The  question  arose  what  was  to  be  done,
and,  with  the  timidity  common  to  subordi-
nate officials,  the  provincial  authorities  de-
termined to  ignore  the  information  they  had
received  rather  than  offend  so  potent  a  mag-
nate as  the  commissioner.  By  this  derelic-
tion of  duty  the  customs  were  the  poorer  by
some  twenty  thousand  taels.
So  portable  is  the  drug  in  its  prepared
state  that  in  the  provinces,  where  silver  is
not  always  obtainable,  it  is  used  as  currency.
284


CHINA:    PAST  AND    PRESENT.
and  travellers  are  commonly  in  the  habit  of
paying  their  hotel  bills  with  pieces  of  opium
of  the  value  demanded  by  the  landlord.
This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  at  length
the  effect  of  opium  smoking  on  the  people.
The  whole  subject,  however,  is  so  sur-
rounded with  sentimental  enthusiasm  that
a  fact,  however  small,  bearing  on  the  ques-
tion is  worth  recording.  It  is  commonly
said  by  the  opponents  of  the  trade  that  so


lieve  their  sufferings.  By  deprivation  they
are  cured  for  the  time  being  of  the  habit,
and  in  no  instance  have  fatal  consequences
resulted  from  this  Spartan  method.
Unmindful  of  the  lesson  thus  taught,  mis-
sionaries are  not  unfrequently  in  the  habit  of
attempting  to  cure  opium  smokers  by  ad-
ministering morphia  pills.  That  they  effect
cures  by  this  means  is  very  certain,  but  the
doubt  arises  whether  the  remedy  is  not  worse


A    MOUNTED    MILITARY    BOWMAN    OF    ANCIENT   TIMES.
