consistency of thick tar. While it is boiling, tobac-
co and siri are sometimes added. A lamp is then
lighted, and a small quantity is taken up on a piece
of wire as large as a knitting-needle. This is held in
the flame of the lamp until it melts and swells up as
a piece of spruce-gum would do under similar cii-
cumstances. During this process it is frequently
taken out of the flame and rolled between the thumb
and forefinger. It is then placed in a small hole in
the large bowl of the pipe, and the wire being withdrawn,
a hole is left for inhaling the air. The bowl
of the pipe is now placed against the lamp and the
smoke inhaled with two or three long breaths, which
carry the fumes down deep into the lungs. By this
time the small quantity of opium in the bowl of the
pipe is consumed. It is then filled as before, and
this process is repeated until the eyelids become
heavy and an irresistible desire to sleep possesses the
whole body. Its immediate effect is to produce a
passive, dreamy state. This is followed by a loss of
appetite, severe constipation, and kindred ills. When
a man has once contracted the habit of using it, it is
impossible to reform. Greater and greater doses are
required to produce the desired lethargic effect. The
evil results of this vice are well shown in the accompanying
photograph of a Malay, where the victim,
although only in middle life, has already become so
emaciated that he is little more than a living skeleton.
The rude platform of planks covered with a
straw mat, on which he is sitting, is his bed, while
stupified with his favorite drug. A pipe, of the customary
form, is seen in his right hand. Being too