"Opium," says Mr. Hogendorp, "is a slow though certain poison, which the Company, in order to gain money, sells to the poor Javans. Any one who is once enslaved to it, cannot, it is true, give it up without great difficulty; and if its use were entirely prohibited, some few persons would probably die for want of it, who would otherwise languish on a little longer: but how many would by that means be saved for the future. Most of the crimes, particularly murders, that are now committed, may be imputed to opium as the original cause. "Large sums of money are every year carried out of the country in exchange for it, and enrich our competitors, the English. Much of it is smuggled into the interior, which adds to the evil. In short, the trade in opium is one of the most injurious and most shameful things which disgrace the present government of India. It is therefore necessary at once, and entirely, to abolish the trade and importation of opium, and to prohibit the same, under the severest penalties that the law permits, since it is a poison. The smuggling of it will then become almost impracticable, and the health, and even the lives of thousands, will be preserved. The money alone which will remain in the country in lieu of it, is more valuable as being in circulation, than the profit which the Company now derives from the sale of it. "This measure will excite no discontent among the Javans, for the princes and regents, with very few exceptions, do not consume any opium, but, as well as the most respectable of their subjects, look upon it as disgraceful. The use of opium is even adduced as an accusation of bad conduct, and considered as sufficient cause for the removal or banishment of a petty chief." FOOTNOTES: [34] Asiatic Researches, vol. v. page 219, octavo edition. [35] See Marsden's Sumatra. [36] The Javan mode of taking account of population is by the number of chácha, or "families," as it is usually rendered, though the word strictly means "enumeration." When the sovereign assigns lands, it is not usual for him to express the extent of land, but the number of chácha attached to it. But as the population of the land so granted varies, the original expression becomes inaccurate. In the native provinces, the number of cháchas reckoned is almost invariably less than the number actually existing, a clear proof, if the original census was correct, that in those provinces population has increased. An account of the number of cháchas was taken some few years back by the Sultan of Yúgya-kérta, with a view to a new distribution of the lands; but the measure was very unpopular, and no accurate results were obtained. The Dutch relied entirely upon this loose system of enumeration. [37] This includes the Population of _Pachítan_, under the European government, amounting to about 22,000. [38] This does not include the dependent islands, on which a considerable portion of the population is scattered.