crop, much more care is taken to reject stick and inferior flower head than when the cultivator is the manufacturer. The round drug is the superior product, and contains much less useless matter than the flat. But it is plain that in both cases the process of manufacture in Bengal is technical and elaborate, and this is the point which it is desired to bring into strong relief. It may be noted that occasionally, when the weather is unfavourable, the drying is effected 4 fire, with the result that the ganja is discolored and reduced in market value.

224. Dr. Prain describes the purposes which are served by the above processes : " The drying process (a) removes the watery juices of the plants, and thus not only reduces its weight as an excisable article, but removes to a considerable extent the risk of mould ; (b) causes the comparatively inert small leaves to shrivel, and so makes their removal more easy. The kneading process (a) removes more or less completely the comparatively inert leaves, still further reducing the weight. The article produced, being for its bulk more active in proportion to the absence of leaves, the more thoroughly they are removed, the better a sale does it command ; (b) it presses together the resinous parts on which the active principle is most plentifully deposited. These being rendered somewhat sticky by the presence of the resin become more or less agglutinated, and are thus less liable to fall off in transit, and so reduce the active power of the ganja." And he discusses these principles with some care. The Commission would have been inclined to attribute a great part of the importance of the kneading process to its effect in shutting out the access of air to the interior of the ganja masses, and so tending to delay their deterioration.

225. It has been seen that a great quantity of stick, leaf, and seed, and not a little flower head, have been separated from the bundles of prepared ganja. The stick may be used as fuel. The leaf is winnowed from the seed and thrown away, though it has been proved by analysis to contain the narcotic principle in larger quantity than ordinary bhang. But it cannot be ascertained that it is used as bhang. The seeds are kept for the next year's culture, and the superfluity may find its way into the market. The seeds are not narcotic, and they are sometimes eaten, besides being used for the expression of oil and other purposes. The bits of flower head are, in the case of flat ganja, picked up and pressed into the mass of the flower heads again or burnt. The latter will probably depend on the vigilance of the Government supervisors. In the case of round ganja, they form the " chur " or " fragments " on which the excise tariff imposes the highest duty, because in that state the drug is absolutely free of leaf and stick.

226. Bhang as recognized by the Excise Department is the dried leaf of the wild plant. The drug that enters the Bengal golas is collected chiefly in the districts of Bhagalpur, Monghyr, and Purnea. But the bhang of Patna, Benares, and Behar is also spoken of as being of high quality. The preparation consists simply in drying the leaves. The plants are cut in April, the Chaitra Sankranti being considered an auspicious as well as a seasonable day, but the gathering goes on up to June and July. They are laid out in the sun, and one day may be sufficient to dry them so as to allow the leaves to be shaken or beaten off. The leaves are collected with precautions against the mixture of dust or dirt, packed in bags, and so conveyed to the local Bola, and eventually to the shops. The early flowering stage would seem to be that in which the plant yields the best bhang.
From the manner of collection and manufacture, plants of both sexes and also some flower heads must enter into the product. It is stated by one witness that the seed is as far as possible separated and rejected. This is probably correct. Another states that " wild bhang is collected by the people in Bhagalpur, Monghyr, and Purnea districts in two forms—one consisting of dried leaves and small stalks, and the other of the flowering shoots ; this latter not to a great extent." This appears to refer to the collection for home consumption, and not that by the licensed dealers for sale. The flowering shoots here referred to are probably the female flower heads, in which there is reason to suppose the resin is occasionally secreted in more than the usual quantity, even when the plant is uncultivated.
Bhang is gathered from the spontaneous growth for home use wherever that growth is found. There is considerable conflict of opinion as to the extent of the practice. The Commission are inclined to accept Mr. Gupta's view that " the use of untaxed bhang is general," and that, among the rural population at least, the consumers collect the drug for themselves whenever the plant is at hand. Looking to the prevalence of the wild growth over a great part of Bengal, and the absence of any technicality in the preparation of the raw article, any other view would require to be supported by strong evidence. The leaf is for the most part simply dried ; but Mr. Jenkins, Collector of Dacca, reports that he has been told of a more costly process, which consists in the leaf being boiled in milk and water after being sun-dried, and again dried for storage. This is confirmed by a pleader of Dinajpur, who professes to know the method of preparation of bhang from the wild plant. He says, probably confusing the sexes, that the female plant is generally used, though the male may be also, and that "after the leaves are dried for some time, they are boiled in a mixture of from lo to 25 per cent. of milk and go to 75 per cent. of water. After drying the leaves once again, they are fit for use as siddhi or bhang." It is, however, certain that this practice is uncommon, and that simple drying is the method by which bhang is almost universally prepared for keeping.

227. It has already been suggested that ganja can be got from the wild plant.
The question is important, and must be examined in some detail at- the risk of the discussion appearing elementary to many readers. It has been shown that the plant is not wild in the exact sense of the word, and for present purposes this fact must be emphasized. The plant is not only an old escape from cultivation, but its tendency to revert to the uniform characters of a wild species is being constantly checked by contact with cultivation. Its association with man frequently supplies it with the richest kinds of food, and with all vegetation this tends to the development of abnormal characters. The generative functions may thus be affected to the extent of partial or even complete destruction in individual plants or groups of plants, and these may be of either sex. It is possible also for the female plant to be secluded in a variety of other ways. The experience of, cultivation justifies the presumption that if the female plant in healthy growth is prevented from freely developing its seed, its flower spike will be highly resinous. There appears therefore to be a strong probability a priori that the spontaneous growth quite untended should often produce a flower head which can be converted into ganja. Evidence is not wanting to corroborate this conclusion, for it speaks of wild ganja being collected and smoked ; but it is impossible to pronounce positively with regard to any of it that the plants from which the ganja was gathered was altogether innocent of cultivation or tending.

