CIIANDOO, the extract of opium which is employed in (01mi-smoking, called by the Chinese Yen-kati and Shull-yen. The opium, as exported from Calcutta, is in boxes containing forty balls, each of the size of a 32 lb. cannon shot. These balls aro enclosed in a husk of compressed poppy leaves, and contain a certain quantity of moist opium inside, but which in this state is unfit for smoking, for which it is prepared by four processes, in the following manner :—About three or four o'clock in the morning, fires are lighted, and, as the first process, a ball is divided into two equal halves by one man, who scoops out with his fingers the soft part inside, and throws it into an earthen dish ; frequently during the operation moistening and washing his hands in another vessel, the water of which is carefully preserved, into which also is thrown the har dened poppy leaf husks, when all the removable opium is obtained.
In the second operation, the husks are boiled until all their adhering opium is dissolved, strained through a double filter of cloth and China paper. The strained fluids are then mixed with the opium that was scooped out in the first operation, and boiled down in a large iron pot to the consistence of treacle. The refuse is dried and sold to Chinese, who adulterate good opium with it ;.and the filter paper is used by the Chinese as an external application in affections of the lower bowels.
In the third operation, the dissolved treacle like mass is seethed over a charcoal fire, strong and steady but not fierce temperature, during which it is worked, spread out, and again and again worked up to expel the water, but prevent it burning. When brought to the proper con sistence, it is divided into half-a-dozen lots, each of which is spread like a plaster on a nearly pot, to the depth of from half to three quarters of an inch, and then scored in all directions to allow the equal application of heat.
One pot after another is then placed over the fire, turned rapidly round, and then reversed, so as to expose the opium itself to the full heat of the red fire. This is repeated three times, the time and proper heat being judged by the workman from the aroma and colour. In this part of the process the greatest delicacy is demanded, for a little more or less fire would destroy the morning's work, or 300 or more dollars' worth of opium. The head workmen in Singapore are men who have learned their trade in China, and from their great experience are paid very high wages.
The fourth operation consists in re-dissolving this fired opium in a large quantity of water, and boiling it in copper vessels till it bo reduced to the consistence of the chandoo of the shops, the degree of tenacity being the index of its complete preparation, which is judged of by drawing it out by slips of bamboo. The quantity of chandoo obtained from the soft opium is about 75 per cent. But from the gross opium, that is, including the opium and the bark, the proportion is not more than from 50 to 54 per cent.
In this lengthened seething process, the chandoo or extract becomes less irritating and more soporific, the vegetable matter, the resin and oil, the extractive matter, being all thrown out in the refuse matter.—J. I. A. No. 1, Jan. 1848; Dr. Little; Cameron, pp. 215, 210.