Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 3 June 1922, page 28


STUDIES IN MAKE-UP IN THE UNIVERSITY ST

IN THE GRIP OF OPIUM. Photographer Secures Impression of One Who Has Smoked for Nearly Fifty Years. DEXTEROUS TWIRLING OF THE DRUG DROP.

Junt as the i»la-nie rats escape the vigilant eyes ot armies of piufcsMonnl rat hunters. more vigilant eyes cf all Hie Customs and putice offiuials in the CoiuTnonwialth. ^ut*Ii tlitu-^ must be in the Um. of regulated comrnuu.it ics. The opium evil tame here when

the Chinese first «\mc. It will go wlicn the la^t of the tVlo-tiuls leave, and lhat will their opium as a r-.ntik.cr does his ] ipe 01' cigareltP ', even more. They smoke it by reason of habit, just as we draw fumes Llirough the slender lore of a briar. So the Chinese srek ojiiuni a.l the moic.

AX AxilKXT DKVOTKKOF THK 1)ISU(; LAXCLIDLY LKTS THK ( AMKHA T\KI-- HIM

boy*s e.-tlinp of juicy oranges sto'en from an orchard. graph as a devotee of the forbidden narcotie of the Hast in seventy -bis years old. and ib one of Sydney tonfirnied opium smokers. He is a resident of the lower end or the city, and has been in Sydney lor and broupht liiu initial eu[iply of opium w-ith him. Ever sinee, he lias been re. plenishinp supplies tvitli l.ttlo A Hieulty. The drufr has become part of his l.fo, and tolerant Authority to a certain extent lias permitted his popscB^ion of it. There are

opium is for them, a ne-£-£ary cctuuiodity. Working up I lie Drug. It took two days of erntle waxing lo assure the old pentleman that tl:e camera was harmless. He seamed to regarl the operator and reporter as inagsmen of the lowest type, who would turn pickpockets at Hong Kong lay on his right side and held his pipe in the right hand. With the left he took a dipi-er. an irctrument fashioned like a thin darning needle, and the point of this he inserted in a Hniall lot of op'um in a metal jar no larger than a lady's lp salve holder. lie twirled the dipper round unti' a large drop of the treacly substance adhered to it. ' Still tivir.'ing to prevent ft falling he brought the drop over the flame ol a small lamp and rcasted it. Tile twirling shows remarkable dexterity. He roasted it gently till it feenied like burnt worsted and fimelt like a burnt mutton chop. Kvery now and then he took it away from the flame and rolled it, utill on the. point of the dipjwr, on the flat surfa.-o of the pijie hou-I. When the drop was rua-ted anil rolled to his satwacticn li? heaicd the .Liitrc of the Imn-I in which there is a small

'UDENTS' COMMEM. PROCESSION IN SYDNEY.

into the bole. He twirled it still more, oolj quickly, and withdrew it. The opium, now about the vm a a grain of hempseeJ, waa left adhering to iho bowl immediately over the orifice. One wishes ho could write like Kiplinc. is that description of the opium amakcr : ** Htflem, you take him so.' The ? old d^f assumed a comfortable lying attitude, 4(4.1 the pipe in both hands, leased over a little, and held the liovl om the lamp. You could sec the. opium bubbling; and mouldering, and you could almost see tie Chinaman's moutli ' watering.' lie put the stem to hie lips, made three or four inhalations swallowed the smoke, in the draw-hack way, and then exhaled it thro)i^i liis nostrils and mouth. That iras quite Hrthcient for the first smoke. He dropped Jus arms, Bhiftcd into a more comfortable motion, and looked heavycyed and stmKi Hut he quickly recovered. When he sv^*ini- \t0tre preparing the pine again he looked twenty years younger. '? AU-i,' was all be raid, and the twinkling smile amid tile numlierless wrinkles in bis drawn face negated that assuredly it was ' all right' forthc moment.

FOR MEN WHO WORK AFTER HOURS. OKTHELKFT. IMPLEMENTS IX A mK-;I.AKS RTF UJX-KXTLY FO I Nl) BY SYDXKY DEI B I IVts. ^TUE RIOHT, TTEAi-ON S ISE1) «Y FOOTPADS FOB SAND-BA«:.:lNft.

Dream Theory. Afterwards a Chinese interpreter was requested to ask the smoker the effects the drug had on him. It was then explained that all it did was that it 'make him happy, livened him up, made him ' don'tcar* ' for anything, and tcok away h s tired legs.*' ' What about the dreams we lieai about V ' the interpreter was a.-ked. - Ah, all that is a wrong European idea,'' be said ; ' there are no dreams— only stupidity nnd uselestnesb when you tmoke too mnch. If you ^moke opium a great deal you -an*t live without it and you can't s!cep. Some Cluncse smoke twenty 01 thuty or forty pipes a day ; but then they stow nilly, and the new day they are useless and rerj' pick. It takes another smoke tr make them veil aga.n.' Opium enables a -~hincsc to undergo great fr.ti^ue and to go for a eonsiderahie time with little or no food. But those who are inveterate smokers are generally fit for nothing else than the drug. With European smokers, too, the same bad effects result. The opium -auses loss cf appetite, a leaden pallor of the skin, and leanness so excessive that the victims apjxar like living skeletons, and a!l in

flination for exertion Ix-eomcs eradually lost. They become moral imliecilc-, and arc addicted to other forms .if the most horrible depravitr.