228. The quality of this evidence may be judged from the following references. It leaves no doubt that many people are able to distinguish the plants of different sexes in the spontaneous growth, calling them by the names of ganja and bhang, and recognize the more narcotic character of the female or ganja plant, sometimes preserving it for the purpose of smoking. The Assistant to the Director of Land Records and Agriculture, when enquiring regarding the spontaneous growth in Bhagalpur and Purnea, observed that a few ,selected plants, mostly females, were not uncommonly left in the ground. He reports : " These acquire a nice bushy appearance not unlike that of the ganja-bearing plant. All this made me suspect that the people knew a great deal more about the bhang plant than they were willing to avow. I was told by several persons, among them a European gentleman who has long resided in North Bhagalpur, that bhang is often used to adulterate ganja." Abhilas Chandra Mukharji says : " Yata bhang (Sivajata bhang).—The flower of this kind of bhang is whitish ; it grows luxuriantly, and the plants are of a larger size than the ordinary wild ganja plants. The flowers resemble ganja flowers. The flowers and leaves agglutinate naturally, and look like Sivajata (cluster of hair of the god Siva, from which it derives its name). Its intoxicating properties are less than the Rajshahi ganja. The flowers are collected and smoked just like ganja. It grows along with other hemp plants rather scantily. It grows near Toke and in some parts of the Manikganj Sub-division of the Dacca district." He states again (9-23) that bhang is rarely smoked, and that only by • the lower and poorer classes ; that the part of the plant used for smoking is the sir-kali (leading flower spike), which is dried and preserved. Sosi Bhushan Roy says' after remarks which show that he has a very fair idea of what he is talking about : " It may also be supposed that hemp in its degenerated and wild condition becomes what we call bhang or siddhi. I have myself seen that such bhang plants as have a luxuriant growth bring forth leaves, which sometimes get matted together, and, if collected before inflorescence, might to some extent serve the purpose of ganja." Witness (82) states (answer 23) that the Nepalese prepare a crude sort of ganja which they call bhang, and this they always smoke, and (22) gives evidence to the same effect. Mr. Maguire (23), Officiating Collector of Khulna, writes : " A sort of ganja is prepared from the wild plant wherever grown, but, except when prepared from female hemp, it is very weak." The Collector of Bankura (to) reports the possibility of preparing ganja of very inferior quality from the wild plant. Babu Suresh Chunder Bal (69) says : " I think ganja can be prepared from that particular variety of the wild plant which is known to the people as the ganja plant." Bhuban Mohun Sanyal of Purnea (225) states : " I hear that ganja cannot be prepared from the hemp plant generally growing wild in the district. I have, however, heard that it can be prepared from a plant sometimes seen (though very rarely) growing wild and known as ganja plant." These are all good witnesses, though the evidence of some of them is based on inquiry and not personal observation. It is unlikely that they are talking of anything but the hemp plant, for it is very well known in India generally, and specially in Bengal and Northern India. The descriptions given by witnesses 63 and 196 pourtray the female hemp plant very clearly. It appears then that a very inferior but smokable ganja may occasionally be obtained from the spontaneous growth. The great majority of witnesses nevertheless state that ganja is not procured from the wild plants, and undoubtedly what is ordinarily accepted as ganja cannot be so obtained. There is no evidence that it undergoes any process after being gathered but simple drying.

229. The methods followed in the homestead cultivation of Bengal and the Tributary States of Orissa and Chota Nagpur have been described. Regarding the possibility of preparing ganja from the homestead cultivation of Bengal, the Sub-divisional Officer of Jangipur may be quoted. He writes : " I have seen ganja plants detected in Bhagalpur and Jangipur. From their twigs ganja as good in appearance as in Naogaon (the particular sub-division where ganja is cultivated under Government supervision) can be prepared, but it is alleged that the flavour is not so good as those grown in Naogaon." This cultivation is of course illegal in British territory, and it is probable that but little ganja is obtained from it. No information has been gathered as to any special care being taken in the preparation of it, and it is probable that the usual practice is simply to dry it.

230. In the Tributary States of Chota Nagpur and Orissa ganja is said to be  obtained from the wild as well as the cultivated plants, but the evidence points generally to the plant being more or less cultivated in all cases. There is evidence also that some care is taken in preparing the drug (ganja), and it is probable that the same or very similar practices prevail in both groups of States. Mr. Grimley's inquiry of 1890 gives some information on this subject. Sirguja reports : " The first leaves are plucked away, and from the second leaves the ganja and bhang are made ;" and again—;" When the leaves grow intertwined, they are used as ganja." Udaipur—" It is exposed to the dew during the night, and afterwards the plants are bundled and dried in the sun. After two or three days they become fit for use." Gangpur—" When the plants mature they are broken off with all their leaves and branches, and are kept wrapped up for some days in the leaves of a tree called klzair under straw." Bonai—" When the plants are ready, those that are intertwined are cut and dried and preserved, and while still soft are wrapped round with the bark of the plantain tree."
The present evidence furnishes no addition to this information from the Chota Nagpur States. But the District Officer of Angul in Orissa states that " when the tree is ripe and the leaves assume a yellowish colour, the plants are cut, tied into bundles, or rolled in a mat or gunny bag, and then placed under heavy weights for two or three days. Then it is taken out, exposed to dew, leaves and seeds are shaken off, and then it is dried and tied into bundles and stored. This makes flat ganja." It seems clear that by the use of the word " flat " the witness is not referring to the Rajshahi drug, but to that of the country of which he is speaking. Mr. Taylor (36), who has had a long experience of Orissa, but admits that his information on the particular point has been recently acquired, says that " the hemp heads are cut on the seeds ripening in November. The heads are tied in small bundles and sprinkled with lime water, and then alternately buried and exposed to the sun for two or three months, when the ganja is fit for use." He says in his oral examination : " The plants are buried for a week at a time without anything to protect them from contact with the earth."
These processes amount after all to little more than simple drying and removal of the coarser leaves. It is difficult to understand what purpose is served by the process of burying which Mr. Taylor describes, and it may be doubted if the description is accurate. The resulting product is far inferior to Rajshahi ganja. This has been amply proved by inquiries made in past years, in course of which the drugs were compared. The leaf bhang is prepared by simple drying, as in Bengal proper ; but it will be seen that the weak ganja of the Garhjat is largely consumed as drink.

231. The preparation of the drugs in Hill Tippera is certainly not more elaborate than that just described ; but no information on the subject has been furnished.

232. There is no evidence of charas being made in Bengal, though the resin is available in plenty in the cultivated plant of the Ganja Mahal, and in a less degree in other growth. This form of the drug is not appreciated in the province, and the absence of demand no doubt accounts for the art of manufacture not having grown up. An infinitesimal amount may be collected from the feet and hands of the operators in the ganja manufacture, but it is doubtful if this small supply is utilized.

233. The preparation of ganja and bhang is carried out by the cultivators and the servants of the bhang contractors respectively. The preponderance of Musalmans in the cultivation of ganja in the Ganja Mahal has been noticed. Beyond this it cannot be said that the preparation of the raw drugs is the business of any special class, unless it be that the Hindus from Behar and the North-Western Provinces, being in large proportion confirmed bhang drinkers, are those who also most commonly collect that drug for home consumption.

