]840.] Journal of a trip through Kunawur, fyc. 501 



It would be necessary therefore for him to make one trip in order to 

 see the shepherds, and enter into arrangements with them for a supply 

 to be delivered in the following summer at any Tartar station they 

 might decide upon, and also to ascertain what goods they would re- 

 quire in return ; for money, I imagine, would be held in less estimation 

 than saleable and useful commodities. 



Having made his arrangements, he would again in the following 

 summer have to repair to the appointed place, where he would find the 

 shepherds (as I did at Dunkur) ready with their flocks, and he would 

 thus be able to select his own fleece, and see it shorn before him. 



It would therefore be his own fault if any hair or extraneous matter 

 were received with it. Of this, however, as long as the wool did not 

 pass through the hands of agents, there would be no fear, for it is those 

 gentry who adulterate the article in order to increase its bulk, and 

 so derive from the inexperienced trader a greater profit. 



The next point to be considered, is the carriage of the wool to the 

 lower hills, and this indeed would be the chief expense. 



The method to be adopted, must be the same as that resorted to by 

 the hill people themselves, which is, to load it on the backs of sheep 

 and goats. 



For this purpose it would be necessary to purchase a large flock, 

 which during the winter season would find an abundant pasture in the 

 lower tracts, or even in the plains, and in the summer and rainy season 

 would be roaming over the grassy tracts of the upper hills. 



The first cost of these animals would be the chief expense, but even 

 this would in the course of one or two seasons repay the outlay by the 

 kids and lambs which would be produced, while something also would be 

 recovered by the sale of the wool and ghee obtainable from the flock. 



With his flock therefore the speculator would transport to the 

 Tartar districts, flour, grain, salt, iron, ghee, butter, cloth, sugar, 

 and other articles in demand among the people, and for which, if his 

 purchases were judiciously made either in the plains or lower hills, he 

 might not uncommonly receive cent per cent on his outlay. 



The profit thus made upon his own merchandise, would not only more 

 than pay for his wool, but would even nearly, if not altogether, defray 

 the expense of transporting it to the plains, and thus indeed when 

 once the prime cost of his flock had been realised, the speculator 

 might be said to receive his wool for nothing. From the profit arising 



