424 The Question of British Trade with Western China. [No. 4 



population. At present a kerchief sells at Bammo for quite double its 

 price at Rangoon. 



The people of the Shan States traversed by the proposed overland 

 route, are also consumers of British manufactures. The Shan States 

 are believed to be rich in mineral products ; the lead and silver of 

 Burmah are almost entirely the produce of mines in Burmah— Shau 

 territories. 



In the northern portion of Burmah are held annual fairs at 

 several points on the Irrawaddy, where not only the Shans, Pwoons 

 and Kadoos of the interior, but the Kakhyens of the mountains come 

 to buy the wretched specimens of Birmingham manufacture and the 

 inferior cotton and silk piece-goods that the native traders of the 

 capital take up to those markets. The trade is very unsatisfactorily 

 conducted. The sales of each trader are small, but the profits large ; 

 the articles, therefore, are very inferior and very dear. None of them 

 have ever been exported to China, the Chinese themselves producing 

 better at a less price. Another important article of trade in that 

 direction is salt. It is exported from Bammo all around, all the 

 tribes, wild and peaceable, being dependent on Burman salt, and great 

 quantities find their way into Yunan. The average wholesale price at 

 Bammo is about equal to a penny a pound. 



The commercial state of the Kakhyens of the hills is very simple. 

 In some parts they grow a little cotton, more than enough for their 

 consumption ; in others they depend on the Bammo markets. They 

 make strong cotton fabrics for their own clothing, of very excellent 

 quality, that certainly Manchester could not compete with in price. 

 The present merely nominal value of labour explains this cheapness. 



In these mountains, however, are at least two most important 

 metals, lead and silver. A specimen of galena that I obtained from 

 a spot where it occurs in abundance, but which has not been worked as 

 a mine, contains according to the analysis of H. B. Medlicott, Esq., 

 of the Geological Survey, " 63 ozs., 14 dwts. 8 gr. to the ton of lead, a 

 very rich ore indeed" Bishop Bigandet also informs me that he heard 

 of mercury being procurable within a few miles of the western slopes, 

 near the Burmese village of Tali (vide Map- No. 2). 



The eight Shan States on the other side of the range are known 

 to be thickly populated, and labour is there abundant and exceed- 

 ingly cheap. At their southern end, in Burmese territory, near 



