Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to recover. I was sorry I had not been able to smoke more, for I wanted to know what effect
opium intoxication would have on me, and I wondered if all the stories about those marvel-
lous dreams were true. My acquaintance assured me that all the opium dreams we read about
are inventions of novelists, and that he had never known an opium smoker who had been af-
fected that way. Determined to find out for myself, even if I made myself sick again, I asked
my friend to take me to another opium den in the Chinese quarters. This was a much more
refined place than the other, and as we passed some curtained-off departments or niches, I
caught glimpses of several white men and women who were smoking inside. The few private
compartments all being occupied, we went into the main room where several groups of Ch-
inamen were smoking and chatting in low tones, which is a peculiarity of all who are under
the influence of the drug. I had smoked for a long time, but still I felt no effects whatsoever. I
began to doubt that I was smoking real opium and, wishing to light a cigarette for a change, I
rose to go across to the other side of the room where my jacket was hanging, but when I tried
to walk I at once realised that I was badly intoxicated. My head was as clear as it had been
beforeIenteredtheplace,andmybrainwasveryactive,butyetIfounditdifficulttokeepmy
balance. Somehow my body seemed to belong to another being that came staggering behind
me; the sensation was disconcerting and yet almost comical. Feeling very dry and thirsty, I
asked for a cup of tea, and when I had finished it I made ready to leave for the hotel, but the
owneroftheplacewasquitealarmedandtriedhisbesttomakemesleepthere,forhesaidthat
I had smoked so much that I would never be able to get home. In spite of his advice I was de-
termined to go. My walk back to the hotel was extraordinary, for my head seemed to be going
in front whilst the numbed and intoxicated body came floating behind, bumping against walls
and corners. I was expecting to have some of those marvellous dreams, but instead I slept
heavily, and when I woke up the musty and repulsive taste of opium was still in my mouth,
and the smell of my clothes was so obnoxious that I had to change them. Although I had sev-
eral opportunities to smoke opium since that day, nothing could induce me to try again; my
curiosity has been satisfied.
Wandering around the city I had often passed a strange monument standing in one of the
cityparks,andinspiteofrackingmybraintofindoutwhatmightbethesymbolicmeaningof
an empty chair on a square granite block, I remained puzzled and mystified until an acquaint-
ance told me that the effigy of a former Peruvian president had once occupied this chair, but,
as the man had many enemies, some students one day placed a cartridge of dynamite between
theimageofthemostexcellent gentleman andthechair,andtheimmediate resultwasthatthe
bronze statesman was blown heavenwards, which was to serve future presidential candidates
as a fair warning that they may be blown the other way before their turn comes to be perpetu-
ated in solid bronze.
Besides seeing the sights in and around Lima I was busy gathering as much information
about the next stage of the trip as possible, no easy matter when but very few natives know
their own country and maps do not exist. To this day the best charts of Peru are still the ones
