Opium is largely manufactured in the fertile table-land of Maiwa in Central India, which is mostly under the rule of native chiefs, of whom Sindia and HoIkar take the first rank. Rs. 700 per chest is levied on that which Ftases through British territory for shipment to China.
In China, the poppy is largely cultivated in Sze-ehuen and Yunnan. In Yunnan the poppy fields constitute a third of the whole cultiva tion, and are yearly augmenting. Mr. Medhurst, Her Majesty's consul at Shanghai, informed the Government of India that the cultivation of opium had increased enormously, but that the consunip don had increased part pasau, and the market for the Indian drug had been but slightly affected. The province of Sze - amen seemed to bo the greatest producer. The ordinary price of the drug, as prepared in that province, was about Rs. 820 for 133k lbs. avoirdupois. At Hankow it had risen to Rs. 930. Indian opium was an expensive luxury, indulged in by a few rich men and high officials. Mr. Man, writing in 1877, mentioned that the poppy is grown all over Sheng kiang, which is another name for the province of Liao-tneg, of which New-chang is a part. In Kirin Province, out of every ten acres of available soil, eight acres are devoted to the poppy. In Tse-tse-har the poppy has been so largely intro duced as to cause quite a revolution. In 1873, the Rev. J. Edkins reported in the North China Herald that for 300 miles, between the Yellow River and the city of Tai-na-fee, poppy crops were seldom out of sight. This increase of poppy crops had occurred in the past few years, tutting spread from Yew-eheu ; and Chinese officers were making raids on poppy grounds, but they were spasmodic and inefficient. In many other parts the poppy was also cultivated, and Mr. Edkins was of opinion that, wherever the soil is dry and light, the cultivation would extend, as it had proved to be much more profitable than other crops. By the year 1880, all over the west of China, in the provinces of Yunnan, Sze-chuen, Kwi-choo, and South-Western Hou-pc, opium cultivation was everywhere tolerated, and in most places en couraged by the provincial officials. In Manchuria every farmer and every cottager had their little plot of poppy. To the north of the Yang-tze kiang, the poppy in many districts was said to be superseding the growth of cereals. In 1875, Man
churia yielded 400,000 pikuls. In 1875, the lands of Yunnan were described as a sea of pop pies. Messrs. Sultan and Stevenson, who travelled from Burma through Yunnan to Hankow, found three fourths of all the land under tillage devoted to its growth. All the good land in Yunnan was taken up with its cultivation. The crop of Western China in 1881 was estimated at 97,000 pikuls, as under :—Western Hou-pe district, 2000 pikuls ; Eastern Sze - &nen, 45,000 ; Yunnan, 40,000 ; Kwi-ehoo, 10,000. Price of North China opium, per Chinese ounce, to 3.2 tells ; Malwa opium, at New-chang, 5.8 ; Patna, 5.4 ; Chinese, 2.8. Persia has been trading with China since 1854. In Persia, in 1871, the crop of opium was esti mated at 2500 chests, but in 1879-80 the quantity was 7100 chests, and the estimate for 1880-81 was 10,000 chesta The Persian opium imported into China was 684 chests in 1877, and 3446 in 1879. Surgeon-Major Sheppard examined some samples of it, and pronounced it excellent. But that taken is Chiefly from Smyrna, and is employed in adulterating Malwa opium and the better classes of China opium. In the ten years up to 1881, the crop in Asia Minor had averaged 6000 chests, of which about two-thirds finds its way to the Smyrna market, the remainder to Constan tinople. This opium contains a high proportion of morphia, and is largely used for medical pur poses in Europe.
Indian Manufactare.—The operations of culti vating the poppy and then manufacturing its juice into good opium, require patience and delicate treatment. It has been truly said that the success of an opium crop depends entirely on the care which is bestowed upon it. In 1878-79, the total out turn in British India was 91,200 chests, of which the export value amounted to £12,993,985, and the net profit to the British Indian Government was £7,700,671. Rather more than half this total was derived from the Bengal monopoly ; the other moiety was from the transit cess levied on the Malwa product. About £1,000,000 worth of this opium was exported to Burma and the Malay settlements. The Chinese purchased the remainder for nearly £11,000,000.