a quarrel he had with the Persian ac-ing risibility at the merest trifles, causing countant. The latter mentioned as an surprise, especially to some young ladies instance of the baboo's moral degradation present, who I could see put it down to that not only was he a ganja-smoker, but the sparkling lager beer. This tendency had fallen so low as to use the common increased as the evening advanced; and ganja of the ditches. True enough, one though conscious of the figure I was makday I saw a large supply of the dried leaf ing, I felt powerless to exercise the neces. on a shelf, which he had inadvertently left | sary control. After bidding adieu to my behind. He was an active writer, how friends, as I mounted my horse in front ever, and must have used the drug ab- of the veranda, suddenly the whole place, stemiously, as it neither interfered with the familiar bungalow, walks, shrubberies, his work nor showed the usual signs of all seemed changed, and only the voices havoc in the face. Whether the con- of my friends remained the same. The tinued use of the ganja incapacitated him transformation was even greater as 1 rode from discriminating between his own prop homewards through the woods and quiet erty and another's, I cannot say, but for villages asleep in the moonlight. Now I this reason I had to part with him, which seemed to be in Spain, acting the hero of also accounted for his losing his previous the "Romance of War;" then I seemed situation. to be shooting over the moors of Scotland; and from one part of the world to another was but the flash of a moment. Now the pale moonlight showed all the vegetation crisp and sparkling with hoarfrost, or covered with snow; while the moon herself appeared a dull yellow speck in the heav ens. The whole way home I found myself forever diverging from the well-known road into bypaths; and it was only after the syce, who trotted beside me, had brought back the horse for the twentieth time, that I saw the necessity of taking his advice and dropping the reins on the horse's neck, to trust to the surer guid ance of his instinct. At times, with a strong effort, I endeavored to recall my The next of those around me whom I whereabouts; but it was only for an indiscovered to be a worshipper of the weed stant, and the memory was gone, to be was the gardener. He had been with me replaced by the unreal. At length, after at the same time as the latter baboo, and a period that seemed an age, though only had turned a secluded corner of the gar extending over a ride of four miles, I den to account to supply both his own and reached my bungalow, the sight of which the baboo's needs in the way of ganja, was the first thing that began to bring with perhaps a surplus for the bazaar. back reality. Getting into an easy-chair, He was an old, tall, lean man, with shriv-with the lamplight swimming dim and elled face, but clear, strong eyes, and wiry and strong, with an amount of activity in him which got him over as much work in an hour as took many younger men three. Whether the ganja had any thing to do with his long-sustained energy is doubtful, but he used to assert that it was it that gave strength to his old age and enabled him to work as he did.

Another of his class whom I was unfortunate enough to have later in the same post, so yielded to the allurements of the drug, that latterly he rarely appeared except in a semi-muddled, dreamy state; his shrivelled, yellow face, blear eyes as of a film drawn over them, and cracked voice, though he was a young man, showing the lengths he was going and the terrible havoc it was making of him. Premature age had already come upon him, the excitement and visions of a few years of the ganja having condensed into them the measure of a lifetime. I had also to part with him from incapacity caused by his habit.

Once I had occasion to use the ganja medicinally in the shape of some of the extract, sent to me by a bachelor friend, prepared by him as he said according to a well-known pharmacopoeia. The dose I took was ten drops, just before setting out for a neighboring bungalow where I was expected to spend the evening. During dinner, I become aware of an increas

yellow before me, 1 began to reflect with some alarm that I was suffering from an overdose of ganja. Though drowsy, I dreaded to sleep; so, drinking off a strong cup of tea, I resolved to keep awake till the effects wore off. Reading and staring at the lamp in turn was all I remembered, till I awoke next morning quite well, and without the least reaction from the night's experience. Considering the different scenes I was transported to, all of a gorgeous and fairylike nature, and minutely remembered, I could easily understand the prevalent belief that it was the ganja that gave birth to the “ Arabian Nights' Entertainments."

