ABSTRACT
In Egypt at that time, the high price of hashish prevented the fellah from consuming large amounts, had he so desired. From the point of view of the merchant, the hashish trade became lucrative only after the drug was declared contraband. When I made that first trip to Suez with a cargo of Greek hashish, practically all the shipments smuggled into Egypt came from Greece and Syria, with only small amounts from Turkey and Roumania. An Indian drug known as charas (which when treated by a special process gives products, one of which resembles
As a rule, the Hashish Syndicate never attempted storing the drug or even landing it in large quantities in Alexandria, Port Said, or Suez. The trick was to send the hashish on liners through the Canal and have it dropped overboard in rubber sacks either in the lakes or at given points in the Gulf of Suez. Even to-day, I imagine, passengers on steamers bound for the Orient may often notice fishing boats adrift far from any reef where fish are
caught. If the passenger were curious, he might see even more ... but he can scarcely hope to survey both sides of a liner at once, and a package tossed from a porthole near the water line is not easily visible after nightfall.
