Leh 191 



there. His eldest son had that year been made 

 head of the Kashmir State Mission to Lhasa, 

 known as the Lapchak, whose return, a few weeks 

 after our arrival in Leh, was one of the events of 

 the year. We went to see his warehouses at the 

 time his Tibetan goods were being unpacked. 

 The pillared rooms were pervaded by a scent of 

 musk, the most valuable product of Tibet, that 

 was almost overpowering. If one was not aware 

 of the scientific fact that the most delicate odours 

 become nauseating, and conversely the most dis- 

 agreeable ones sweet, when taken in large doses, 

 one might have wondered how "musk and amber- 

 gris " became the synonym all over the Eastern 

 world for everything delicious. 



T)ther bales were full of Chinese silks. There 

 were chests of " brick " tea from the same country, 

 rectangular slabs weighing eight pounds each, 

 the best of which fetched as much as four shillings 

 a pound, and is preferred in Central Asia to the 

 best products of Indian gardens. Nasr Shah's 

 costliest goods came packed in wooden chests, 

 over which raw hides had been sewn and allowed 

 to shrink. When the skins were cut off the boxes 

 tumbled to pieces, but as they had survived over 

 a thousand miles of mule transport, the packing 

 could not be considered bad. Some contained 

 parcels of turquoise in the matrix, the most 



