208 Notes on MoorcrofCs Travels in Ladakh, [No. 1 47. 



Yarkand. The Kunawarees gradually became large carriers of shawl- 

 wool, and of the drug in question; but want of capital obliged 

 many to borrow money, and want of experience in such affairs, with a 

 general ignorance of the world, rendered them no match for the Hin- 

 doo mahajans of Ram pur, and the Gashmeree dealers of Leh, and 

 most of them have in consequence run into debt. Latterly, they have 

 become direct purchasers from the Government farmers and the 

 Yarkand traders, and are emancipating themselves by degrees, while 

 some have realized fortunes so to speak. 



This increase of trade has had one bad effect : the profits induced 

 every one to become buyers and sellers, and while the better sort bor- 

 rowed hundreds in Rampur, they lent tens to their poor village neigh- 

 bours on the mortgage of the produce of their lands. Every village in 

 Upper Kunawar is in debt, and its crops belong as fully to a few 

 monied men as the harvest of India belongs to the bankers of its towns. 



What Captain Gerard observes at p. 108, regarding the hospitality 

 and liberality of the Tartars, he might have found occasion to alter, 

 had he lived longer among them. He was then at Shipke, a Chinese 

 village, and the people were desirous that he should get into the 

 British territory again as speedily as possible. It is besides the custom 

 to supply the ordinary wants of great men when travelling, that is, 

 to bring a nazzur of gram, a sheep, &c. levied by force from the 

 villagers by the local authority. After the first novelty of his ap- 

 pearance or visit had worn off, he would have found, that they could 

 use short weights, adulterate flour, and drive hard bargains in every 

 sense of the word. 



In making these remarks, I would not have it inferred, that I 

 consider the Kunawarees and the Tartars as essentially dishonest, 

 or as usually grasping, but simply as not deserving the great commen- 

 dation bestowed on them. 



Employment of the Kunawarees. — The Kunawarees are all traders, 

 and their chief riches consist in large flocks of sheep and goats. In 

 November, many come to Rampur with wool, and a few go to the 

 plains to purchase merchandize for the markets of Garo and Leh, and 

 they likewise visit the fair at Hurdwar; most of them go to Leh or 

 Garoo. In the summer months, the people who stay at home look after 

 their vineyards, and attend to their flocks ; the shepherds live in small 



