GUNJA AT HOME.
“Oh, kind and blissful mockery, when the manacled felon, on his bed
of straw, is transported to the home of his innocent boyhood, and
the pining and forsaken fair, is happy with her fond and faithful
lover—and the poor man hath abundance—and the dying man is in joyous
health—and despair hath hope—and those that want are as though they
wanted not—and they who weep are as though they wept not.—But the
fashion of these things passeth away.”
“At home” may mean, that quarter-day has passed with all its terrors,
accounts settled, bills filed, tax-collectors satisfied, and the
horizon of finance clear and cloudless. There is no fear of duns or
doctors, and John Thomas announces “at home.” Or it may mean, that
having enrobed oneself in morning gown and slippers, filled and lighted
our pipe, seated ourselves in an easy chair, placed our feet firmly
and contentedly on the hearthrug, and commenced enveloping ourselves
in a cloud like that in which Juno conveyed the vanquished Paris from
the field to the presence of the fairest of the daughters of Greece,
we _feel_, with reference to ourselves, and in despite of the rest
of the world—“at home.” Or it may mean, that having made the “grand
tour,” crossed the desert on a camel, or seen the lions of Singapore,
Hong-Kong, and Shanghai, we are once more on our native soil, and
no longer fear Italian banditti or Turkish plague, sandstorms or
crocodiles, Chinese poisoners or bow-wow pie, that we breathe again,
and are “at home”. Or it may mean half-a-dozen things beside. But to
see a man at home, is to see him in all the gradations of light and
shade, of sunlight and shadow, brighter and deeper, than when he covers
his head and walks abroad to look at the sun.
Gunja is not at home in Europe. Notwithstanding the efforts made in
England and France to introduce the Indian hemp into medical practice,
and the asseverations of medical practitioners in British India,
who have extolled its power as a narcotic and anodyne, it has never
settled upon European soil. The drugs already in use to produce sleep
and alleviate pain, still occupy their old popularity, undisturbed
by the visit of a stranger, who, finding the reception too cold, has
retreated. In France, certain experiments were made, and by leave of
Dr. Moreau, we shall take advantage of them, and of the Journal of
Psychological Medicine, to ascertain the effects of this drug on those
who have used it.
Since the days of Prosper Albinus, both learned and unlearned have
listened with wonder to the marvellous effects of those “drowsy syrups
of the East,” when—
“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?
At the commencement of the intoxication produced by the hemp, there
is the most perfect consciousness of the state of the disordered
faculties. There exists the power of analyzing the sensations, but the
mind seems unwilling to resume its guiding and controlling power. It is
conscious that all is but a dream, and yet feels a delight in perfect
abandonment to the false enjoyment. It will not attempt to awaken
from the reverie, but rather to indulge in it, to the utmost extent
of which it is capable. There seems an ideal existence, but it is too
pleasurable to shake off—it penetrates into the inmost recesses of the
body—it envelopes it. The dreams and phantoms of the imagination appear
part of the living being; and yet, during all this, there remains the
internal conviction that the real world is abandoned, for a fictitious
and imaginative existence, which has charms too delightful to resist.
To the extreme rapidity with which ideas, sensations, desires, rush
across the brain, may be attributed the singular retardation of time,
which appears to be lengthened out to eternity. Similar effects,
proceeding, doubtless, from the same or similar causes, are noticed
in the “Confessions of an Opium-Eater,” wherein he speaks of minutes
becoming as ages.
Dr. Moreau gives singular illustrations of this peculiar state. On one
occasion he took a dose of the haschisch previously to his going to the
opera, and he fancied that he was upwards of three hours finding his
way through the passage leading to it. M. de Saulcy partook of a dose
of haschisch, and when he recovered, it appeared to him that he had
been under its influence for a hundred years at least.
