Many Ways in Which the Potent Drug is Smuggled
“An Egyptian smoker of hasheesh is even a more helpless slave then the Chinese opium fiend. He knows that in the end he will become a madman, yet he rushes toward the awful goal with unrelaxed speed. With the strange exalation which first comes to the smoker, he feels himself floating from cloud to cloud, or alighting in gardens of palaces, all his own; or swimming with mermaids through the opalescent depths of the sea.”
They just don’t write the same anymore…
“Not long ago a great number of table legs were unloaded on a wharf at Alexandria, consigned to an interior point. In unloading the legs into a nile skiff, a stevedore chanced to break one in two. Before long he was dancing about, stretching his arms over his head, lifting his feet as high as his waist with every step, and muttering:
“Let me have hell, too. I am ruler of heaven; why should not my domain include hell also.”
On examination it was found that about half of the table legs were hollow, and were filled with the green dust of hasheesh, and the stevedore had helped himself liberally from the storehouse he had discovered.”
– New York Tribune, May 22, 1904
New-York tribune, May 22, 1904
Hasheesh in Egypt
Many Ways in Which the Potent Drug is Smuggled
The Egyptian in satisfying his pasion for the dream giving hasheesh seeks to baffle the English customs officers in many odd ways. At Alexandria there is a veritable museum, where are stored pianos, picture frames, biscuit boxes, table legs, books demijohns and refrigerators. In all these articles smugglers had stored hasheesh. Despite the vigilance of the English officials, it is estimated that not more than one-tenth of the baneful drug imported into Egypt is discovered.
An Egyptian smoker of hasheesh is even a more helpless slave then the Chinese opium fiend. He knows that in the end he will become a madman, yet he rushes toward the awful goal with unrelaxed speed. With the strange exalation which first comes to the smoker, he feels himself floating from cloud to cloud, or alighting in gardens of palaces, all his own; or swimming with mermaids through the opalescent depths of the sea. And when the brain grows sluggish he believes that he can woo back his fondest dreams with a little more potent dose.
Most of the hasheesh which Egypt consumes comes from Greece. From the husks of hemp seeds and the tender tops of the hemp plant the Greeks manufacture a greenish powder, whose fumes bring the ecstasy its victims desire. The profits of those who successfully smuggle the drug into the ancient land of the Pharaohs are tremendous. Outside of Egypt hasheesh sells for 50 cents a pound. In the country adjoining the Nile it costs as much as $5.
Not long ago a great number of table legs were unloaded on a wharf at Alexandria, consigned to an interior point. In unloading the legs into a nile skiff, a stevedore chanced to break one in two. Before long he was dancing about, stretching his arms over his head, lifting his feet as high as his waist with every step, and muttering:
“Let me have hell, too. I am ruler of heaven; why should not my domain include hell also.”
On examination it was found that about half of the table legs were hollow, and were filled with the green dust of hasheesh, and the stevedore had helped himself liberally from the storehouse he had discovered.
There is hardly an article of commerce on which the hasheesh smuggler does not levy in trying to “run” the customs office. The backs of pianos have been stripped off to reveal packages of hasheesh tucked away in various parts of the case so carefully that one might play a beethoven symphony without the slightest hint that the instrument was drugged.
Jugs formerly proved a favorite purveyor of the smuggler’s hasheesh. They wee made with double sides, so that they were in reality narrow bottles inclosed within wide flanged earthen sides. The neck of the bottle was the neck of the jug, so that on pulling out the cork one might pour out true liquor, yet, on cracking the jug one could find the packages of hasheesh stowed away between the outer and inner walls.
– New-York tribune, May 22, 1904