234. The dried tops of the wild hemp plant are used to some extent for smoking. But there is nothing to show that the article is prepared in any other way than by simple drying.
The extermination of the male plant in connection with the wild growth does not seem to be practised either in the valley or on the hills within and on the borders of the province. This is an essential preliminary to the preparation of the superior form of ganja. The dried tops make bhang which may be used for smoking or drinking. Excise ganja is known among the consumers as mohini bhang. The epithet mohini or fascinating is never applied to the wild product. There is no evidence that charas is prepared or even known in the province.

235. Mr. Stoker made special enquiries regarding the local production and preparation of ganja, and, as regards the extent of the practice, the results are given in a concise form in his memorandum. The evidence furnishes but few details of interest to add to his account. The cultivation of hemp for the production of ganja is not carried on openly. " The whole of the ganja offered for public sale is imported. At the same time it would be incorrect to say that ganja is nowhere grown or manufactured. Careful enquiry has elicited reports from several districts that a small amount of ganja is surreptitiously made." These are Mr. Stoker's words, and they exactly express the impression left by the evidence which the Commission have collected. No witness has given a detailed description of the method of preparation. Mr. Stoker received a report of the process in vogue in Ghazipur, which he says " closely resembles that employ. ed in Bengal." This is only corroborated by two or three witnesses to the extent that the ganja is put under pressure. Specimens of ganja from Ghazipur and Sultanpur were forwarded to the Commission, and Mr. Stoker's opinion is that the Ghazipur specimen was superior to the ordinary pathar ganja, and not much inferior to Bengal baluchar (flat). The other was much the same as pathar.

236. Regarding the preparation of ganja from the wild growth, Mr. Stoker has ascertained that the produce of the female plant is smoked in the Kheri and Bara Banki districts, and he says that there are indications of similar use in other districts. The evidence on this point is rather strong, and leads to the belief that wherever the plant is common as a wild growth, the poorer classes of consumers make use of it for smoking. The distinction between the male and female plants is well known, as Mr. Stoker states ; and some of the witnesses say that the plants are operated upon by twisting the stems to prevent flowering. The plants so treated must be the ganja or females, though that is not expressly stated in all cases. But witness (155) may be referred to, who states that bhang is the natural plant ; when it is twisted it is called ganja. A Deputy Collector (46) states that ganja can be prepared from wild female hemp plants if all the males are uprooted from their neighbourhood, and he is a witness who does not appear to be drawing on information he may have picked up regarding other provinces. It has been seen in connection with the cultivation that the advantage of isolating the females is known to some persons, the knowledge having been handed down from a time when ganja was openly cultivated, and it is difficult to believe that it should be confined to a very small number. The fakirs all over the country, who are mentioned as the principal secret cultivators, are certainly not ignorant on this point, and would disseminate the knowledge. The report of the Deputy Commissioner of Kheri, quoted by Mr. Stoker, that this art is not known, appears therefore to be open to doubt, or, if true, to be true only of the locality reported upon. The subject is probably one on which people are inclined to be reticent for the same reasons as actuated those of whom the Assistant to the Director of Land Records and Agriculture in Bengal made his enquiries. The rearing and tending of the hemp plant in the North-Western Provinces may not be illegal ; but there is plently of evidence that the people think it to be so, and that would be sufficient to make them cautious in giving information. There is no evidence that the ganja gathered from the wild plant is prepared by any other process than mere drying. Witness (202), a raiyat of the Kheri district, and (48), a Deputy Collector of Lucknow, state that the ganja plants are gathered in November and December. This would seem to refer to the higher lands. The season of growth on the low lands appears to be from December to June. It may be noted that Mr. Wall, a late ComMissioner of Excise, does not believe that ganja is produced by the wild plant, and that many other witnesses take the same view. The local production of ganja does not appear to have ever been so considerable, at least in recent years, as to attract the attention of Government in the Excise Department, and there is no reason to suppose that it has increased since it was suppressed in Oudh. The subject therefore is only of secondary importance.

237. Bhang is prepared by cutting and drying the plants, cultivated or wild, and shaking or beating out the leaves. This is done either by the contractors themselves, or by " residents of jungly tracts for sale to licensed vendors " (38). The districts where the cultivated bhang is produced have been named. The supply of wild bhang is drawn from various places in the belt of wild growth below the Himalayas. The gathering goes on from March to June. The zamindars on whose lands the plant grows appear to make some money by selling it to the contractors (247). Bhang is sometimes dried under straw or other covering, when it turns yellow, instead of retaining the green colour, which it does if dried in the sun (21, 248, 203). The object of this is not clear.

238. In these provinces charas is prepared to a small extent from the crops grown for fibre in the Himalayas, to a less extent from the Himalayan wild growth, and to a still smaller extent from the wild growth of the plains. A very small amount may even be prepared from the plants cultivated in a desultory way. The methods of preparing charas from the fibre plants are described by witness (49). The sujango or female plants, having been cut in November, are spread out to dry for twenty-four hours. The people then sit round in the heat of the day, and pluck off the flower heads, which are now full of seed, discarding.the coarser leaves. Each handful is rubbed between the palms for about ten minutes and thrown aside. In course of time a quantity of juice accumulates on the palms, which is scraped off and rolled into balls. These are charas. Sometimes the plants are trodden instead of handled, and the feet scraped. A more uncommon method, by which a choice kind of charas called chahar mulhi is obtained, is to pass the hands up the ripe plants while they are still standing in the field. This plan is not approved, the witness says, because it is supposed to damage the fibre. Other witnesses (21, 43) mention the practice of running through the crop or growth on a dewy morning, and scraping off the resin which adheres to the body. Witness (248) states that the resin, having been collected, is kneaded on hot stones ; but the acccunt of witness (49) that the process of manufacture ordinarily ceases with the making of the resin as scraped from the hands into balls is probably reliable.
There is a considerable amount of evidence and opinion that charas is prepared from wild plants. Witness (49) states that in a small area at an elevation of 8,000 feet called Urgum in Palli Talla Pamkhanda, which appears to be a pargana of Garhwal, the wild hemp is of superior quality. It grows near a temple of Siva, to which fact the people attribute its superiority. Charas is made from it by the common process of rubbing with the hands, and is given to fakirs and pilgrims to Kedarnath and Badrinath. Witness (232) speaks of the manufacture from the wild plants, and states that the leaves after the rubbing form ganja or bhang, which is used for drinking. Witness (43) deposes to the production of charas from the wild growth in the Bhabar and Terai. Witness (109) has seen it made apparently in the Almora country. Witness (38) has seen the process on the banks of the Gogra which bounds the Nepal and British territories. And so we are brought down to the plains. Mr. Stoker writes that " in Garhwal a substance is produced which might be classed with either ganja or charas. After the charas has been extracted from the female flower, the powdered or broken flowers are mixed with hemp seed and smoked in a chillum. This seems akin to the garda of the Punjab."