Whilst an indescribable sensation of happiness takes possession of
the individual, and the joy and exultation are felt to be almost too
much to be borne, the mind seems totally at a loss to account for
it, or to explain from what particular source it springs. There is a
positive sensation of universal contentment, but it is vain to attempt
to explain the nature of the enjoyment. The peculiar motion appears
to be wholly inexplicable. A sense of something unusual pervades
every fibre, but all attempts to analyze or describe it are declared
to be in vain. After a certain period of time the system appears to
be no longer capable of further happiness, the sensibility seems
thoroughly exhausted, a gentle sense of lassitude, physical and moral,
gradually succeeds—an apathy, a carelessness, an absolute calm, from
which no exterior object can arouse the torpid frame. These are the
great characteristics of this stage. The most alarming or afflicting
intelligence is listened to without exciting any emotion. The mind
is thoroughly absorbed, the perception seems blunted, the senses
scarcely convey any impression to the brain. A re-action has taken
place, yet the collapse is unattended with any disagreeable feeling.
The energies are all prostrate, yet there are none of those depressing
symptoms which attend the last stages of ordinary intoxication. All
that is described is an ineffable tranquillity of soul, during which
it is perfectly inaccessible to sorrow or pain. “The haschisch eater
is happy,” continues Dr. Moreau, “not like the gourmand, or the
famished man when satisfying his appetite, or the voluptuary in the
gratification of his amative desires; but like him who hears tidings
which fill him with joy, or like the miser counting his treasures,
the gambler who is successful at play, or the ambitious man who is
intoxicated with success.”
All those who have tried the experiment do not speak in such glowing
terms of the results. M. de Saulcey, who tried it at Jerusalem,
says:——“The experiment, to which we had recourse for passing our time,
turned out so utterly disagreeable that I may safely say, not one of us
will ever be tempted to try it again. The haschisch is an abominable
poison which the dregs of the population alone drink and smoke in the
East, and which we were silly enough to take, in too large a dose, on
the eve of New Year’s-day. We fancied we were going to have an evening
of enjoyment, but we nearly died through our imprudence. As I had taken
a larger dose of this pernicious drug than my companions, I remained
almost insensible for more than twenty-four hours, after which I found
myself completely broken down with nervous spasms, and incoherent
dreams.”
It is not uncommon for illusions and hallucinations to occur during the
early stage, when the senses have lost their power of communicating
faithfully to the brain the impressions they receive.
Dr. Auber, in his work on the plague, narrates various instances
of delusions occurring in the course of his administering hemp
preparations as a relief in that disease. An officer in the navy saw
puppets dancing on the roof of his cabin—another believed that he was
transformed into the piston of a steam-engine—a young artist imagined
that his body was endowed with such elasticity as to enable him to
enter into a bottle, and remain there at his ease. Other writers speak
of individuals similarly affected: one of a man who believed himself
changed entirely into brittle glass, and in constant fear of being
cracked or broken, or having a finger or toe knocked off; another, of
a youth who believed himself growing and expanding to such an extent,
that he deemed it inevitable that the room in which he was would be
too small to contain him, and that he must, during the expansion,
force up the ceiling into the room above. Dr. Moreau, on one occasion,
believed that he was melting away by the heat of the sun, at another,
that his whole body was inflated like a balloon, that he was enabled
to elevate himself, and vanish in the air. The ideas that generally
presented themselves to him of these illusions were, that objects
wore the semblance of phantasmagoric figures, small at first, then
gradually enlarging, then suddenly becoming enormous and vanishing.
Sometimes these figures were subjects of alarm to him. A little hideous
dwarf, clothed in the dress of the thirteenth century, haunted him for
some time. Aware of the delusion, he entreated that the object which
kept up the illusion should be removed—these were a hat and a coat
upon a neighbouring table. An old servant of seventy-one, was, upon
another occasion, represented by his eye to the brain as a young lady,
adorned with all the grace of beauty, and his white hair and wrinkles
transformed into irresistible attractions. A friend who presented him
with a glass of lemonade was pictured to his disordered imagination as
a furnace of hot charcoal. Sometimes the happiness was interrupted by
delusions that affrighted him. Thus, having indulged himself with his
accustomed dose, every object awoke his terror and alarm, which neither
the conviction of his own mind nor the soothing explanations of his
friends could diminish, and he was for a considerable length of time
under the most fearful impressions.