The natives chiefly use ganja spiced for the hookah, or as an infusion for drink.

ing, and much more so than appears on the surface. From long continuance or excess, it is a frequent cause of insanity, which may pass away on discontinuing it, or leave more or less permanent imbecility. Medicinally, it does not seem to be used by the natives, though the wild ganja is used as a medicine for cattle.

prepared for the hookah, which, like the calumet of the Red Indians, is socially passed round by the natives while discussing their village news and gossip as they sit circled near their doorways in the evening. But it is more constantly used for eating; a bit of the dry leaf being powdered in the hand as required, along with a little moist quicklime the size of a pea, is deftly conveyed to the mouth by a jerk of the wrist, and swallowed. In smoking and eating, it is used in a much milder form than even the lightest home tobacco; the water of the hookah purifies and mellows the smoke; the leaf as eaten is so dry and crisp, that half its strength is gone; while the accompanying quicklime is considered counteractive of any harm from the tobacco.

With regard to the medicinal herbs and cures of the natives, they are endless. Hardly a weed grows but they find some virtue in it for some ailment or other. The large leaf of the castor-oil plant heated and applied externally is used for allaying local inflammation and pain; the leaf and bark of the neem-tree, a wellknown and similar valuable appliance; a small weed like clover gathered among the grass is applied to the temples to allay headaches, or otherwise as a counter irritant, as we use mustard; the chireita, also

Akin to the ganja is the poppy, whose sheets of white flower surrounding every village in the cold season form one of the prettiest features of the landscape; and which, being a government monopoly, supplying a large share of the revenue, is extensively cultivated in India. The richest portions of land — namely, those closest to the houses are always allotted to it; and though a most labored crop from beginning to end, in the careful weedings and incisures and gatherings of the opium from each separate bulb-from which the milk or opium exudes-it is, even at the fractional price fixed by government, by far the most paying crop to the native. Like the ganja, it is much more used than is superficially seen, especially in towns and by Moslems (of both sexes) of the upper class, though there prevails among natives generally a sort of dread of it, and stigma attaching to the eaters, as if its dangers were fully known and appreciated. The facility of obtaining it illegally where it is universally cultivated is obviously a well-known tonic and fever preventive; great. Here and there, a prematurely sharpened and haggard face, unintelligible to others, may owe its cause to this. Opium eating, however, among the dense population of India is not so great as to mark a national evil, and is not used in the systematic way, or nearly to the stupefying extent, that it is in China. It does not appear to be much employed by them curatively beyond the use of the seed-husks — used also for smoking externally for sprains or tumors. Unlike the datoora, whose seeds are its poison, the seeds of the poppy are harmless, are used in native confectionery, and their oil in cooking besides being a well-known article of commerce and adulterative of olive oil; whereas the milk of the poppy is its active principle, a poison, narcotic, or valuable medicine, according as it is used.

Least hurtful of narcotics, the tobacco plant, largely grown wherever the soil is rich enough, is universally used over India, and though indigenous to the country, is consumed in much milder forms than at home. In the shape of a paste of mixed spices and charcoal - by some Europeans considered fragrant-it is

the milk of the chutwan tree for toothstuffing-though little needed in a coun try where tooth-brushing, like a part of their religion, precedes and follows every meal, and pearly-white teeth are the result, despite the free use of sweetmeats.

During a long residence in the country, I have on many occasions observed and experienced the value of native herbs and medicines. The mention of these to medical men, however, has received but little notice beyond an incredulous smile, or a contemptuous allusion to such "crude cures." One out of those coming under my personal notice I may mention. A child of one of my servants that appeared to be dangerously ill of incipient small-pox was given to the old gardener before referred to, to be treated for the disease, a bargain having been struck for a fee payable only on the child's recovery. There was every symptom of a severe attack; the child's breath was fetid, skin parched, lips and nose seamed and bleeding. The gardener commenced by smearing the child's body over with fresh herbs pounded in goats' milk, and then wrapping him up in a blanket, watched him the whole night, now and again reapplying the herbs and

carefully guarding him against cold.

