strength of the mass it
is said by one of its most extensive cultivators to be superior.

Fifth, _French_, and sixth _German Opium_, require no particular
remarks. By a recent notice I find the French are cultivating the
poppy in Algeria, from which they get opium giving a small per
centage of morphia.

Seventh, _Trebizond_ or _Persian Opium_, is sometimes met with of a
very inferior quality in the form of cylindrical sticks, which by
pressure have become angular.

Eighth, _Indian Opium_, divided into four kinds, Cutch, Malwa, Patna
and Benares. Of these Cutch is but little known or cultivated. It
occurs in small cakes covered with leaves, and its color is much
inferior to Smyrna. Malwa opium is to be met with of two kinds. The
inferior is in flattened cakes, without any external covering, dull,
opaque, blackish brown externally, internally somewhat darker, and
soft. Its color is somewhat like the Smyrna, but less powerful, and
with a slight smoky smell. Superior Malwa is in square cakes, about
three inches in length and one inch thick. It has the appearance of
a well prepared, shining, dry, pharmaceutical extract; its color is
blackish brown, its odor less powerful than Smyrna; it is not
covered by petals as the following kinds are, but smeared with oil;
it is then rubbed with pounded petals.

The Behar, Patna, and Benares Opium, being strictly in the hands of
Government, no adulteration can take place, without a most extensive
system of fraud; but it will not be uninteresting to trace the
progress of the opium from the hands of the natives, to the
condition in which it is delivered to the public by the Government.

From the commencement of the hot season to the middle of the rains
the Government is ready to receive opium, which is brought by the
natives every morning, in batches, varying in quantities from twenty
seers to a maund. The examining officer into each jar thrusts his
examining rod, which consists of a slit bamboo, and, by experience,
he can so judge of the qualities of the specimens before him, which
are sorted into lots of No. 1 to No. 4 quality. Opium of the first
quality is of a fine chesnut color, aromatic smell, and dense
consistence. It is moderately ductile, and, when the mass is torn,
breaks with a deeply notched fracture, with sharp needle-like
fib