“Through the darkness spread
Around, the gaping earth then vomited
Legions of foul and ghastly shapes, which
Hung upon his flight.”
These are the immediate effects produced by this most extraordinary
substance. There are others, however, still more singular, which
have attracted the attention of travellers, and become the objects of
intense curiosity. These are of a nature unknown in connection with
any other substance, and have formed the basis of numerous marvellous
narrations, that have astonished even the incredulous. Those who have
seen the fearful symptoms betrayed during delirium tremens, and have
heard the sufferers declare that they saw before them genii, fairies,
devils, know how the senses may become the source of delusion, and
hence may judge to _what_ a disordered state of the intellect may
lead. When the brain has once become disordered by the use of the
narcotic hemp, it becomes ever afterwards liable to hallucinations and
delusions, unlike those produced by anything else, save intoxicating
liquours after an attack of delirium tremens. The mind then believes
that it sees visions, and beholds beings with whom it can converse.
The phenomena gradually develop themselves, until illusions take the
place of realities, and hold firm possession of the mind, which would
seem on all other points to be healthy and vigorous, but on this point,
insane. So firm and so fixed becomes the belief, that neither argument
convinces, nor ridicule shakes, the individual from his faith, in which
a prejudiced or too credulous nature confirms him but the more.
The Arabs, especially those of Egypt, are exceedingly superstitious,
and there is scarce a person, even among the better informed, who does
not believe in the existence of genii. According to their belief there
are three species of intelligent beings, namely, angels, who were
created of light, genii, who were created of fire, and men, created of
earth. The prevailing opinion is that Sheytans (devils) are rebellious
genii. It is said that God created the genii two thousand years before
Adam, and that there are believers and infidels among them as among
men. It is held that they are aerial animals with transparent bodies,
which can assume any form. That they are subject to death, but live
many ages. The following are traditions of the Prophet concerning
them. The genii are of various shapes, having the forms of serpents,
scorpions, lions, wolves, jackals, &c. They are of three kinds, one
on the land, one in the sea, one in the air. They consist of forty
troops, each troop consisting of six hundred thousand. They are of
three sorts, one has wings and fly; another, are snakes and dogs; and
the third move about from place to place like men. Domestic snakes on
the same authority, are asserted to be genii. If serpents or scorpions
intrude themselves upon the faithful at prayers, the Prophet orders
that they be killed, but on other occasions, first to admonish them
to depart, and then if they remained to kill them. It is related that
Aisheeh, the prophet’s wife, having killed a serpent in her chamber,
was alarmed by a dream, and fearing that it might have been a Muslim
Jinnee, as it did not enter her chamber when she was undressed, gave
in alms, as an expiation, about three hundred pounds, the price of the
blood of a Muslim. The genii appear to mankind most commonly in the
shapes of serpents, dogs, cats, or human beings. In the last case, they
are sometimes of the stature of men, and sometimes of a size enormously
gigantic. If good, they are generally resplendently handsome, if
evil, horribly hideous. They become invisible at pleasure (by a rapid
extension or rarefaction of the particles which compose them) or
suddenly disappear in the earth or air, or through a solid wall.