239. The evidence from this province contains information about the manufacture of charas in Nepal, Yarkand, Peshawar, and Kandahar, which may be noted, though it is not all direct evidence. The Bhutias of Nepal scatter ashes on the plants in the evening. In the morning they enter and walk through the crop or jungle clothed in leather, to which the resin adheres. This is scraped off and makes a strong kind of charas. It may be noted that Dr. Gimlette, Residency Surgeon, Katmandu, was unable to verify the accounts he had heard of this process, but found that in the country 5o miles round the capital the drug was collected by rubbing the young flowering tops between the hands in situ (Watt). In Yarkand, according to witness (62), the dried plants are beaten over a cloth, and the greyish powder, which falls upon it, is collected and packed in bags, where it agglutinates by some process, of which exposure to the sun forms part. Witness (192) has " seen charas prepared near Peshawar and Kandahar. People go into the fields with leather leggings on, and the charas sticks to them, and is scraped off." The same witness has seen bhang prepared in great quantities at Hard war, Lahore, Kabul, and Kandahar.

240. Regarding the Native States in the North-Western Provinces, there is nothing to be added to the information collected for the province generally.

241. Though some witnesses make mention of the smoking of bhang leaves, there is no evidence of the preparation of the flower head either of the uncultivated or cultivated plant for use as ganja. The smoking of the produce of the plant in any form except charas is evidently extremely rare. According to witness (59), " the word `ganja ' is sometimes applied to charas."

242. Bhang is prepared both from the uncultivated plant and from the small quantity of cultivated plant in the ordinary way, viz., by simple drying. Mr. Drummond (is) says that the flowering tops are preferred. The zamindars do not generally take any payment for the bhang gathered from their lands. The plant grows from December to June-July. The usual time for gathering appears to be May. No. (73) says May or June. Lala Kesho Das, Extra Assistant Commissioner, reports that in June-July "the hemp plant acquires peculiarly noxious qualities, and hence it is during that fortnight that bhang intended to be used as a drug is cut." The bhang of some localities is regarded as superior, such as that of Ambota and Gagret, of Bhimbar in Kashmir, and of Gurdaspur. The cultivated plant may yield a superior quality of drug, but there is not much evidence of any preference for it over the wild drug.

243. There is practically no evidence of charas being prepared below the mountains. The method of preparation followed in Kulu and the Hill States is that of rubbing the flower heads between the hands and scraping off the resin accumulated on the palms or on the feet if the operation consisted in treading the plants. The solitary piece of definite information supplied about preparation in the plains is given by Mr. Kirthi Singh (I 4) " Sometimes a cultivator may want a little charas for private use, in which case he beats the flowering twigs over a piece of cloth laid on the ground, and then collects the greyish white powder which falls. This requires only to be dried a little in the sun, and it is ready for use."

244. In the " Punjab Products " the manufacture of this sort of charas called garda is described. The finest quality is when the dust is of a reddish colour. This is called surkha. When it is green, it is called bhangra. The most inferior is that which adheres to the cloth after shaking, and has to be scraped off or shaken off with more violence. This is called khaki. In each case the dust has to be kneaded with a small quantity of water into a cake, and then forms charas. It is stated that this drug is much in use. The specimens which formed the basis of the article were none of them from the plain districts of the Punjab, except possibly one from Dera Ghazi Khan. They came from Lahoul, Spiti, Bokhara, Yarkand, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Kashmir.

245. It will be of interest to quote other descriptions of foreign manufacture.
Witness (86) has been in the habit of visiting Ladakh for purposes of trade, and has there learnt the following details from Ladakh merchants : " In Yarkand bhang is cultivated in the month of Baisakh in waste lands and round the fields of other crops for the manufacture of charas. It remains standing for seven months, and is then reaped in the month of Katik, when the blossom is ripe, and then stored on the roofs of houses. It remains there for one month and gets dried in the meantime. The zamindars then thrash the plants after separating the larger leaves by night within their houses. The smaller petals and flowers then fall on the ground and are reduced to powder. It is then sifted thrice, put in bags, and sold to the traders. The merchants go on storing it up until the month of Jeth comes, when they place it in the sun, and a kind of oleaginous substance oozes out of the powder. It is then kneaded like tobacco and put in bags made of cloth. The following three or four kinds of charas are prepared from it—mushak,bahara, pai, and kuppi. They are then closed up in leather." Mr. Dalgleish is quoted by Dr. Watt as giving a description of the preparation similar to the above. The Deputy Commissioner of Bannu says that honey is mixed in the powder of the flowering tops, after which the stuff is packed in leather bags and kept for a year in the sun. Hari Chand, Assistant to the Commissioner of Excise, reported in 1890 of the Yarkand manufacture that " the leaves are ground in December. The flower is kept in bags of five sers each till June. The bags are then put in the sun, and the flower rubbed with hands and feet till it gives oil. It is then put in leather bags and hammered till it becomes one block. The blocks are of 54 sers each." There is a certain similarity in all these methods, and they probably give with fair accuracy the general outline of the important manufacture of Yarkand. Garda, as described in the " Punjab Products," would appear to be the Kashmir preparation. The word seems to mean merely dust in its ,common use.

246. The memorandum on the province, contains all available information regarding the Punjab States.

247. The method of preparing Khandwa ganja is described by the Deputy Commissioner of Nimar and the Excise Commissioner. The harvest begins in the first or second week of November. The flower heads, which the cultivators call mal or produce, are broken off with about twelve inches of twig, carried in baskets to the threshing-floor, and spread out on it in a layer nine to twelve inches thick. Mr. Robertson -states that on the first day a heavy roller is passed over them, but this detail is not contained in Mr. Drake-Brockman's report. The crop is exposed to the dew for the night. The next day the twigs are formed into heaps, and each heap is trodden in turn, and when not being trodden is turned over and exposed to the sun to dry. This goes on for four or five days, and results in the twigs being pressed flat and deprived of a great portion of their leaves and thoroughly dried. The produce is then removed to the cultivator's house, where it is built into a stack five or six feet high, and has heavy weights placed upon it. In about a week it is packed in gunny bags and removed to the storehouse at Khandwa.

