Historical Reference

The Merv Oasis: Travels and Adventures East of the Caspian During the Years 1879-80-81,
Including Five Months' Residence Among the Tekkes of Merv
By Edmund O'Donovan
Published by G. P. Putnam's sons, 1883 Volume II

Page 61

OPIUM SMOKING— A PSEUDO-ARMENIAN. 61
perfect indifference in the rooms which I chanced to occupy during my journeys. Six or eight would lie at full length on the floor, with their heads together on a pillow, and their bodies, stretched out like the spokes of a wheel, radiating from it. A small table, about a foot in diameter and six inches high, is placed near the pillow, to support the lamp, which is generally made of alabaster. The latter is fed with butter, and is covered by a large bell-glass, with a brass-bound hole in the top, over the point of the flame. The lower edge of the bell-glass is slightly raised on three props, passage for air being left to keep up the flame. Over the flame the smoker or his attendant holds a piece of opium, about the size of a pea, on the point of a metal skewer, and tempers it carefully to the consistency proper for smoking purposes. The pipe itself is an earthen or metallic bulb, about the size and shape of a small pear, having a small hole in one side, and a hollow wooden stem, about a foot long, inserted in the broader end. A piece of roasted opium is stuck in the side aperture and pierced with a pin-hole, and then held over the lamp while the smoker inhales the smoke and fumes through the stem. Half-a-dozen of inhalations bring on a semi-lethargic condition, and the smoker then relinquishes the pipe and falls back motionless on the pillow. The fumes are very sickening to a looker-on, and I have often suffered considerably from being obliged to remain in a room where opium smoking was in progress.

Though the Khan was not aware of the fact, I was not the only European in his party on this excursion. A few days after my arrival in Muhammedabad my Persian servant informed me that an Armenian trader from India was stopping at the caravanserai. I called on him a little later, and, though his features were of a European type, his dress and manners were in perfect keeping with his

Chapter 30 - Chapter 31 - Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Page 55 - Page 56 - Page 57 - Page 58 - Page 59 - Page 60 - Page 61 - Page 62 - Page 63 - Page 64 - Page 65 - Page 66 - Page 67 - Page 68 - Page 69 - Page 70 - Chapter 34

Some other works:

• Balfour on the Turkmen 1883
• Basin of the Helmand. By Markham
• Care and feeding of the Akhal Teke/Tekke Horses by Boulger
• On Journeys Between Herat, and Khiva.By Goldsmid
• Origin of the Turkmen, with an Account of the Minor Tribes by Marvin
• Road to Merv. By Rawlinson
• The Turkmen by Boulger

Last count I have over 29,000 web pages in my notes. My main sites are www.SpongoBongo.com and www.PersianCarpetGuide.com