The Sheykh Khaleel El Medabighee related the following anecdote of a
Jinnee. He had, he said, a favourite black cat, which always slept
at the foot of his musquito curtain. Once, at midnight, he heard a
knocking at the door of his house, and his cat went and opened the
hanging shutter of the window, and called, “Who is there?” A voice
replied, “I am such a one,” (mentioning a strange name) “the jinnee,
open the door.” “The lock,” said the Sheykh’s cat, “has had the name
pronounced upon it.” It is the custom to say, “In the name of God, the
compassionate, the merciful,” on locking the door, covering bread,
laying down their clothes at night, and on other occasions, and this
they believe protects their property from genii. “Then throw me down,”
said the voice, “two cakes of bread.” “The bread-basket,” answered
the cat at the window, “has had the name pronounced upon it.” “Well,”
said the stranger, “at least give me a draught of water.” But he was
answered that the water-jar had been secured in the same manner, and
asked what he was to do, seeing that he was likely to die of hunger
and thirst. The Sheykh’s cat told him to go to the door of the next
house, and went there also himself, and opened the door, and soon
after returned. Next morning the Sheykh deviated from a habit which he
had constantly observed; he gave to the cat half of the fateereh upon
which he breakfasted instead of a little morsel which he was wont to
give, and afterwards said, “O my cat, thou knowest that I am a poor
man; bring me then a little gold,” upon which words the cat immediately
disappeared, and he saw it no more. Such are the stories which they
believe and narrate of these genii; and there is scarce an indulger in
haschisch whose imagination does not lead him to believe that he has
seen or had communication with some of these beings.
Mr. Lane, translator of the “Arabian Nights,” had once a humourous
cook addicted to the intoxicating haschisch, of whom he relates the
following circumstance:——“Soon after he had entered my service, I
heard him, one evening, muttering, and exclaiming on the stairs as
if surprised at some event, and then politely saying, ‘But why are
you sitting here in the draught? Do me the favour to come up into the
kitchen, and amuse me with your conversation a little!’ The civil
address not being answered, was repeated, and varied several times,
till I called out to the man, and asked him to whom he was speaking.
‘The efreet of a Turkish soldier,’ he replied, ‘is sitting on the
stairs, smoking his pipe, and refuses to move; he came up from the well
below; pray step and see him.’ On my going to the stairs, and telling
the servant that I could see nothing, he only remarked that it was
because I had a clear conscience. My cook professed to see this efreet
frequently after.”
Dr. Moreau enumerates many instances, from his own immediate followers,
of genii seers among the haschisch eaters. His dragoman, who had
been attached in that capacity to Champollion, the captain of the
vessel, and several sailors, had not only a firm belief in, but had
actually received visits from genii or efreets, and neither argument
nor ridicule could shake their conviction. The captain had, on two
occasions, seen a jinnee, he appeared to him under the form of a sheep.
On returning one evening somewhat late to his house, the captain found
a stray sheep bleating with unusual noise. He took him home, sheared
him for his long fleece, and was about to kill him, when suddenly the
sheep rose up to the height of twenty feet, in the form of a black man,
and in a voice of thunder, announced himself as a jinnee.
One of the sailors, Mansour, a man who had made nearly twenty voyages
with Europeans, recounted his interview with a genius under the guise
of a young girl of eight or ten years of age. He met her in the evening
on the banks of the Nile, weeping deplorably because she had lost her
way. Mansour, touched with compassion, took her home with him. In
the morning he mounted her on an ass, to take her to her parents. On
entering a grove of palms, he heard behind him some fearful sighs; on
looking round to ascertain the cause, he saw, to his horror, that the
little girl had dismounted, that her lower extremities had become of an
enormous length, resembling two frightful serpents, which she trailed
after her in the sand. Her arms became lengthened out, her face mounted
up into the skies, black as charcoal, her immense mouth, armed with
crocodile’s teeth, vomited forth flame. Poor Mansour fell suddenly upon
the earth, where, overcome with terror, he passed the night. In the
morning he crawled home, and two months of illness attested the fact of
disorder of the brain.