248. In outward appearance the Khandwa ganja or pathar differs from that of Bengal or baluchar in being green in colour, and having a much larger quantity of leaf left in it. It does not bear any comparison in the appreciation of smokers with baluchar. The latter is a very special article, and no ganja will be found to compare with it in any province. Bhang is not produced in the Central Provinces. Khandwa ganja is used instead for drinking purposes by the commoner sort of consumers. \Veil-to-do people import their bhang from Central India. It is, however, difficult to believe that the leaf and fragments resulting from the manufacture of Khandwa ganja do not pass into consumption at all. There is some evidence that they do. In Bengal the ganja cultivators could afford to throw away the leaves, for the wild bhang was to be got for nothing within a reasonable distance, and made better bhang than the cultivated leaf, which was consequently of no value. In the Central Provinces the case is different, and it may be doubted if the people are altogether careless of the leaf as a secondary product. There is no evidence of charas being prepared in the Central Provinces. The ganja, having passed into the Khandwa godown, is picked before issue to contractors, and again picked before issue from the tahsils, so that about 45 per cent. only finds its way into the retail shop.

249. The Feudatory States prepare no drugs.

250. In the Madras Presidency, especially towards the south, the name bhang is applied almost exclusively to the prepared drink, which may be made from the pure leaves, but is generally made from the material which is known ans sold as ganja . Bhang as a distinct form of the raw drug is not known. Itis even doubtful if the plant itself in the part of the country indicated is called bhang. It would seem that as the region of wild growth is left behind, the name by which the cultivated plant is known, viz., ganja, comes more into general use. It will not, therefore, be necessary to mention bhang in this chapter except where it comes into the description of ganja preparation. Charas is not manufactured at all in the Madras Presidency.

251. Mr. Benson has given a description of the preparation of ganja in connection with the regular cultivation in the North Arcot and Kistna districts. The methods differ materially.
" In the Javadi Hills the plants are cut and carried bodily to the village threshing floor. They are there sorted, the flower spikes and upper leaves being retained and the sticks thrown away. The selected heads are spread out for three to five hours in the heat of the day to dry, and are then loosely rolled in the hand to work out such seed as may have been formed and to break up the leaf that remains. This working also causes the spikes to stick to one another to some extent. The broken leaf is then winnowed out, collected, and powdered." The flower heads are then placed in a thin layer in a basket which has been dusted within with leaf powder, and are trodden by one or two men according to the size of the basket. After the operator has passed over the layer four or five times, it is dusted with leaf powder, and a fresh layer of spikes is put into the basket on the top of the other, and the treading is repeated. This process goes on till the basket is full. The contents are then turned out on to flat hard ground, and a stone is placed on the pile with other stones to add to the weight. The material is left thus for the night. Next morning each layer is taken off separately, broken up, and spread in the sun. Each piece is trodden and turned over from time to time. In the evening the pieces are again re-piled and weighted for the night, and the next day the process of exposure is repeated until the material is thoroughly dry. " Great importance is attached to the thoroughness of the treading, the sufficiency of the pressing, and the completeness of the drying ; the quality of the drug being said to depend on the manner in which those processes are carried out. If the latter are not dried sufficiently, they appear green and are of inferior quality, good ganja being brown." When fully cured, the drug is stored in the raiyats' houses under pressure till sold.

252. In the Kistna district, if Mr. Benson is correct, the pressing is entirely neglected. The plants are cut bodily and laid out in the field for three days to dry. On the fourth day they are tied by bundles of ten and piled head and tail. " The heaps are opened and the bundles re-piled next day, the process being repeated over several days." If the quantity is small, the drying is done at the raiyat's house, but in all cases the crop is finally carried to the house. A month later the spikes are removed one by one, and spread out in the open for one night to soften and become pliable. In the morning the spikes are collected and put into large gunny bags, being packed closely therein by a man treading them down. The produce is then ready for sale.

253. The process has been described shortly by other witnesses. They nearly all mention pressing as a part of it, though the methods may be different. Alternate exposure to sun and dew seems also to be generally practised. The drug is usually stored by consumers in earthen vessels. One witness (1°6) from Ganjam, after giving a careful description of the manufacture of ganja, proceeds to say that the dried leaves which have fallen out in the process are used as bhang or patti. " After carefully removing the stalks, the dried leaves are boiled in water for some time ; and the boiled leaves are carefully squeezed with the hands to purge them of all filth and dirt, and then dried in the sun. The dried leaves are next broiled either in milk or cocoanut water. The quantity of milk or cocoanut water must be proportionate to the quantity of leaves boiled, so that the milk or cocoanut water might be entirely absorbed by the leaves. They are again kept in the hot sun for about three or four days. After they are well dried, they are preserved in earthen vessels for use." Similar processes were mentioned in the Bengal evidence, but they require so much care and time that they can hardly be common.

254. The following information seems to point to the preparation of ganja from the spontaneous growth in Travancore. It is said that poo ganja, or flowering ganja, is pressed together while still green so as to get matted, and when the mass begins to show signs of rotting, " it is dried in the shade and passed off in the market as chada ganja." Chada--jheda in Sanskrit—means tangled or braided, and chada ganja is the name of the imported article. Poo ganja is the local stuff, which from the description would appear to be little, if at all, cultivated. There is no other information of interest from the Madras States.

