res, translucent and ruby red at the edges. It is readily broken
down under water, and the solution at first filters of a sherry
color, which darkens as the process proceeds. One hundred grains of
this yield an extract to cold distilled water of from 35 to 45, and
at the temperature of 212 degs., leaves from 20 to 28 per cent.,
having a consistency of 70 to 72, the consistence of the factory.

The second quality is inferior to the first, and the third quality
is possessed of the following properties, black paste, of a very
heavy smell, drops from the examining rod, gives off from 40 to 50
per cent, of moisture, and contains a large quantity of "Pasewa;"
while the fourth or last number embraces all the kinds which are too
bad to be used in the composition of the balls, comprising specimens
of all varieties of color and consistence. This number is mixed with
water, and only used as a paste to cement the covering of the balls.

The three first qualities are emptied from their jars into large
tanks, in which they are kept until the supply of the season has
been obtained. The opium is then removed and exposed to the air on
shallow wooden frames, until it becomes of the consistency of from
69 to 70, when it is given to the cake maker, who guesses to a
drachm the exact weight, and envelops the opium in its covering of
petals, cemented by a covering of quality number 4. The balls are
then weighed and stored, to undergo a thorough ventilation and
drying. Formerly the covering of the balls was composed of the
leaves of tobacco; but the late Mr. Flemming introduced the
practice of using the petals of the poppy, which was such an
improvement that the Court of Directors presented him with 50,000
rupees. The balls, forty in number, are packed in a mango wood case,
which consists of two stories with twenty pigeon holes in each,
lined with lath and surrounded by the dried leaves of the poppy.
Sometimes these balls are so soft as to burst their skins, and much
of the liquid opium running out, is lost. In 1823, many of the
chests of Patna lost five catties from this cause, and to this day
we have the same thing continuing to occur. Patna chests are covered
with bullock hides, Benares with gunnies.

Dr. Impey, staff surgeon at Poona, who resided in Malwa from 1843 to
1846, published at Bombay, in 1848, a val