130 Narrative of a Journey to Cho Lagan, fyc. [Aug. 



]y, and negociator in case of any untoward collision with the Hunias ; 

 also as interpreter, for I can scarcely understand these Byansi Bhotias, 

 who have a language of their own (a dialect of the general Bhotia lan- 

 guage with little affinity to the Hindi,) and their Hindustani is hardly 

 more intelligible ; they have some imperfect acquaintance with the 

 Khasia-Hindi of the lower hills, but speak it like a foreign language. It 

 is a curious circumstance that the Bhotias of Jwar do not speak the 

 Bhotia language, but a dialect of Hindi like that prevailing in the lower 

 hills ; all the respectable people among them communicate fluently in 

 ordinary Hindustani, and a few are literati in a small way. 



The case of Bhauna is one instance to show that the Bh6tia mono- 

 poly of the trade between Kumaon and Gnari is ascribable not solely 

 to the jealousy of the Lhassan Government but something also to the 

 avaricious spirit of the Jwari Bhotias, which seems to have its own way 

 notwithstanding the British administration of the Province ; the difficul- 

 ties of the Alpine route and snowy passes, the inhospitable climate of 

 Hiindes, together with the poverty of the markets, and actual insigni- 

 ficance of the trade, and much of course to the moral hindrances. Any 

 possible extension or participation of the trade, such as it is, by the 

 Almora merchants should be sought, I think by the way of Byans, 

 where the Bhotias are more tractable to strangers and the snowy passes 

 less formidable to lowlanders. 



As I have before mentioned, there is already some traffic of the 

 Khasias from Dung of Doti, which passes through Byans without moles- 

 tation. The Niti pass, next in facility to Lipu Lekh, should be similarly 

 open to adventurers from lower Garhwal. But to tell the truth, there 

 seems little scope for material improvement of the Hunia trade so long 

 as the Province of Gnari labours under the political depressions and 

 restrictions that emanate from Lhassan tyranny and Chinese influence, 

 nor is that system likely to be changed at the mere request, or demand 

 even of the British Government. The abolition of the Ladak monopo- 

 ly of shawl wool, when effected, may perhaps add to the trade of Bisehir 

 and our newly acquired Trans-Sutlej hill districts, but it can do little for 

 Kumaon and British Garhwal under present circumstances. It is to be 

 regretted that none of the Kashmiri refugees have settled in these 

 provinces, where their manufactories could be carried on to great ad- 

 vantage from the proximity of the raw material, and now particularly 

 that the supply of it promises to be unrestricted. 