255. The preparation of ganja in Bombay is described by several witnesses.
Mr. Ebden's (5) description, as corning from the district of largest cultivation in the Presidency, and being the most complete, may be quoted :-
" (a) Ganja.—Harvesting methods differ somewhat. In some cases the tops are pulled off by hand ; in some they are cut. In some the central largest tops are collected and treated separately as first sort ganja ; the central tops of side branches form second sort, and other smaller tops are third sort, and are called chur. The further process is much the same in all cases. The tops are heaped according to taste in narrow rows or in large squares about six inches thick, the different qualities when separately collected being separately heaped. The heap's are then trodden under foot. Some manufacturers tread the fresh tops at once ; some let them dry first for various periods. After treading, it is turned over by hand and again trodden. The process of turning and treading is repeated at intervals of three or four days, with local variations of treatment in the intervals. In some places it is heaped in round heaps called chakis, and weighted at top till midnight, and then opened up and scattered and ventilated till dawn, when it is again laid out and trodden ; and so on till it is judged to be ready, when it is packed in bags, and as a rule it is speedily removed by the wholesale purchaser.
" The treading-floor is sometimes prepared like an ordinary threshing-floor with clay and cowdung. I have lately witnessed the operation of treading, and in that case the floor was simple moorum soil on a nalla bank, and had undergone no preparation beyond cleaning and sweeping. The ganja was spread in squares of fifteen or twenty feet wide and about six inches thick. A line of eight or ten men danced on it to the music of a tom-tom. Treading began in the outer edge of the heap, and was continued in a spiral until the centre was approached, when the men fell out one by one as the space grew smaller. They followed close on one another, dancing sideways in the leader's footsteps. The Minton appeared to be highly necessary, and kept them at it.
"(b) Charas.—This is locally a bye-product which is not brought into account, but appears to be the harvesters' perquisite, who probably part with it to friends who smoke, if they don't want it themselves. It is the resinous substance that sticks to the hands or collects on the sickle when cutting or plucking the tops. The hands are now and then rubbed together, and the charas is collected in the shape of a pill, which is naturally half dirt and sweat and half charas. A piece about the size of a marble may perhaps be the reward of a day's work.
" (c) Bhang.—This name is given indifferently to the refuse of the treading-floor where ganja is prepared, and to the produce of the seeded plants and of male plants when the crop has been grown for seed. In the latter case the tops are laid on a floor, and the seed is beaten out with sticks or trodden out by foot. The seeds are separated from the mass by means of a sieve, and the balance of broken leaves, etc., is called bhang."
The bhang crop in Gujarat is turned into drug by drying the plants and shaking or beating them so as to detach the leaves, flower, and fruit. The character of the bhang of the Bombay Presidency must be noted. When it comes from the ganja crop, it consists very largely of pieces of the female flower head, and is in fact, as many witnesses have described it, largely composed of what is known in Bengal as chur. If the customer asked for chur, the shopkeeper would produce what he calls bhang. The preparation of the drugs is generally carried out by the cultivators themselves, sometimes by contractors.

256. The States in the Deccan which cultivate ganja prepare the drugs in the manner already described. In the Northern Agencies there is but little cultivation, and that of scattered plants only. There is no evidence that the flower heads undergo any preparation besides simple drying.

257. The drugs are not prepared in Aden.

258. The cultivation in certain districts of Sind and in Khairpur is said to be for the production of bhang only, and no doubt that is the principal product ; but a small amount of superior flower, heads is turned out which goes by the name of ghundi or ghundi bhang, and is occasionally used for smoking. Mr. Giles (2) states that when the crop is ripening, the upper portions of the plants are cut off and preserved separately. These are regarded as the " tit bits." They are dried with their seed and stalk, and do not appear to be subjected to any special process. They are called gliundyun, and are practically no doubt ganja. The rest of the crop is dried and flogged, and the broken leaves, flowers, and seed form bhang. A certain amount of this is winnowed for the seed ; but the mass is sold as it is to the contractor, who seems generally to sift it and clean it of seed before retailing it.

259. Witness (5) from the Upper Sind Frontier, while stating that ganja and charas are not prepared in the province, gives in an appendix some information regarding the preparation of these drugs elsewhere, which may be shortly noted. Ganja is prepared, he says, by burying the flower heads in a pit four or five feet deep coated with goats' dung. The pit is filled in for fifteen or twenty days, after which the ganja is taken out and sold. The consumer picks off the smokable part, crushes it, heats it on a cinder, makes it into small lumps or cakes, and smokes it in a huka. Charas is collected by people walking to and fro through the bhang plants with greased leather coats on, and also by going clothed only in a loin cloth with their bodies smeared with oil. The latter process is followed, he says, in the Native States of India. He also mentions a process resembling that noticed in the Punjab, by which the dust made by beating the plant is collected on cloth. He states that this process is peculiar to Afghanistan : " And the charas imported from there is well known for its pale green colour, and is highly appreciated."

260. It is interesting also to note that two or three witnesses, Mr. Giles being one, report the preparation of fibre from the hemp grown in Sind. Mr. Giles says : " Sometimes, but very rarely, the thick stalks of the plant are placed in water to rot, and with great labour rope or twine is made from them by individual persons for special purposes ; but the plant is never grown for the use of its fibre or of its seed only." Witness (4) states that : " The bhang plant stalks are usually buried in soft wet mud for a few days instead of being soaked in water, as in the case of the sihata or the ak." The fibre production seems to be very limited in amount, but it is worth special notice because this is the only mention of its occurrence below the Himalayas in the evidence collected by the Commission.

261. The official memorandum gives the following description of the preparation of ganja in Berar. It is very imperfect, and the process probably resembles closely that followed in the Deccan or Khandwa : " The small outer branches are stripped off and put in towards the centre of the plant, which is then pressed with the foot (to flatten the heads), made up into sheaves, and stacked in a shed under pressure, the heaps being opened and the sheaves moved now and then to prevent their getting too hot. The leaves fall off when the plants are tied into bundles. They are collected and called bhang. The bare stalks remain with the heads in them." One witness (23) mentions the preparation by burying, which has been mentioned elsewhere. Witnesses (to) and (9) say that the crop is trodden by bullocks, which seems very improbable. It is clear that the bhang locally prepared is simply the refuse from the manufacture of ganja.

262. There is nothing to show that the plant in Ajmere is subjected to anything more than a process of drying to produce bhang.

263. From Coorg it is stated that the female plants are cut down and exposed to the sun for a day. They are then collected into bundles and exposed to the sun by day and dew by night for three days, after which they are wrapped up in coarse cloths or kamblis, and so preserved. It is to be remembered that the cultivation consists only of the surreptitious rearing of plants on a small scale.

264. There is no information from Baluchistan.

265. There is no information that the ganja of the Shan country is prepared by any other process than drying. A specimen of Kachin ganja was forwarded to the Commission, and consisted of bundles of flower tops and leaves loosely rolled together. It looked like the produce of the wild plant.

266. The details of information describing the preparation of ganja in Mysore are limited to drying in the sun and tying into bundles. Mr. McDonnell's memorandum does not give a description of the Mysore practice. What he says about the Vellore and Cocanada samples agrees with what has been learnt from•Mr. Benson's bulletin.

267. The Director of Agriculture and Commerce gives a description of the . preparation of ganja which does not differ from the method pursued in the Bombay Deccan. Bhang is the leaf and other litter which falls away in the manufacture of ganja.

268. Such cultivation as exists in Rajputana, both regular and scattered, seems to be chiefly directed to the production of bhang. Jhallawar, however, reports a production of 165 maunds of ganja, and some of the superior drug appears to be turned out in Serohi also. An inferior sort, called makuria ganja, is spoken of in Marwar, but appears to be little better than the female flowers of a bhang crop of the ordinary kind. It is stated in the Jaisalmir report that the ganja produced there is never prepared by treading, and from other places that the drug, whatever it may be, undergoes no process but drying. One informant states that charas is supposed to be prepared chiefly by the Bhils in Jodhpur. No foundation for this statement can be discovered. Fakirs may rub the heads of the plants they have grown in their lands and get a little charas occasionally ; but even that seems improbable, as it requires a great deal of flower head to make a reasonable quantity of charas.

