232 Notes on Eastern Thibet. [No. 3; 



effect that all the salt of Thibet is the produce of lakes ; still there 

 are people who assert that it is also dug out of the ground. Possi- 

 bly this is confined to the vicinity of the lakes or to their dried 

 margins. All travellers in Thibet are agreed that the salt-produc- 

 ing districts are the most rugged and inaccessible that can be ima- 

 gined. It is quite true that men and sheep only can reach the salt 

 deposits. It is also true that the elevation of the deposits prevents 

 their being worked, except for the warmer half of the year, April to 

 November. Thousands of sheep are employed in carrying the salt 

 from the deposits to places accessible to yaks. These latter ani- 

 mals carry it all over Thibet in loads up to 160 lbs. Sheep in open 

 places will carry 20 to 24 lbs. : in the vicinity of the deposits the 

 ruggedness is so great that 8 to 10 lbs. is as much as can be safely 

 put upon them. 



Snow falls annually after November in the salt-producing tracts 

 and covers the ground for two months or more. The elevation of 

 these places cannot, I believe, be under 22,000 feet. 



At Digarchi, 1st quality, 2 Es. per maund, or 20 lbs. for 1 shilling. 



At Giangtchi, 20 per cent, dearer. At Lassa, 5 Es. per maund, 

 or 8 lbs. for 1 shilling. 



These prices indicate the relative distances of the places named 

 from the salt districts. There are no available means of ascertaining 

 the actual distances. Digarchi, the nearest mart may be twenty days' 

 journey on horseback from the nearest salt lakes. See annexed 

 Eoute No. 1, of 55 marches for loaded men. (p. 334.) 



It is believed that salt is now in course of being deposited in a 

 lake at Tinke in Dingcham — near one of the sources of the Arun 

 river, but it is not worked, and great pains are taken to conceal the 

 fact, as there is a prophecy that whenever salt shall be found in the 

 lakes of Dingcham, the glories of Thibet shall be on the wane ; 

 which means that a rush shall be made from all sides for the salt 

 which will render the exclusion of strangers ineffectual. Salt is 

 given to sheep and cattle in Thibet, but not to horses. 



6th. Doli so, which in the Thibetan language means " Stone 

 charcoal." Coal is no where found in Thibet. It is known in that 

 country as a produce of China which is seen at Siling, and other 

 marts on the Thibetan confines of China. 



