432 report — 1879. 



which have been submitted to you in this paper ; and I must pay my tribute of 

 admiration to the excellence of their design, and to the ability and learning 1 that 

 they have brought to bear on its execution. It is much to be desired that their 

 example should be copied by other workers, and that books on the same plan 

 should be prepared for the rest of England. But a combination of equal energy, 

 learning, and literary skill is not easily to be found. 



I have now endeavoured, to the best of my ability, by using illustrations from 

 the river-basin in which this town is situated, to bring to the notice of the Section 

 a complete view of the objects and methods of the science of geography. My aim 

 has been to show that geographical researches may be made within the range of a 

 few miles of your own homes, and that there can be no better training for a 

 geographer than the study of the various branches of inquiry which are comprised 

 in our science, within his own river-basin. If I should succeed in arousing an interest 

 in the subject, in the minds of only a few of the natives of Hallamshire, my object 

 will be attained ; for it is by the formation of such small centres of workers that a 

 whole mass is leavened, and it is thus that steady advances in the varied pursuits 

 and objects which are included in human progress are secured. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. The Trade Routes from Bengal to Tibet. 

 By Lieut.-Col. T. H. Lewin, late Deputy Commissioner of Barjiling. 



In the absence of statistics of the actual trade which the author had not had 

 time to obtain from India, a general view only could be given of the nature and 

 extent of the present exports and imports between India and Tibet. The chief 

 wealth of Tibet lies in her flocks and herds ; and were the passes open and the 

 roads improved, large quantities of cows, sheep and goats, wool, cheese, and butter 

 would find their way to our territory. At present the export of live stock is 

 limited to the carrying capacity of the animals themselves. The Tibetan traders 

 drive in before them sufficient sheep, goats, or yak to supply them with food on 

 the road, and to carry the goods and merchandise which theybring with them. 

 No trade in live stock is carried on, save that a few ponies come in for sale ; and of 

 late years even these have decreased in numbers and increased in price. Other 

 articles brought to India by Tibetan traders, are — coarse woollen blankets and 

 carpets, sheep's wool (to northern and central Himalayan districts), yaks' tails, 

 musk, borax, and rhubarb. The country abounds in minerals, which are not 

 worked, except gold in a rude fashion. The gold-fields extend along the base of 

 the southern watershed of the Brahmaputra, and the gold-diggers come chiefly 

 from the country round Shigatze. But the most important of all the exports from 

 Tibet is brick-tea, obtained from Sze-chuen, from a coarse-tasted leaf, which the 

 inhabitants, however, prefer to the finer teas grown in our own plantations of 

 Assam and the Himalayan valleys. Tea is one of the principal sources of revenue 

 to the Lhasa Government, and the trade is guarded with jealousy from foreign com- 

 petition. The imports into Tibet are far more important at present than the exports : 

 chief among them are English broadcloths and woollens. The _ great lack of fuel 

 and the cold dry air of these high mountains render warm clothing an absolute ne- 

 cessity of life, thus the cold-weather clothing of a Tibetan is almost like a vast 

 moving bed, and our English broadcloths are highly prized. The Tibetans are 

 somewhat superstitious as to the colours to be worn. They will not wear blue or 

 black, and only persons of rank wear velvet ; their favourite colours are_ scarlet, 

 purple, a liver-brown, and a snuff-coloured yellow. Turkey-red cloths, prints and 

 flowered calicoes are in good demand. Imitations of Indian handkerchiefs and 

 Cashmere shawls are very popular among the lower classes ; chintzes do not seem 

 to be worn. Cottons are not used, save for linings, and also as coverings for sacred 

 pictures. Cheap silk handkerchiefs, especially if the sacred sentence Om mani 

 paduni houm were woven into the fabric. There is a good demand for indigo and 

 opium. Quicksilver, vermilion, and red and white lead are also imported in con- 



