118 DORJILING. Chap. IV. 



by neglect or forbearance on the part of the Calcutta 

 government ; and by patience and passive resistance at 

 Dorjiling. Our inaction and long-suffering were taken for 

 weakness, and our concessions for timidity. Such has 

 been our policy in China, Siam, and Burmah, and in each 

 instance the result has been the same. Had it been 

 insisted that the terms of the treaty should be strictly 

 kept, and had the first act of insolence been noticed, we 

 should have maintained the best relations with Sikkim, 

 whose people and rulers (with the exception of the Dewan 

 and his faction) have proved themselves friendly through- 

 out, and most anxious for unrestricted communication. 



These political matters have not, however, prevented the 

 rapid increase of Dorjiling ; the progress of which, during 

 the two years I spent in Sikkim, resembled that of an 

 Australian colony, not only in amount of building, but in 

 the accession of native families from the surrounding 

 countries. There were not a hundred inhabitants under 

 British protection when the ground was transferred ; there 

 are now four thousand. At the former period there was 

 no trade whatever ; there is now a very considerable one, 

 in musk, salt, gold-dust, borax, soda, woollen cloths, and 

 especially in poneys, of which the Dewan in one year 

 brought on his own account upwards of 50 into Dorjiling.* 

 The trade has been greatly increased by the annual fair 

 which Dr. Campbell has established at the foot of the hills, 

 to which many thousands of natives flock from all quarters, 

 and which exercises a most beneficial influence throughout 

 the neighbouring territories. At this, prizes (in medals, 

 money, and kind) are given for agricultural implements 



* The Tibetan pony, though born and bred 10,000 to 14,000 feet above the 

 eea, is one of the most active and useful animals in the plains of Bengal, powerful 

 and hardy, and when well trained early, docile, although by nature vicious and 

 obstinate. 



