TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 433 



siderable quantities, for gilding the roofs of religious houses. Wall shades, chande- 

 liers, tumblers, wine-glasses, small mirrors, and lanterns find a ready sale. Eno-lish 

 cutlery, knives and scissors are much prized, and if our manufacturers would con- 

 descend to work upon native models a much larger sale would be commanded. 



After passing in review the various trade-routes from India to Tibet, via Assam, 

 Bhutan, Darjiling, and Nepaul, and giving a brief historical sketch of our commer- 

 cial and political relations with Tibet, Nepaul, and Bhutan, the author summed up 

 by saying that he thought the arguments in favour of a trade route from Darjiling 

 to China vid Tibet were very strong. Lhasa is less than a month's journey for an 

 unladen man from our frontier ; once there, the old established trade-routes between 

 Tibet and China are open to us, leading by well-known roads to the great river- 

 basins of the Hoang Ho and the Yang-Tsze. The great province of Sze-chuen, 

 with its 30 millions of inhabitants, would be opened up, and its silk, tea, rhubarb, 

 musk, jade, amber, and cinnabar obtainable in exchange for British manufactures. 

 The inhabitants of Tibet are a peaceful, well-educated and commercially well-dis- 

 posed race. The routes through Burmah have been tried and have failed. A 

 better route to China may perhaps be found through Assam, but only when railway 

 communication shall be extended up the valley of the Brahmaputra. In future 

 this will be the best road, but for the next 50 years the central route vid Darjiling 

 will no doubt be the best. The Tibetans are Buddhists, and the creed of Buddhism 

 is based on the equality and brotherhood of mankind. It will not be religious 

 intolerance which bars the way to Lhasa ; the real obstacles to be contended with 

 are and will be commercial interests. It is the interest of the Lamas or governing 

 classes to exclude us, for, at present, they hold a practical monopoly of the trade, 

 and profit largely both from the duties on important goods, and by the sale of 

 permits to the traders ; and it is also the interest of the traders to keep us out ; 

 for competition would be ruinous to their present high rate of profits. The real 

 cause of Chinese opposition to us in Tibet lies in their fear that we shall oust 

 them from their commercial and political pre-eminencs in the country. In conclu- 

 sion, the author urged the necessity of our insisting on the carrying out of the 

 privileges with regard to Tibet granted to us by the Chefoo Convention. A clause 

 in this treaty sanctions our intercourse with the country, and authorises our send- 

 ing a mission thither. This mission should be sent, and we should direct our efforts 

 to establishing permanent trading agents or consuls at Shigatze and Lhasa, or trad- 

 ing-posts on the frontier at Chumbi and Phakri, similar to that possessed by the 

 Russians at Kiachta. 



2. The Upper Course of the Brahmaputra River. By C. E. D. Black. 



The river Sanpu forms a unique and important feature in the geography of 

 Tibet, for the two provinces of U and Tsang occupy its basin from the Mariam-la 

 pass eastward. Until last year the lower course of the Sanpu was a matter of 

 complete uncertainty. Klaproth had contended that its waters discharged them- 

 selves into the Irrawaddy (a theory which had been recently revived and ably 

 argued by a geographer in India), while two years ago Colonel Godwin-Austen 

 suggested that the Subansiri might be the lower course of the Sanpu. Although 

 the question cannot be looked upon as settled beyond all possibility of doubt, a 

 recent exploration of its lower course has left very little room for theory in the 

 matter. 



The Sanpu rises in "Western Tibet in 82° E. longitude and 30° 35' N. latitude 

 at a height of upwards of 15,000 feet above sea-level. It thence flows eastward 

 over a series of elevated undulating plains, where are found sheep, goats, and yaks. 

 On the south lie gigantic glaciers, clothing the slopes of the central Himalaya. 

 From thence its course lies pretty uniformly eastward, while it is joined both on the 

 right and left by some seven or eight tributaries of varying importance, those from 

 the south appearing to proceed from glaciers, while those from the north by the 

 clearness of their waters would seem to have a different origin. The principal 

 towns lying in the basin of the Sanpu are Jang-lache, Shigatze, and Lhasa. These 



1870. F F 



