306 Route from Seersa to Bahawulpore. [No. 148. 



should be able considerably to increase the amount of their imports 



and exports. 



16. It has been suggested, that the opening of the direct road across 



w . 4 , ., „ the desert, would enable the Lohanis to make two 



With the reference 



to the wants of Com- journies to India instead of one. The time saved 



merce on the channels 



above described, sug- affords no ground for such an expectation, nor 

 gests the establishment . .. , . . . . „ ... 



of a mart or annual fair is it possible in their present mode of travelling; 

 on the frontier. for they caQ Qnly crogs ^ Suliman range with 



their families previous to, or after, the heavy falls of snow, and they 

 must leave their families to spend the depth of winter in Damoun, that 

 is on this side the Passes ; but if it has not effected what was imprac- 

 ticable, as a measure facilitating the access of the Lohanis to our 

 marts and the supply of their wants, the opening of a direct road, toge- 

 ther with the reduction of duties through two of the three foreign 

 states intervening between Affghanistan and India, must be admitted 

 to have effected much for commerce between those countries. Much 

 eventual benefit will I am persuaded also arise from this measure 

 to the trade between Bombay and the marts of Upper India and the 

 Punjab ; and if I might be permitted to suggest a further measure 

 by which commerce by these two channels might be promoted, it 

 should be the revival of an old proposition for the establishment of 

 a mart or annual fair at a convenient position on the frontier, at which 

 the merchants from Affghanistan, from Hindoostan, and from Bombay, 

 might meet and exchange their goods free from the vexatious exactions 

 practised by native governments. 



The inconvenience suffered by our merchants trading between 

 Seersa and Upper Scinde, from the want of an intermediate mart 

 at which they might store or dispose of their goods free of exorbitant 

 duties has been already noticed, and this inconvenience would be more 

 severely felt should the Bombay trade with Delhi and Amritsir follow 

 the new channel. As regards the effect of a mart or fair in the Lohani 

 trade, it may be remarked, that though generally the Lohanis are indif- 

 ferent to the distance they have to travel to supply their wants, there 

 are many of them, even now, who find it their interest to dispose of 

 their goods at marts nearer home, where they have to pay heavy duties, 

 and their wants are but indifferently supplied. Many of them who 

 cross the Suliman range with the last kqfila of the season, may wish to 



