Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1901 — IN A HASHEESH DEN. [ARTICLE]

IN A HASHEESH DEN.

German's Visit to a Resort Where Mea Smoke Their Reasons Away. A German physician describes his first visit to a den of hasheesh smokers in Cairo, Egypt, hasheesh being a species of hemp prised in the east for its intoxicating properties. The German's guide was a donkey boy, who could speak German. In a dark and dirty alley they came to a lighted doorway. Entering they passed through a room filled with men playing dominoes to the smoking-room. “Here," said the explorer, "we were welcomed like old acquaintances. Tbs aromatic odor and the smokers were in a very happy mood. On the walls were Arabic inscriptions and pictures of European beauties. In one cornpr was a stone bearing a mass of glowing coals. “A man cut up some tobacco, another filled a clay pipe bowl with it, a third bit off little pieces of brown hasheesh and laid them down on the tobacco, a fourth added some glowing coals and attached the bowl to a narghilch or water pipe, which he then handed to his neighbor. The pipe passed from mouth to mouth, each man taking a few whiffs and expelling the .smoke from nose to mouth.” The German physician declined the proffered smoke and ordered coffee. All the smokers talked and laughed incessantly. Most of them were young or middle-aged men. Suddenly an elderly man rose to his feet and stood staring at the floor, with a vacuous smile. He was a hasheesh wreck, an imbecile. "He is a philosopher,” said one of the others, and a general laugh followed.