The East India Vade-Mecum, Volume 1 (of 2): or, complete guide to gentlemen intended for the civil, military, or naval service of the East India Company.Williamson, Thomas
History
The East India Vade-Mecum, Volume 1 (of 2): or, complete guide to gentlemen intended for the civil, military, or naval service of the East India Company.
Williamson, Thomas
India -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
The _hookah-burdar_ rarely fails to smoke of the best his master may at
any time possess; which, however highly perfumed, will rarely be strong
enough for his gratification: the deficiency is supplied by the
admixture of _bang_; a preparation from the leaves of the _ganjah_, or
hemp, (the _cannabis sativus_,) and is extremely intoxicating. The
leaves of that plant, when triturated with water, compose a drink of the
same tendency, known by the name of _subzy_, (_i.e._ green,) which is a
constant beverage among the more established sinners, who rarely fail,
towards nightfall, to take an ample dose, of either _bang_, _subzy_, or
_majoom_: the latter being sweetmeats impregnated with a decoction of
the _ganjah_, or hemp plant, much used by all debauchees, and too often
admitted within the sacred area of the _zenanah_, (or haram). The use of
any preparation of the _ganjah_, or hemp plant, is attended with much
opprobrium: like most intoxicating drugs and spirits, they, in the first
instance, excite to gaiety, but ultimately leave their victim in the
most deplorable state of stupefaction; the recovery from which is
attended with dreadful headache, ill temper, and hypochondria. Some
_hookah-burdars_ indulge freely in the use of musk, which never fails,
after a while, to produce considerable derangement of the nerves; and,
not unfrequently, that complete debility which is ever attended with the
greatest depressure of spirits.
A very common species of debauchery, in which I have known only one or
two gentlemen to indulge, is the incorporation of opium with the
prepared tobacco, previous to its being spread upon the _towah_; a
custom so repugnant to discretion, as to leave little room for
animadversion, the folly being usually of very short duration, and,
intermediately, attended with the most abject degradation. Many native
princes, and others, who have been hurled from their thrones, or from
offices of trust, are said to have been treacherously overcome by means
of opium thus administered: it appears to me very practicable, by such a
device, to lull a whole guard to sleep; for few can resist the offer of
a whiff when the _goorgoory_ (a small kind of _hookah_ used by the lower
classes) is passing round. Among such trash as is generally sold to the
poor, who care not much about the flavor, so long as they can draw
abundance of smoke, the opium would probably, if at all tasted, rather
give a zest, than prove an objection, to the indulgence. It is asserted,
that if a capsicum be put among the _gools_, or be mixed with the
tobacco, fatal consequences will ensue; an instant attack of apoplexy
taking place. This I have never known to be done; therefore am incapable
of producing any testimony, one way or the other: but it appears rather
doubtful whether any reasoning, or analogy, could be adduced in support
of the assertion; the acrid stimulus would, in all probability, be
dissipated, rendering the residue as inert as any other raw culinary
vegetable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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