A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



of China. In Thibet this competition has not yet been 

 felt, and may yet be averted by securing the priority of 

 entry. The trade of Lhassa with Ladakh and India seems 

 capable of a large expansion. Captain Bower, in his inter- 

 esting book, 'Across Thibet' (Chapter XVI., p. 282), 

 says : " Amongst all classes officials, Llamas, peasants, 

 and nomads a taste for trading is strongly developed, 

 and all are ever ready to seize an opportunity for making 

 money. The higher officials more particularly devote 

 themselves to commerce, as the emoluments appertaining 

 to their offices are exceedingly small, but the position 

 gives them ample opportunities to trade with advantage, 

 and these opportunities none fail to avail themselves of. 

 The Llamas utilise portions of the great wealth their 

 monasteries contain for trading purposes, the peasants 

 nearly all devote a certain amount of attention to commerce, 

 and the nomads are ever ready to dispose of wool and hides. 

 As regards the prospects of trade with India should the 

 country ever be open to commerce, of all articles in which 

 we can hope to do a profitable trade, tea easily ranks first. 

 At one time it was a Government monopoly, and even 

 now I believe it is compulsorily sold to the people in some 

 parts, the pressure being put on by members of the 

 Government engaged in the trade. The population of 

 Thibet, that is to say of Thibet proper, has been estimated 

 at four millions. If they drank as much tea per head as 

 is drunk in England, viz. five pounds, the annual con- 

 sumption would be twenty million pounds, and even 

 taking the consumption per head at the low figure of 3, 

 that would give a total of twelve million pounds. 



44 Besides tea, other articles that would find a market, are 

 sugar, tobacco, rice, crockery, tinted spectacles, red and 

 yellow broadcloth, brass buttons, brightly stamped cotton 

 cloth, and coral. 



" Amongst the articles that Thibet can export, wool 

 takes the foremost place. The capabilities of the country 



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