. It
now passes into the hands of the Bunniah, who prepares it and brings
it to market. From twenty-five to fifty pounds having been
collected, is tied up in parcels in double bags of sheeting cloth,
which are suspended from the ceilings so as to avoid air and light,
while the spare linseed oil is allowed to drop through. This
operation is completed in a week or ten days, but the bags are
allowed to remain for a month or six weeks, during which period the
last of the oil that can be separated comes away; the rest probably
absorbs oxygen and becomes thicker, as in paint. This process
occupies from April to June or July, when the rain begins. The bags
are next taken down and their contents carefully emptied into large
vats from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and six or eight inches
thick. Here it is mixed together and worked up with the hands five
or six hours, until it has acquired an uniform color and consistence
throughout, become tough and capable of being formed into masses.
This process is peculiar to Malwa. It is now made up into balls of
from eight to ten ounces each, these being thrown, as formed, into a
basket full of the chaff of the seeds pod. It is next spread out on
ground previously covered with leaves and stalks of the poppy; here
it remains for a week or so, when it is turned over and left further
to consolidate, until hard enough to bear packing. It is ready for
weighing in October or November, and is then sent to market. It is
next packed in chests of 150 cakes, the total cost of the drug at
the place of production being about fourteen rupees per chest,
including all expenses. About 20,000 chests are annually sent from
Malwa, at a prime cost charge of two lacs and 80,000 rupees. It may
easily be supposed that manipulations so numerous, complex, and
tedious, as those described, give the most ample opportunities for
the adulteration to which the nature of the drug tempts the
fraudulent dealer.

In order to enable the cultivator to carry on his agricultural
operations, he receives from time to time certain advances, the
amount of which reaches in the aggregate to about one-half of the
value of the estimated out-turn of produce. If the land has been
under cultivation in previous seasons, its average produce is known;
if it be new land, and considered by the Sub-De