| Show SOME KINDS OF stimulants alcohol and wine favored by europeans poppy by chinese bhang by the indians indiana when the european Is wenry weary lie culls calls for alcohol to revive him when he la joyful lie he takes wine that he may have more joy in like manner the chinese woos his white lady the poppy flower the indian chews chew bhang the west african seeks surcease kola observes a correspondent in national geographical magazine klint khal is more to the yemen arab than tiny any of these to its devotees it Is no co narcotic narcot jc wooing sleep but a stimulant like ilko alcohol unlike al caliel it conceals no demon but a fairy the khat paler enter will tell you that when lie he follows this fairy it takes him into regions overlooking paradise ue ile calls the plant the flower of paradise disei how and when khat came into the yemen Is not certain botanists say that it was brought over from in abyssinia many centuries agro ago there Is a tradition among the wise men of the east that the sheik ibrahim abou introduced it into Hode Hod idah eldah from ethiopia about 1430 but ask any yemen arab and lie will tell you it lias has been always allah gave it to us in the beginning to make us forget labor and pain contrary to the general opinion held by those who pretend to know anything about it at all khat is never used as a beverage in the yemen but the frosh fresh llaves leaves tire are invariably chewed the youngest leaves are arc the best they have a sweetish slightly astringent laste not unpleasant to the european palate but certainly not alluring when brewed they lose most of the their strength and the flavor of the decock tion Is much like that of those grapevine cigarettes which most of us enjoyed in boyhood days the old beaves leaves are tough and ought to tan a leathern tongue just what is the exact toxic effect of khat on the human system has never yet been ascertained it Is certainly a stimulant with a lively and nearly immediate effect upon the brain and nerve cc cells Is the gloom gloomiest gloo es man becomes cheerful under its influence the mo most st enervated active withal all I 1 have been unable to learn of a single case of immediate or harmful reaction such as invariably follows the tha use of other stimulants |
