Years ago the people could entertain some small hope
of prosperity now and again. If the opium crop were good, money was
plentiful. But now no opium is grown, and the misery-stricken people
have lost all hope of better times, and seem to have sunk in many
instances to the lowest pangs of distressful poverty.[K]
Reader, alarm not yourself! I am not here to lead you into a long
harangue on opium--it presents too thorny a subject for me to handle. I
am not a partisan in the opium traffic; my mission is not essentially to
denounce it; I am not impelled by an irresistible desire to investigate
facts and put them before you. There is practically no opium in Yuen-nan
to talk about.
This is absolute fact--not a Chinese fact, but good old British truth
(although British truth when it touches upon opium has been very, very
perverted since we first commenced to transact opium trade with this
great country). With the exception of one small patch, some ten miles
away from the main road between Yuen-nan-fu and Tali-fu, I saw no poppy
whatever in the province. This does not mean, however, that no opium is
to be had.
During the past three weeks[L] no less than five cases of attempted
suicide by opium poisoning have come under my personal notice in the
town in which I am residing, and there have doubtless been fifty more
which have not.
Pages:
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145