Shortly after we found a little group of Hasheesh smokers all more or less under the influence. I am making a second attempt to send some Hasheesh cigarettes to Charlie, the first lot with the Hasheesh pipe, etc having been destroyed by the customs people, for Hasheesh is under a terrible ban here. Under its sway people assume sometimes an apparently second nature suggestive of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. These people we met were merely “Magnun” (idiotic) and sang and danced in a weird way, and all seemed absolutely unconscious of our presence. It requires many months steady smoking to induce the proper Hasheesh condition…
-The Man Who Loved Egypt: Bimbashi McPherson, J.W. McPherson
…gives one a superb first hand glimpse of the low life of Egypt.
- Lawrence Durrell, in the Preface
I am glad to see that Bimbashi (Major) McPherson capitalized the word Hashīsh in his letters home, and only three months after arriving in Cairo knew where to get high and how to outwit the narcs. And I am sure that when he learned to write in Arabic he saw no need for the upper case, because its alphabet has none.