APPENDIX. 



THE TRADE OF LADAKH WITH CHINA 

 AND THIBET. 



THE town of Leh is the great emporium of the trade 

 which passes between India, Western China, and Thibet. 

 The roads which lead from Russian Turkistan, Kashgaria 

 and Yarkand, are joined by the Khutan caravan route, 

 and meet in Leh. Lhassa, the sacred capital of Thibet, 

 is connected with Ladakh by the trade route, which skirts 

 the northern slopes of the Himalayas, and follows the 

 valleys of the Brahmaputra and the Indus. These are the 

 chief routes leading from foreign territory into Ladakh. 

 Two roads diverge from Leh, linking up India with Asia. 

 The Srinagar road leaves Leh in a westerly direction, and 

 joins the Indian railway system at Rawal Pindi. The 

 southern route, by the fertile Kullu Valley, runs down 

 into two large commercial towns of India Amritsar and 

 Hushiarpur and connects them with the markets of 

 Central Asia. 



Under a commercial Treaty concluded with the father 

 of the present Maharajah of Kashmir, a British Commis- 

 sioner is deputed to Ladakh to regulate and control the 

 traders and the traffic, conjointly with an official appointed 

 by the Kashmir State. These are the Joint Commis- 

 sioners of Ladakh. The Kashmir official has to attend to 

 the details of the interior administration of the province. 

 The responsibility for the trade route practically devolves 



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