The result of his treatment was that in twelve hours all the dangerous symptoms had disappeared, the child had complete ease, and there was no relapse from rapid convalescence. The free rush of spots that came out soon faded and disappeared. I

could hardly imagine that nature, unless aided by these herbs, could work so rapid a change. At the same time, it may be added that had government taken the home precaution of vaccination, the treatment would probably never have been needed.

on his feet. I was told I should become accustomed to camel-riding, and might even get to like it. But my faith is not great enough for that.

WILD PLANT FABRICS. A most interesting example of utilization of waste products is to be seen in a shop window in New York in the shape of a number of hanks of thread of different textures and colors, some being as soft as the finest silk, others as rough as hemp. These hanks are the result of an attempt, which seems likely to be successful, to utilize the various wild grasses and stalks for textile purposes. The cotton stalk, which in the South has been hitherto burnt as useless trash, is here made into a coarse thread fully equal to Indian jute, an article of commerce which is imported into the United States to the amount of $6,000,000 per annum. Flax straw, which is also a very common waste product in many of the States, is converted into a fibre which makes excellent linens, and serves also as a substitute for cotton when mixed with wool. These, however, are only a few instances of many materials which have been experimented upon with more or less valuable

A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT'S FIRST RIDE ON A CAMEL. The Daily Telegraph Dongola correspondent writes: A few days ago I had my first ride on a camel, and I thought it would have been my last. It was to go to our camp that I got cross-legged upon an Arab saddle, insecurely fastened by strings upon the back of a great, lumbering, humpbacked brute. I no sooner attempted to take my place on the saddle than the camel, which was lying prone, into which position he had been forced, began grunting like an old village pump violently worked. At the same time he turned his prehensile lips aside, grinned like a bull-dog, and showed a grinning row of teeth, which he sought to close upon me. I got aboard with out accident, and had not long to wait for a rise. The first movement, as he lifted his fore legs, nearly sent me over backwards; the next, as he straightened his hind legs, still more nearly tipped me over his head. I had been warned to hold tight, but it was only the clutch of desperation that saved me. After several lunges and plunges, the brute got fairly on his legs. The reins consisted of a rope round his neck for steering, and a string fastened to a ring thrust in his nostrils, to pull up his head and stop him when going too fast. My camel began to move forward, and thereupon I oscillated and see-sawed as if seized with sea-sick-results. ness or cramp in the stomach. Involuntary as the movement was, an hour of it would, I am sure, have made as abject a victim of me as the worst sufferer on a Channel passage. A heartless friend was in front of me on another camel, which he set trotting Instantly I became as helpless as a child, for my camel disregarded the strain on his nostrils and my fervent ejaculations. My profane Arabic vocabulary was too limited to have the slightest effect. I swaved to and fro, was bumped up and down, until I was almost shaken to pieces. It would have been a positive relief could I have found myself at rest on the ground, but the motion was so incessant I had not time to make up my mind what course to adopt. It ended as even experiences of the worst kind must do, and I found myself still on the camel's back. Not so my humorous friend, who, to my great comfort, performed a double somersault, and did not succeed in landing quite

Among them are the bear grass, Spanish bayonet, okra, nettle, ramie, pita, baurbor, wild coffee, and the cotton plant, all of which grow wild; and from them are produced various fibres which dye beautifully, and can be made into bagging, rope, packingthread, and paper of the finest quality, fabrics for dress, and materials for upholstering purposes. It has been found, too, that ramie and Sisal hemp fibre can be mixed with silk to great advantage, while the common American grasses are turned into fibre strong and good enough for false hair and wigs. The cocoanut shell yields a fibre quite equal to curled hair for upholstering uses. Another conversion into fibre which seems likely to be of practical value is that of the mineral asbestos, which is as fine as silk, and can be made up into fireproof curtains and hangings for walls and theatres, fireproof ropes, carpets, and, in fact, every kind of house decoration.

Public Opinion.

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