56
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
Extract paragraph 40 from the Report on the External Land Trade of the Punjab for the
year 1891-92.
Kulu and Ladakh.
40. The main portion of the Ladakh trade finds its way into India through Kulu. The
Assistant Commissioner in his report makes some interesting
observations, pointing out that while the Kulu posts register
as Ladakh trade much that is really trade with Thibet and other places, they also fail to in-
clude a large portion of genuine Ladakh trade which enters British territory viá Kashmir.
He remarks:—
"In the Provincial Foreign Trade Report the returns furnished by the Kulu registration
post constitute what is known as the 'Ladakh' trade. This general term, however, requires
explanation. In so far as Leh is the chief emporium of this trade, it may be convenient to
describe as imports and exports of Ladakh all merchandise of Yarkand which is exchanged
here for goods from India; but, on the one hand, it is to be remembered that at the Sultanpur
post all merchandise is registered which crosses the Rohtang pass, so that imports and exports
of Thibet, Baltistan, and the British districts of Lahul and Spiti are included in the 'Ladakh'
trade, while, on the other hand, all exports from and imports to Leh which take the Kashmir
route are treated in the Provincial Report as trade with Kashmir and not with Ladakh."
He makes some further remarks regarding the agency by which this trade is conducted:—
"The trade with Ladakh is in the hands of four classes:—(1) The merchants of Hoshiarpur,
Amritsar, and Sultanpur.—Many of the latter are Lahulis, who deal chiefly in wool. The
Indian merchants send up piece-goods or tea in the spring and bring down Yarkand and
Ladakh produce, chiefly charas, in the autumn. They use mules for carriage. Latterly the
more wealthy muleteers have commenced to trade on their own account. (2) The Yarkandis.—
These men generally dispose of their goods at Leh, but some of them come on to India with
charas, carpets, and numdahs. Many also, after selling their goods at Leh, bring on for sale
in India the horses upon which these goods were laden. Having disposed of their means of
carriage, they generally return empty-handed. (3) The Baltis of Baltistan, who visit Simla
in the cold weather in search of employment as road coolies and the like.—They are often
erroneously called Ladakhis. They do not visit India for the sake of trade, but they take the
opportunity of bringing with them dried apricots, which accounts for the entry 'fruits' under
the head of imports, returning to their own country with as much as they can carry of brass,
copper, and iron vessels. Some of them also carry back with them China cups and saucers,
which are in demand in a tea-drinking country. (4) Bhotis, which term includes the Mon-
golian races inhabiting Ladakh, Zanskar, Chinese Thibet, and Lahul.—The wool and pashm
imported by the Bhotis are laden chiefly on the backs of sheep and goats. These sheep and
goats figure in the returns of imports. On being discharged of their burdens at Sultanpur
they are sold to butchers from Simla. Beyond the various food-grains which are in demand
in their desolate, sparsely cultivated country the Bhotis carry little back with them from
India. The amount of grain which they can take with them is not much, as they have dis-
posed of their means of carriage."