latter on two occasions, having been assured by the
natives that they were harmless. The flavor somewhat resembles a
truffle, but I could not account for the extreme drowsiness that I felt
soon after eating; this wore off in the course of two or three hours.
On the following day I felt the same effect, but to a still greater
degree as, having convinced myself that they were really eatable, I bad
taken a larger quantity. Knowing that the narcotic principle is the
common property of a great variety of fungi, it immediately struck me
that the puff-balls were the cause. On questioning the natives, it
appeared that it was this principle that they admired, as it produced a
species of mild intoxication.

All people, of whatever class or clime, indulge in some narcotic drug
or drink. Those of the Cingalese are arrack, tobacco, fungi and the
Indian hemp. The use of the latter is, however, not so general among
the Cingalese as the Malabars. This drug has a different effect from
opium, as it does not injure the constitution, but simply exhilarates,
and afterward causes a temporary lethargy.

In appearance it very nearly resembles the common hemp, but it differs
in the seed. The leaves and blossoms are dried, and are either smoked
like tobacco, or formed into a paste with various substances and chewed.

When the plant approaches maturity, a gummy substance exudes from the
leaves; this is gathered by men clothed in dry raw hides, who, by
walking through the plantation, become covered with this gum or glue.
This is scraped off and carefully preserved, being the very essence of
the plant, and exceedingly powerful in its effects.

The sensation produced by the properties of this shrub is a wild,
dreamy kind of happiness; the ideas are stimulated to a high degree,
and all that are most pleasurable are exaggerated till the senses at
length sink into a vague and delightful elysium.

The reaction after this unnatural excitement is very distressing, but
the sufferer is set all right again by some trifling stimulant, such as
a glass of wine or spirits.

It is supposed, and confidently asserted by some, that the Indian hemp
is the foundation of the Egyptian "hashisch," the effects of which are
precisely similar.

However harmless the apparent effect of a narcotic drug, common sense
must at once perceive that a repeated intoxication, no matter how it is
produced, must be ultimately hurtful to the system. The brain,
accustomed to