Many such tales are recounted, and all told by the sufferers with
the firmest belief, and the most earnest conviction of their truth;
each, by his own delusion, strengthening and confirming others. All
those who had seen visions had their minds diseased through the use
of haschisch, while those who did not indulge in the habit were free
from these extraordinary illusions. These hallucinations seem to be
manifested independently of any then existing affection of the brain,
and the individual appears, under other circumstances, fitted for the
usual avocations of life. They may be only symptoms of a previously
disordered intellect, but they may also be the starting point,
from which insanity is developed. In all instances in which these
hallucinations occur, watchfulness is necessary, since, in the majority
of cases they terminate finally in derangement of the brain to the
extent generally denominated _madness_.
Other curious results from the use of this narcotic are detailed by
Dr. O’Shaughnessy, as exhibited by patients in India, to whom he had
prescribed it, in his capacity of medical practitioner, and other
experiments he made.
A dog, to whom some _churrus_ was given, in half an hour became stupid
and sleepy, dozing at intervals, starting up, wagging his tail as if
extremely contented; he ate food greedily, on being called he staggered
to and fro, and his countenance assumed the appearance of utter and
helpless drunkenness. In six hours these symptoms had passed away, and
he was perfectly well and lively.
A patient to whom hemp had been administered, on a sudden uttered a
loud peal of laughter, and exclaimed, that four spirits were springing
with his bed into the air. Attempts to pacify him were in vain, his
laughter became momentarily more and more uncontrollable. In a short
time he exhibited symptoms of that peculiar nervous condition, which
mesmerists have of late years made us more acquainted with, under the
name of _catalepsy_. In whatever imaginable attitude his arms and legs
were placed, they became rigid and remained. A waxen figure could not
be more pliant or stationary in each position, no matter how contrary
to the natural influence of gravity on the part. A strong stimulant
drink was given to him, and his intoxication led to such noisy
exclamations, that he had to be removed to a separate room, where he
soon became tranquil, in less than an hour his limbs had gained their
natural condition, and in two hours he said he was perfectly well, and
very hungry.
A rheumatic cooly was subjected to the influence of half a grain
of hemp resin. In two hours the old gentleman became talkative and
musical, told several stories, and sang songs to a circle of highly
delighted auditors, ate the dinners of two persons, subscribed for him
in the ward, and finally fell soundly asleep, and so continued until
the following morning. At noon he was perfectly free from headache, or
any unpleasant sequel; at his request, the medicine was repeated, and
he was indulged with it for a few days, and then discharged.
A medical pupil took about a quarter of a grain of the resin in the
form of tincture. A shout of loud and prolonged laughter ushered in the
symptoms, and a state of catalepsy occurred for two or three minutes.
He then enacted the part of a Rajah giving orders to his courtiers;
he could recognize none of his fellow students or acquaintances—all
to his mind seemed as altered as his own condition; he spoke of many
years having passed since his student’s days, described his teachers
and friends with a piquancy which a dramatist would envy, detailed
the adventures of an imaginary series of years, his travels, his
attainment of wealth and power. He entered on discussions on religious,
scientific, and political subjects, with astonishing eloquence, and
disclosed an extent of knowledge, reading, and a ready apposite wit,
which those who knew him best were altogether unprepared for. For three
hours and upwards he maintained the character he at first assumed,
and with a degree of ease and dignity perfectly becoming his high
situation. This scene terminated nearly as abruptly as it commenced,
and no headache, sickness, or other unpleasant symptoms followed the
excess.
Without detailing instances in which its virtues as a medicinal agent
are set forth, or naming cases of hydrophobia in which it was given
and failed, or of tetanus in which it was resorted to with success, we
can scarce forbear noticing the fact, that to an infant only 60 days
old, 130 drops of the tincture had to be given to produce narcotism,
whilst 10 drops produced those effects in the student above named, who
believed himself an important Rajah.
The most recent information we have of the effects of haschisch is
supplied by Professor K. D. Schroff. It relates to a kind called
“Birmingi,” the laughter producer (“macht keif”) obtained from
Bucharest.
