The leaves and blossoms are dried, and are either smoked like tobacco, or formed into a paste with various substances and chewed.
When the plant approaches maturity, a gummy substance exudes from the leaves; this is gathered by men clothed in dry raw hides, who, by walking through the plantation, become covered with this gum or glue.
This is scraped off and carefully preserved, being the very essence of the plant, and exceedingly powerful in its effects.
The sensation produced by the properties of this shrub is a wild, dreamy kind of happiness; the ideas are stimulated to a high degree, and all that are most pleasurable are exaggerated till the senses at length sink into a vague and delightful elysium.
The reaction after this unnatural excitement is very distressing, but the sufferer is set all right again by some trifling stimulant, such as a glass of wine or spirits.
It is supposed, and confidently asserted by some, that the Indian hemp is the foundation of the Egyptian "hashisch," the effects of which are precisely similar.
However harmless the apparent effect of a narcotic drug, common sense must at once perceive that a repeated intoxication, no matter how it is produced, must be ultimately hurtful to the system.

The brain, accustomed to constant stimulants, at length loses its natural power, and requires these artificial assistants to enable it to perform its ordinary functions, in the same manner that the stomach, from similar treatment, would at length cease to act.

This being continued, the brain becomes semi-torpid, until wakened up by a powerful stimulant, and the nervous system is at length worn out by a succession of exciting causes and reactions.

Thus, a hard drinker appears dull and heavy until under the influence of his secret destroyer when he brightens up and, perhaps, shines in conversation; but every reaction requires a stronger amount of stimulant to lessen its effect, until mind and body at length become involved in the common ruin.
The seed of the lotus is a narcotic of a mild description, and it is carefully gathered when ripe and eaten by the natives.
The lotus is seen in two varieties in Ceylon--the pink and the white.
The former is the most beautiful, and they are both very common in all tanks and sluggish streams.

The leaves are larger than those of the waterlily, to which they bear a great resemblance, and the blossoms are full double the size.