269. Mr. Gunion's memorandum furnishes an account of the manufacture of ganja in Indore and Dewas. The processes comprise the same three principal features as elsewhere, viz., drying, kneading with the feet, and removal of leaf. They occupy three or four days. In Indore the manufactured produce is kept under pressure till sold. From the description of the preparation of bhang in these States, it would seem that it is made from a crop grown for seed or bhang and not from the ganja crop. The plants are bodily dried and threshed, and the seeds are separated from " the crushed leaves and tender twigs, which are called bhang." It seems that " no charas is prepared in Central India except a little in the Bhopawar Agency for the personal use of the cultivators, or for presents from them to religious mendicants." The method of preparation is thus described by the Political Agent of Bhopawar : " Charas is prepared by rubbing ganja (sometimes mixed with bhang) violently for several hours on rough woollen blankets, which after-ward's are scraped with a knife. The substance thus scraped off is first class charas. An inferior kind is then obtained by washing the blanket with the least possible amount of water, and then evaporating the liquid." The report of Gopal Ram at the close of the North-Western Provinces memorandum contains no information of special interest regarding the preparation of the drugs in Gwalior except that relating to charas as a bye-product of ganja cultivation.
" A certain amount of charas is obtained in this (Gwalior) State by scraping off the resin which adheres to the hands in cutting the ganja plant. In tahsil Antri cultivators do not care much about the charas. In tahsil Kolarus, district Narwar, I hear charas is obtained in small quantities by the same process as in Kumaon and Garhwal."

270. Bhang alone is prepared in the Baroda State. It is of the same kind and prepared by the same processes as are found in the Gujarat Division of the Bombay Presidency.

271. The Governor of Jammu reports that neither ganja nor charas are made there, but only bhang. The Governor of Kashmir gives an account in which the names of the three drugs are confused. He says first : "Almost all wild hemp, which is called talia in the Punjab, and is generally female plant in the above-mentioned tahsils, is used for the preparation of ganja locally known by name gard bhang (chura charas)." And further on—" The leaves of the hemp plant are trodden under foot, and cleaned by sieves to prepare gard bhang, and the process is continued until the leaves are reduced to powder and seed separated."
This describes the preparation of bhang, pure and simple ; but apparently this article is known by the three names—ganja, gard bhang, or chura charas. And " it would appear that this is the stuff which is occasionally smoked. Fakirs and a few Muhammadans and Pandits of the Srinagar city and towns smoke gard bhang (chura charas) ••• . ** The total number of persons who do smoke ganja is, etc ". Another informant says : " Charas is prepared in the capital cities and is termed garda," and he does not know if bhang is prepared. The preparation of garda is described, and finishes with the reduction of the material to a " resinous powder." The manufacture of garda or charas by the method given in the " Punjab Products " is not described by either of the only three informants. It is .probable that charas is made by a further elaboration from the garda charas spoken of above, which is practically bhang powdered to a state of more than common fineness, and that ganja is a name borrowed from India without any correct idea of its meaning beyond that it signifies the female plant. It may be noted that the price of garda bhang, three pice per tola, given in the Governor of Kashmir's report, is very high. for simple bhang, and seems to indicate that the article is more like charas.

272. The manner of preparing ganja in Nepal is somewhat peculiar. The Darbar answers report that " when the plant is in the lata state, it is cut down and kept in the dew for about a week, and after that each lata is separately wrapped in a piece of fine plantain bark, and, being tightly tied with string, is put by. Some people flatten it by pressing it under a piece of hit (gunny). Two or three days after this it becomes fit for use." The manufacture of charas is thus described : '; The ganja plant exudes a thin gummy water. That plant is squeezed between the palms of both hands, and the gummy substance which sticks to the hands is scraped into a vessel, and is called charas." Nepal ganja, Mr. Stoker states, is introduced in small quantity into the North-Western Provinces. Nepal charas is, on the same authority, of superior quality, though the Darbar answers say that Yarkand charas is preferred in Nepal. The Deputy Commissioner of Bahraich in the report attached to Mr. Stoker's memorandum states that the export of charas from Nipalganj is about 5o maunds, and that some years ago a very much larger quantity was imported into British territory. The latter statement is confirmed by evidence from Bengal, which shows that Nepal charas is now almost superseded by the drug which comes through the Punjab. Mr. Stoker reports that some of it passes into British Kumaon and Garhwal.

273. It will be seen from the above detailed description that bhang, whether produced by the cultivated or wild plant, is prepared by simple drying. The processes by which ganja is prepared consist of pressing, drying, and removal of leaf. The manufacture is most perfect in Bengal. In other provinces it is not characterized by the same degree of care, and one or other of the three essential features of the manufacture is more or less neglected, Ganja collected from the wild plant and from the bhang crops of Sind, and probably also that yielded by stray cultivation, is simply dried. There are only two methods of preparing charas which appear to be used when the drug is produced on any considerable scale, viz., that by rubbing the flower heads with the hands as in Kumaon and Nepal, and that described as being practised in Yarkand, which may be called the garda method, and consists in beating the plant over cloth, and manipulating the dust that is thus deposited. The collection of the resin adhering to hands and implements in the course of harvesting ganja is worth remembering, for it is proved in Gwalior and Bombay. The practice of the Malwa Bhils is perhaps established. Other methods are unimportant, and the common report that charas is collected by men dressed in leather moving about in the hemp crops has not been definitely located. It is doubtful if this device is employed anywhere in India.
The results of the analyses of various samples of the drugs, which have been prepared at the request of the Commission, are shown in Vol. III Appendices.

