“Quitting earth’s dull sphere, the soul exulting soars To each bright realm by fancy conjured up, And clothed in hues of beauty, there to mix With laughing spirits on the moonlit green; Or rove with angels through the courts of heaven, And catch the music flowing from their tongues.” In Asia Minor an extract from the Indian hemp has been from time immemorial swallowed with the greatest avidity, as the means of producing the most ecstatic delight, and affording a gratification even of a higher character than that which is known there to follow on the use of opium. A small dose seems only to influence the moral faculties, giving to the intellectual powers greater vivacity, and momentary vigour. A larger dose seems to awaken a new sensibility, and call into action dormant capabilities of enjoyment. Not only is the imagination excited, but an intensity of energy pervades all the passions and affections of the mind. Memory not only recurs with facility to the past, but incorporates delusions with it, for with whatever accuracy the facts may be remembered, they are painted with glowing colours, and made sources of pleasure. The senses become instruments also of deception, the eye and the ear, not only are alive to every impression, but they delude the reason, and disturb the brain, by the delusions to which they become subject. Gaiety, or a soothing melancholy, may be produced, as pleasant or disagreeable sights or sounds are presented. So much alive are the swallowers of haschisch to the effect of external objects upon the perceptive powers, that they generally retire to the depths of the harem, where the almas, or females educated for this purpose, add, by the charms of music and the dance, to the false perceptions which the disordered condition of the brain gives rise to. Insensibly the reason and the volition are entirely overcome, and yield themselves up to the fantastic imagery which affords such delight. Can we wonder at such people producing and admiring all the extravagancies of the “Arabian Nights’ Entertainments?” Can we be surprised at their belief in a paradise for the future, which is at best but a voluptuary’s dream?