:>2 Remarks on the Sequel to the [Jan. 



the Kooreeaparah Duwar. The traffic is conducted by a class of Tibe- 

 tans called Kumpas, an appellation that is given to the inhabitants of the 

 southern part of Thibet or that portion of it which is included within the 

 great bend of the Sanpo up to the point where it enters the Abor hills. 

 The Kumpas proceed to Hajoo in Assam, the resort of pilgrims from 

 Bootan and Thibet, and carry on their traffic at the great annual fair 

 which is held there. " It is estimated" says Capt. Pemberton, " that 

 during the season there are about two thousand Kumpas assembled at 

 Dewangiri, where they erect huts for temporary occupation on the sub- 

 ordinate heights. On quitting the hills to descend to the plains they 

 are accompanied by Gurpas and Zeenkafs on the part of the Dewangiri 

 Rajah, from whom they obtain passports and pledge themselves to re- 

 turn by a stated period. " The goods they bring, consist of red and party- 

 coloured blankets, gold dust, silver, rock salt, cbowrees, musk, and a 

 few coarse Chinese silks, munjeet and bees wax :" these they exchange 

 for lac, the raw and manufactured silks of Assam (the w°v *«» to odomoi 

 to aripiKbv of the Periplus), cotton, dried fish and tobacco : they re- 

 turn homewards during the months of February and March, taking care 

 to leave the place before the return of the hot weather or rains."* In 

 1 809 this trade amounted to two lacs of rupees. The principal article 

 that was purchased by the Kumpas was silk, consisting both of the 

 muga and eria kinds. 



That Assam is the country that is referred to by Ptolemy, is further 

 probable from the fact stated by him, namely, that there was another 

 route to Serica via. Palibothra : " quod non solum inde ad Bactra iter si 

 per turrim lapideam, sed et in Indiam quoque per Palimbothra."f This 

 might be regarded as referring to the route through Nepal and Thibet 

 to China, but it seems more probable that it has allusion to the Brahma- 

 putra and the entrance to Assam by Gowalpara, which is the route by 

 the Ganges mentioned by Arrian, or that by which merchandize was 

 exported to Limurike. 



Again, Ptolemy remarks that beyond, or to the east of Serica, there 

 was an unknown or unexplored country containing lakes or marshes, in 

 which grew large canes, so compact or close to each other, that the in- 

 habitants in the neighbourhood were in the habit of using them as 



* Vide Pemberton's Report on Bootan, p. 144. 



♦ Ptol, Lib. 1. Chap. XVII 