This preparation was in the form of tablets, hard and difficult to
break, externally almost black and smooth, with but a slight smell. The
taste was neither bitter nor aromatic, but rather insipid. On prolonged
mastication, the very tough mass became gradually pappy, and eventually
dissolved in the saliva, leaving a crumbling solid substance. It
produced irritation in the throat, when chewed for a long time.
Dr. Heinrich took ten grains of this preparation in May, 1859, at about
half-past five in the afternoon. He chewed this quantity for about an
hour, during which it gradually dissolved and was swallowed; only the
insoluble residue, about two grains, was spit out. Irritation of the
throat, and slight nausea, succeeded. The attempt to smoke a cigar in
the open air had to be given up on account of dryness and roughness
in the throat. Dr. H. walked into town, and looked at the print-shops
without perceiving any change in himself. At the end of an hour and a
half, about seven o’clock, he met an acquaintance, to whom he talked
all kinds of nonsensical trash, and made the most foolish comparisons;
henceforth, everything he looked at seemed to him ridiculous. This
condition of excitement lasted about twenty minutes, during which
his face and eyes grew redder and redder. Suddenly a great degree of
sadness came over him; everything was too narrow for him—he acquired
a disturbed appearance, and became pale. His sadness increased to a
feeling of anxiety, accompanied by the sensation as if his blood was
flowing in a boiling state up to his head; the feeling as if his body
was raised aloft, and as if he was about to fly up, was particularly
characteristic. His anxiety and weakness overcame him to such a degree,
that he was obliged to collect all the power of his will, and his
companion had to seize him firmly under the arm, in order to bring him
on, which was done in all haste, as he feared a new attack, and wished,
if possible, to reach a place where he could be taken care of; but in
the course of three minutes, while he was still walking, the attack set
in with increased violence.
It was only with great difficulty he reached the Institute—here he
immediately drank two pints of cold water, and washed his head, neck,
and arms with fresh water, on which he became somewhat better. The
improvement, however, lasted only about five minutes. He sat down
on a chair and felt his pulse, which he found to be very small and
slow, with very long intervals. He was no longer in a state to take
out his watch to ascertain more exactly the frequency of his pulse,
for the feeling of anxiety came over him again, and with it he traced
the premonitory symptoms of a new and violent attack. He was taken
into the adjoining chamber, stripped himself partly of his clothes,
and gave over his things, directing what was to be done with them
after his death, for he was firmly convinced that his last hour had
struck, and continually cried out, “I am dying; I shall soon be
undergoing dissection in the dead-room.” The new attack was more
violent than the former were, so that the patient retained only an
imperfect degree of consciousness, and at the height of the paroxysm,
even this disappeared. After the fit, too, consciousness returned but
imperfectly: only so much remained in his recollection, that the
images which arose within him constantly increased in ghastliness,
until they gave way to the unconscious state, and that gradually,
with returning consciousness, less formidable figures appeared in
their stead. Subsequently he stated that it appeared to him as if he
were transported from the level surface to a hill, thence to a steep
precipice, thence to a bare rock, and lastly to the ridge of a hill,
with an immense abyss before him. From this time, he could no longer
control the current of ideas following one another with impetuous
haste, and he could not avoid speaking uninterruptedly until a fresh
attack came on, which quite deprived him of consciousness for some
minutes. The flow of his ideas had now free course; and notwithstanding
his loquacity, he could only utter a few words of what he imagined.