274. Regarding the question whether hemp drugs deteriorate or not by keeping, the Commission, for reasons which will be explained later, are unable to state definitely the precise period for which the drugs will retain unimpaired their full narcotic power under ordinary conditions of storage. A large number of witnesses. have tendered evidence relative to the question whether hemp drugs deteriorate or not by keeping. The general tenor of the evidence is to the effect that the fresher the drugs, the better. Regarding ganja, Mr. K. G. Gupta, Excise Commissioner, Bengal, states that the drug is " much valued during the first year ; less so in two years—in fact, is not sold after the first.year if new ganja is available ; absolutely unsaleable after two years." Two years may perhaps be assigned as the limit during which the drug is popularly believed to retain its narcotic properties without any very material impairment. Some witnesses, however, give a longer period. The retention of properties without deterioration of course very largely depends on the care exercised in storage.
Bhang being relatively far cheaper than the other hemp drugs, and owing to its being easily procurable for the mere plucking in a large number of districts, is probably not stored to the same extent as ganja. Mr. Gupta appears to place the limit for retention of properties between three and four years ; and he makes an interesting remark to the effect that the value of bhang as a medicine is enhanced by age. Salig Ram, Punjab Witness No. 88, a drug contractor, states that freshly cut bhang produces great heat and is very intoxicating, while in the third year its intoxicating properties are lessened, and it goes bad.
Regarding the keeping properties of charas, the information must necessarily be inexact, as it is an imported article, and it is practically impossible for the real age of any particular sample to be known. From its physical properties charas admits of being readily adulterated, and the strikingly marked differences in the physiological value of charas resin as determined by Dr. Evans would also appear to support this view. From the various modes which appear to be adopted for the preparation of commercial charas, it must always be a drug of more or less uncertain composition, and not undeserving of the appellation—" A foul and crude drug, the use of which is properly excluded from civilized medicine," which was applied to it by the famous pharmacologists Fluckiger and Hanbury. Some witnesses appear to consider that charas is perhaps more stable than ganja. Gujar Mal, Punjab Witness No. 93, a drug vendor for twenty years, states that charas is very strong during the first year ; after that it gradually loses its strength until the fourth year, when it becomes quite useless. Some witnesses refer to the deterioration being more rapid in the plains than at hill stations. A witness refers to charas produced in Bokhara which can be kept for six years in India without going bad.

275. The causes of the deterioration of ganja and bhang are usually ascribed to (a) damp and natural decay ; (b) ravages of insects, and also popularly (c) to volatilization of the narcotic principle. Regarding the two first causes of deterioration, they are common to all vegetable substances ; but the third cause is not tenable because hemp resin on which the narcotic property of the drug depends is non-volatile. There is no doubt, however, that by prolonged exposure to air the aroma of the drug is dissipated to a considerable extent, the aroma being due to the presence of a volatile oil. The popular view of the value of ganja is based on its physical appearance, and very largely also on its aroma ; but it does not necessarily follow that because the aroma has been lost, the drug is therefore weaker in narcotic property ; but it may be less pleasant to smoke than ganja which has retained its bouquet. The mere effluxion of time without other disturbing factors, such as damp, as a cause of the impairment in the narcotic value of the drug is a point of some interest. In medical circles there is a fairly general idea that the extract of Cannabis indica is an uncertain drug, and this is believed to be due to variations in age of the preparations which have been prescribed. This assumption may or may not be correct. Dr. Evans' experiments indicate that the physiological values of similar doses of all alcoholic resinous extracts from various ganjas are not the same, and, moreover, individual idiosyncrasy on the part of the patients as influencing the action of the drug has perhaps not been always recollected. The alleged diminution in power of the drug by effluxion Of time might be ascribed as being really due to a slow oxidation process, and that this might readily occur in ganja is explicable. But as regards the extract of Cannabis indica, direct oxidation would only occur superficially in the stratum exposed to air. But there is no evidence of any value to prove that ganja, which has been carefully protected from damp, and say five years old, is not as active physiologically as the fresh drug. The value of ganja for use has always hitherto been determined solely by its physical appearances. With evidence of mould and the effects of continued damp, the physical appearances are sufficient for an opinion to be arrived at ; but when those signs of deterioration are absent, mere loss of aroma, as has been already mentioned, is not necessarily evidence that the drug has undergone diminution in narcotic power. Further, there is no scientific evidence that any oxidation or other changes ever occur in alcoholic extracts of hemp by which the physiological. value of the drug could be diminished. While fully admitting the possibility of oxidation altering the physiological activity of the drug, there is also the possibility--if the drug does diminish in strength by keeping—of the same change being caused by a mere molecular alteration in the constitution of the resin. But against the idea that any change does occur in physiological strength by keeping, there is the probability that different samples of the extract of Cannabis indica have been used by various observers ; there is the individual idiosyncrasy factor, and Sigmund's dictum that the older the preparation of Cannabis indica is, the stronger it is.

276. So far as the Commission have been able to ascertain, in two provinces only, Bengal and the Central Provinces, are there any rules regarding the destruction of ganja alleged to have become unfit for use. In Bengal the rule regarding stocks in the Ganja Mahal is to the effect that any ganja left unsold on the expiration of two years in the houses of the cultivators or in a public gola shall be destroyed. Regarding stocks in the warehouses of wholesale vendors, the rule is to destroy all ganja classified as unfit for use once a year, the request of the goladar to classify any ganja as unfit for use being ordinarily accepted (Excise Manual, Section XX, clauses 22 and 54). In the Central Provinces rules for the management of the Khandwa ganja storehouse, rule II, dealing with deposit of ganja in the store, enjoins that, if any ganja deposited in the storehouse be at any time condemned by the Deputy Commissioner as unfit for use, it shall be liable to be destroyed under the orders of the Deputy Commissioner, with the previous approval of the Commissioner of Excise. There can be no doubt that in the plains the preservation of ganja from deterioration, by damp is a matter of very considerable practical difficulty. The loose manner of packing the drug, which leaves a large surface exposed to the action of damp, and the generally inefficient arrangements for storing it, make the difficulty very great. The general absence of special precautions for the protection of the drug may well lead to such general deterioration as quite adequately to explain the prevailing popular opinion and to justify the rules in force on the subject.

277. From Dr. Praia's report on the cultivation of ganja, the Commission learn that certain experiments are in progress connected with the packing of ganja in hermetically sealed tins.
From a communication received from Dr. Praia, the Commission understand that certain of the experiments have proved a failure so far as the physical appearance of the drug is concerned. The Commission have been informed that in the Central Provinces a few years ago similar experiments were instituted with equally unsatisfactory results. Ganja contains a very appreciable amount of moisture, and it is well known that vegetable substances, such as leaves, etc., unless first desiccated before being packed in hermetically sealed vessels, invariably undergo marked deterioration. Dr. Praia's suggestion to have the drug compressed in the form of cakes commends itself as being simple and a very marked improvement on the present method of placing the drug in the market in several forms. It is recognized that powerfully compressing vegetable drugs in the form of tabloids lessens deterioration by exposing a smaller surface to the action of damp and air. The proposed system would also lessen very materially the bulk to be stored and facilitate transport. It would most certainly prevent to a great extent volatilization of the essential oil on which so much of the popular commercial value of the drug depends, and it would also to a great extent prevent the illicit drug from passing into the market.