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used for smoking is in appearance like a small club. Depraved young men without any fixed occupation used to meet together by night to smoke: it grew to be a custom with them. … In order to tempt new smokers to come, no charge was made for the first time. After some time they could not stay away and would come even if they forfeited all their property. Smokers were able to remain awake the whole night, and rejoiced as an aid to sensual indulgence. Afterwards they found themselves beyond the possibility of cure. If for one day they omitted smoking, their faces suddenly became shrivelled, their lips opened, their teeth were seen, they lost all vivacity and seemed ready to die. Another smoke, however, restored them. After three years all such persons die. … This habit has entered China about ten or more years. There are many smokers in Amoy. … It is truly sad to reflect on this."

With this information before it, the Chinese Government issued, in 1729, an edict prohibiting the sale of opium and the keeping of opium dens. The legislation adopted was peculiar in that it imposed no penalty whatever on the opium-smoker: he was apparently judged to have punished himself sufficiently. The persons held chiefly responsible were the seller of the drug and the keeper of an opium den. The former had to carry the cangue for a month prior to banishment; the latter was strangled after a cer-