127 
seven alligation vats, so that the consistence of eaoli 
may be uniform; the opiuni is then well mixed by 
rakes and by men walking about in it, and kneading 
it with their feet. At about 3 p.m. it is removed 
from these vats into the five caking vats; equal 
quantities being taken from each of seven alligation 
vats are distributed over the five caking vats. On 
the following morning the opium in each vat is 
again mixed by six men allotted to each from 5 a.m. 
to 8 a.m. Four samples are drawn from each vat, 
and thoroughly incorporated together, and three 
specimens from this mass are taken for assay; this 
pertains to every caking vat. Should the whole of 
the assays of each caking vat come out above 69'50 
and under 70 - 50, the agent of the Ghazeepore Fac- 
tory gives the order to cake, or in his absence the 
Principal assistant does so. 
The cultivation of the poppy plant is rendered as 
far as possible both profitable and populär. 
A large room, 944 feet long by 27 feet wide, 
accommodates the 250 cake-makers; each cake- 
maker has a number and a place assigned for him 
to work at, the cake-maker’s number being printed 
on the wall above his seat. Each man is provided 
with a wooden seat, and is furnished with a brass 
cake mould, forming the half of a hollow sphere; 
he has also a tin vessel graduated so as to hold 
4\ chittacks of lewah, the regulated quantity which 
is used in making the shell of each cake. 
The opium produce per beegah ranges from one 
to fifteen seers, according to the quality of the soil, 
and the attention and care bestowed on the culti 
vation, and state of the weather. The profit varies 
and ranges from Ue. 1 to Rs. 50 or upwards per 
beegah. 
The following materials are used in making a cake, 
and as it is necessary that every cake should be qf 
the same weight, viz., tvvo seers, every precaution is 
taken to ensure the accurate determination by weight 
or measure (caleulated for weight from actual ex- 
periments) of the articles which compose the cakc. 
The proportion of each article is given in the table 
below:— 
— 
Seers. Chittacks. 
Standard opium at 70 
Lewah at 53 - 
Flower leaves - 
Water - 
Trash - 
Total weight of cake on the~l 
day of manufacture - - J 
1 
7-5 
4-5 
5*0 
•5 
•25 
2 
1-75 
The lewah now demands attention; Lewah is a 
paste made by breaking down opium in water which 
has been used for removing the traces of opium 
which adhere to the jars and vessels in which opium 
has been placed; this is called washings or techni- 
cally dhoe; the washings contain about 8 tq 10 per 
cent. of opium; the opium is broken down in large 
vats containing about 800 cubic feet, and about 8 per 
cent. of pussewah is added to the lewah to render it 
smooth and glutinous. 
When the lewah has a consistence of over 52'50 
and under 58'50, it is called Standard lewah; its 
consistence is determined every morning by assay, 
and until it is of the proper degree, caking cannot 
commence. 
The lewah is delivered in bulk by weight, and the 
quantity to be used for each cake is measured by a 
brass cup which delivers 4\ chittacks at 53°. 
The poppy flower-leaves agglutinated by the lewah 
form the shell of the cake; five chittacks of dry 
leaves are required for each cake; but as the leaves 
vary in weight according to the amount of moisture 
in the atmosphere, ten seers are steam-dried daily to 
ascertain how much moisture they contain ; knowing 
this, an exact increase or decrease in the weight of 
leaves can be made, which is required to compensate 
for the moisture contained. This control is necessary, 
since if five chittacks of leaves are used, which cqn- 
tained much moisture, when the leaves parted with 
that moisture by evaporation in the dry months, the 
cakes would be light. 
The loss in weight which the leaves sustain by 
steam-dryings is determined on the day previous to 
their being required for use; the bulk required for 
the caking of the next day is weighed out and 
damped in the afternoon, so as to render the leaves 
supple and pliant; when dry they are crisp and 
break readily. 
Having explained the preliminaries of caking, the 
method will now be described. Down .the centre of 
the room the scales for weighing opium and the 
lewah vats are placed; there is a weighman for each 
scale and two assistants; the weighman weighs the 
opium on a very delicate scale, and one assistant 
searches the opium to ascertain finally that there 
are no extraneous matters in it; the second man 
arranges the movable tin pan, and places the opium 
on it. 
When caking commences the caking vat room 
doors are opened, and the opium is brought out in 
tinned sheet-iron vessels holding 20 lbs. each. One 
vessel is set before every scale, and a sufficient quan 
tity for one cake having been searched is handed 
over to the weighman’s second assistant, who adjusts 
the quantity in the pan. When the weighman de- 
clares it to be correct the tin plate with the opium is 
taken away by a boy to his cake-maker, who has 
been supplied in the meantime with a tin cup filled 
with the requisite amount* of lewah for a single 
cake; he has also received the proper quantityf of 
leaves for one cake. Having these by his side, he 
now rapidly forms in the brass mould the lower half 
of the shell of a cake, pasting by means of the lewall, 
leaf over leaf, until the thickness of about seven- 
sixteenths of an inch has been obtained. He allows 
in so doing the upper part of some of the leaves, which 
he tears in half and places vertically, to hang down 
outside the mould (with these he forms the upper 
half of the cake). The cake shell is principally made 
of half leaves vertically placed, other halves being 
inserted horizontally so as to give equal strength in 
all directions. Having finished the lower half of the 
shell he takes the tin plate and accurately, to a grain, 
removes the opium into the half of the shell now 
ready for its reception; it is pressed upwards into 
the shape of a cone, some pieces of leaves are applied 
horizontally to it, then some lewah, now some of the 
parts of the leaves hanging down are pulled up and 
secured, more pieces are applied horizontally, and at 
last, having pulled up and properly arranged all the 
pieces of the leaves which were hanging around the 
* 5 chittacks. 
t 2 chittacks.