DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11638#0107
AND LOWER EGYPT. 93
sules and the pistils to a fine pow der, and reject the
Beeds. The}' mix this powder with an equal quan-
tity of tobacco, and they smoke the mixture in a
sort of pipe, a very simple imitation, but coarsely
executed, of the Persian pipe. It is nothing but
the shell of a cocoa-nut hollowed and filled with
water, through which they inhale a pungent and
intoxicating smoke. This method of smoking is
one of the most common pastimes of the women
in the southern part of Egypt.
All these preparations, as well as the parts of
the plant employed in making them, are knowp
under the Arabic name of haschich, which properly
signifies herb, as if this plant were the herb, the
plant, by way of excellence. The haschich, the
consumption of which is very considerable, is to be
found in all the markets *. When they wish to
design the plant itself, unconnected with its vir-
tues and its use, it is called haste.
Although the hemp of Egypt has a great resem-
blance to ours, it differs, nevertheless, in some cha-
* This denomination of herb has given rise to an error of M.
Kiebuhr. " The haschich" says he, " is a sort of herb which
il M. Forskal, and some others who have preceded us in the East,
" have taken for the leaves of hemp." (Description of Arabia,
p. 50.) It is, nevertheless, very certain that the haschich of t -e
Arabs is nothing else than a species, or a variety 01 hemp, of
which I have been just giving an account.
racteoi
sules and the pistils to a fine pow der, and reject the
Beeds. The}' mix this powder with an equal quan-
tity of tobacco, and they smoke the mixture in a
sort of pipe, a very simple imitation, but coarsely
executed, of the Persian pipe. It is nothing but
the shell of a cocoa-nut hollowed and filled with
water, through which they inhale a pungent and
intoxicating smoke. This method of smoking is
one of the most common pastimes of the women
in the southern part of Egypt.
All these preparations, as well as the parts of
the plant employed in making them, are knowp
under the Arabic name of haschich, which properly
signifies herb, as if this plant were the herb, the
plant, by way of excellence. The haschich, the
consumption of which is very considerable, is to be
found in all the markets *. When they wish to
design the plant itself, unconnected with its vir-
tues and its use, it is called haste.
Although the hemp of Egypt has a great resem-
blance to ours, it differs, nevertheless, in some cha-
* This denomination of herb has given rise to an error of M.
Kiebuhr. " The haschich" says he, " is a sort of herb which
il M. Forskal, and some others who have preceded us in the East,
" have taken for the leaves of hemp." (Description of Arabia,
p. 50.) It is, nevertheless, very certain that the haschich of t -e
Arabs is nothing else than a species, or a variety 01 hemp, of
which I have been just giving an account.
racteoi