There is one important and well-authenticated fact with regard to the Chinese consumption of opium, that in the year 1854, the value of opium imported into China exceeded the value of all the tea and silk exported from China to Great Britain and her colonies. As we take farewell of the “gift of God” to pass through the portals of Paradise, let us do so in the words of that most celebrated of English opium eaters, Thomas de Quincey:——“O just, subtle, and all-conquering opium! that, to the hearts of rich and poor alike, for the wounds that will never heal, and for the pangs of grief that ‘tempt the spirit to rebel,’ bringest an assuaging balm; eloquent opium! that with thy potent rhetoric stealest away the purposes of wrath, pleadest effectually for relenting pity, and through one night’s heavenly sleep, callest back to the guilty man the visions of his infancy, and hands washed pure from blood. O just and righteous opium! that to the chancery of dreams, summonest for the triumphs of despairing innocence, false witnesses, and confoundest perjury, and dost reverse the sentences of unrighteous judges; thou buildest upon the bosom of darkness, out of the fantastic imagery of the brain, cities and temples, beyond the art of Phidias and Praxiteles—beyond the splendours of Babylon and Hekatompylos; and from the ‘anarchy of dreaming sleep,’ callest into sunny light the faces of long-buried beauties, and the blessed household countenances, cleansed from the ‘dishonours of the grave.’ Thou only givest these gifts to man, and thou hast the keys of Paradise, O just, subtle, and mighty opium!” CHAPTER X. THE GATES OF PARADISE. “Thou only givest these gifts to man; and thou hast the keys of Paradise, O just, subtle, and mighty opium.”——_Confessions of an Opium-Eater._ According to the common opinion of the Arabs, there are seven heavens, one above another. The upper surface of each is believed to be nearly plane, and generally supposed to be circular, five hundred years’ journey in width. The first is described to be formed of emerald; the second of white silver; the third of large white pearls; the fourth of ruby; the fifth of red gold; the sixth of yellow jacinth; and the seventh of shining light. Some assert Paradise to be in the seventh heaven; others state that above the seventh heaven are seven seas of light, then an undefined number of veils, or separations, of different substances, seven of each kind, and then Paradise, which consists of seven stages, one above another. The first is the mansion of glory, of white pearls; the second, the mansion of peace, of ruby; the third, the garden of rest, of green chrysolite; the fourth, the garden of eternity, of green coral; the fifth, garden of delight, of white silver; the sixth, the garden of Paradise, of red gold; the seventh, the garden of perpetual abode or Eden, of large pearls—this overlooking all the former, and canopied by the throne of the Compassionate.