Chapter OOOLOOBALLONG to OPIUM of O by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

popular etymology. Similarly the Bengalees derive it from afi-heno, ‘serpent-home.’ [A number of early references to opium smoking have been collected by Burnell, Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 113.]

c. A.D. 70.—“…which juice thus drawne, and thus prepared, hath power not onely to provoke sleepe, but if it be taken in any great quantitie, to make men die in their sleepe: and this our Physicians call opion. Certes I have knowne many come to their death by this meanes; and namely, the father of Licinius Cecinna late deceased, a man by calling a Pretour, who not being able to endure the intollerable pains and torments of a certaine disease, and being wearie of his life, at Bilbil in Spaine, shortened his owne daies by taking opium.” —Pliny, in Holland’s transl. ii. 68.

(Medieval).—

“Quod venit a Thebis, opio laudem perhibebis;
Naribus horrendum, rufum laus dictat emendum.”

Otho Cremonensis

1511.—“Next day the General (Alboquerque) sent to call me to go ashore to speak to the King; and that I should say on his part…that he had got 8 Guzzarate ships that he had taken on the way because they were enemies of the King of Portugal; and that these had many rich stuffs and much merchandize, and arfiun (for so they call opio tebaico) which they eat to cool themselves; all which he would sell to the King for 300,000 ducats worth of goods, cheaper than they could buy it from the Moors, and more such matter.”—Letter of Giovanni da Empoli, in Archivio Storico Italiano, 55.

[1513.—“Opium (oafyam) is nothing else than the milk of poppies.”—Alboquerque, Cartas, p. 174.]

1516.—“For the return voyage (to China) they ship there (at Malacca) Sumatra and Malabar pepper, of which they use a great deal in China, and drugs of Cambay, much anfiam, which we call opium.…”—Barbosa, 206.

1563.—“R. I desire to know for certain about amfiao, what it is, which is used by the people of this country; if it is what we call opium, and whence comes such a quantity as is expended, and how much may be eaten every day?

“O.…that which I call of Cambaia come for the most part from one territory which is called Malvi (Malwa).…I knew a secretary of Nizamoxa (see NIZAMALUCO), a native of Coraçon, who every day eat three tóllas (see TOLA), or a weight of 10½ cruzados…though he was a well educated man, and a great scribe and notary, he was always dozing or sleeping; yet if you put him to business he would speak like a man of letters and discretion; from this you may see what habit will do.”—Garcia, 153v to 155v.

1568.—“I went then to Cambaya.…and there I bought 60 parcels of Opium, which cost me two thousand and a hundreth duckets, every ducket at foure shillings two pence.”—Master C. Frederike, in Hakl. ii. 371. The original runs thus, showing the looseness of the translation: “…comprai sessanta man d’Anfion, che mi costò 2100 ducati serafini (see XERAFINE), che a nostro conto possono valere 5 lire l’vno.”—In Ramusio, iii. 396v.

1598.—“Amfion, so called by the Portingales, is by Arabians, Mores, and Indians called Affion, in latine Opio or Opium.…The Indians use much to eat Amfion.…Hee that useth to eate it, must eate it daylie, otherwise he dieth and consumeth himselfe…likewise hee that hath never eaten it, and will venture at the first to eate as much as those that dayly use it, it will surely kill him.…”—Linschoten, 124; [Hak. Soc. ii. 112].

[c. 1610.—“Opium, or as they (in the Maldives) call it, Aphion.”—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 195.

[1614.—“The waster washer who to get Affanan hires them (the cloths) out a month.”—Foster, Letters, ii. 127.

[1615.—“…Coarse chintz, and ophyan.”—Ibid. iv. 107].

1638.—“Turcae opium experiuntur, etiam in bona quantitate, innoxium et confortativum; adeo ut etiam ante praelia ad fortitudinem illud sumant; nobis vero, nisi in parvâ quantitate, et cum bonis correctivis lethale est.”—Bacon, H. Vitae et Mortis (ed. Montague) x. 188.

1644.—“The principal cause that this monarch, or rather say, this tyrant, is so powerful, is that he holds in his territories, and especially in the kingdom of Cambaya, those three plants of which are made the Anfiam, and the anil (see ANILE), and that which gives the Algodam” (Cotton).—Bocarro, MS.

1694.—“This people, that with amphioen or opium, mixed with tobacco, drink themselves not merely drunk but mad, are wont to fall furiously upon any one whom they meet, with a naked kris or dagger in the hand, and to stab him, though it be but a child, in their mad passion, with the cry of Amock (see A MUCK), that is ‘strike dead,’ or ‘fall on him.’…”—Valentijn, iv. (China, &c.) 124.

1726.—“It will hardly be believed…that Java alone consumes monthly 350 packs of opium, each being of 136 catis (see CATTY), though the E. I. Company make 145 catis out of it.…”—Valentijn, iv. 61.

1727.—“The Chiefs of Calecut, for many years had vended between 500 and 1000 chests of Bengal Ophium yearly up in the inland Countries, where it is very much used.”—A. Hamilton, i. 315; [ed. 1744,