All his thoughts and deeds from his childhood came into his mind. The
senses of sight and hearing were unimpaired, for when he opened his
eyes, he knew all who were standing about him, and recognized them by
their voices when his eyes were closed. Towards ten o’clock—that is,
four hours and a half after the seizure—the storm was somewhat allayed;
he obtained control over his imagination, ceased to speak incessantly,
and traced where he felt pain. During the night he drank a great deal
of lemonade; nevertheless, sleep fled from him, and his imagination
was constantly at work. Next morning he dressed, and was conveyed
home, but could not set to his daily work, because, notwithstanding
the greatest efforts, he could not collect his scattered thoughts,
and he also felt bodily weak. He was obliged to take to bed, where
he remained till the morning of the third day. During this time, he
drank four pints of lemonade, and took soup only twice, as he had no
appetite. On the third day he was led about, supported by a second
person, but was still rather confused and giddy. This day he ate but
little, and drank lemonade. During the second and third nights, his
sleep was tranquil. On the fourth day he felt well again, regained
his appetite, his strength increased, and his appearance became less
unsettled. Nevertheless, walking about for half an hour tired him
much. The depression which came on after the excitement gave way only
gradually.[24]
The incautious use of hemp is also noticed as leading to, or ending
in, insanity, especially among young persons, who try it for the first
time. This state may be recognised by the strange balancing gait of
the victim, a constant rubbing of the hands, perpetual giggling, and a
propensity to caress and chafe the feet of all bystanders, of whatever
rank. The eye wears an expression of cunning and merriment which can
scarcely be mistaken. In a few cases, the patients are violent—in all,
voraciously hungry.
Under the influence of this drug, its devotees exhibited, doubtless,
to the astonished gaze of the early travellers from this, and other
northern countries, strange freaks and antics, which filled them
with wonder, and sent them home brim-full of wonderful legends and
marvellous stories gathered from the lips of the votaries of Hemp. The
ready and active brain of the oriental—always associating places and
people, actions and accidents, men and manners, with the unseen agency
of ghosts and genii—under the influence of haschisch, gave full scope
to their imaginations, letting loose upon the traveller a torrent
of romance, and peopling every corner of his route with legions of
spirits, set him wondering to himself whether he had really escaped
from the common-place world of his nativity into another sphere
specially devoted to the occupation of etherial beings. Now listening
to the narrative of a reputed communicant with spirits, he hears of
the concentrated genii, confined in the narrow form of a little dog,
or smaller still, in a little fish, gradually expanding, and towering
higher and higher, till his head reached to the clouds, and then
with a voice of thunder communicating his message to the terrified
and superstitious Arab crouching at his feet. Anon, he hears of the
plague, and his credulous dragoman informs him that once upon a time a
pious Moslem was worshipping at sunrise, when he saw a hideous phantom
approaching him, and the following conversation passed between them.
“Who art thou?”
“The Plague.”
“Whither goest thou?”
“To Cairo.”
“Wherefore?”
“To kill ten thousand.”
“Go not.”
“It is destined that I should.”
“Go then, but slay not more than thou hast said.”
“To hear is to obey.”
After the plague was over, at the same hour, and in the same place, the
phantom once more appears to him, and the holy man again addressed him
thus—
“Whence comest thou?”
“From Cairo.”
“How many persons hast thou destroyed?”
“Ten thousand, according to my orders.”
“Thou liest, twenty thousand are dead.”
“’Tis true, I killed ten thousand, _fear_ carried off the remainder.”
Shortly, and the traveller passes a tree, a mound, or a mass of ruins.
The dragoman narrates the story of confined treasures and protecting
genii, and marvels of the days long gone, and of deeds of sin, and
ends with the universal ejaculation, “God is great, and Mahomet is
his prophet.” From these people of mysteries and land of marvels the
traveller returns, and though he only narrates, for fear of shame,
the more credible of the stories he has heard, from that day forth,
poor man, his friends shake their heads, and mutter their fears that a
tropical sun has addled his brains.
Naturally and nationally superstitious and credulous, the use of the
narcotic assists in adding to his store of legendary lore, and the
Arab or Turk becomes in himself not only a new edition of the “Arabian
Night’s Entertainments,” but it also becomes in him a living belief,
and the narration comes from his lips with all the earnestness of
positive truth, impressing itself upon the auditor as a circumstance
in which the narrator was a principal actor. And father to son, and
generation to generation, tell the tales, recount the marvels, and
swallow the haschisch of their forefathers, and Allah is praised, and
Mahomet is still “the Prophet.”