THE CHANK BANGLE INDUSTRY. 
447 
living on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. 1 Hence Tavernier’s meaning will be 
correctly read if we substitute Thibet and Bhutan wherever he uses the word Bhutan, 
more particularly seeing that Thibetan trade has long been in the hands of Bhutan- 
ese intermediaries, and Bhutan repeatedly claimed as a dependency by the rulers 
of Thibet. Thibetan manuscripts' 2 make it clear that the present state of Bhutan 
originated in a colony of Thibetans ; the relations between the two countries have 
always been most intimate. The chain which bound Bhutan to Thibet may have been 
a loose one, but history shows that it was held by Thibet and tightened on occasions. 
Tavernier’s time was antecedent to the Chinese re-assumption of sovereignty over 
Thibet in 1720, and coincided with a period when Bhutan was tributary directly to 
Thibet and so may have been included as a portion of Thibet in the view of foreigners. 
Warren Hastings also appears to have used the word Bhutan as synonymous 
with Thibet in his earlier letters to the first mission he despatched to open up trade 
relations with Thibet, at a time when trade with the latter country was carried on 
through the Bhutan passes by the intermediary of Bhutanese merchants. When 
Bogle, Warren Hastings’ emissary, reached Bhutan in 1774, he found the trade of 
the county almost entirely in the hands of the Deb Raja, his ministers and governors, 
who held the monopoly of it both with Bengal and Thibet. Trade with Bengal was 
maintained by means of annual caravans to Rangpur and there was also trade with 
Dinajpur. Warren Hastings subsequently established an annual fair at Rangpur 
for the benefit of Bhutanese merchants whose expenses were paid by the Bengal Govern- 
ment, who also erected stables for their horses and houses for themselves. 3 From 
Rangpur and Dinajpur the Bhutanese took back stocks of Malda cloth, coarse linen, 
hogs and salt fish as the major items of trade, while among the smaller were counted 
supplies of tortoise shell, coral, amber and chank ornaments. The last-named com- 
modity comprises in present-day trade massive single piece bangles without ornamenta- 
tion, tabular pieces of shell and some of the columelke which are broken out from 
the shells before they are sawn into circlets. 
Chank bangles appear to be worn very generally throughout Thibet, from Radakh 
in the West to the Kham country in the East. Neve records 4, seeing the poorer women 
in Kashmiri Thibet wearing broad shell-bangles, in shape like a cuff, on both wrists, 
while on the march of the British expedition to Rhassa in 1904 they were noted as in 
frequent use by Thibetan women. This ornament is assumed early in life while the 
hand is still small and pliable ; after a few years it becomes impossible to remove it 
without breakage, which these women will suffer only in the last resort, as it cannot 
be replaced except by one of large diameter which will fit more loosely on the arm than 
they like. A medical officer who accompanied the Thibet Mission has informed me 
that in one instance a Thibetan woman was brought to him for the treatment of 
a festering wound on the wrist. On examination the cause of the trouble was found 
■ The common designation of Thibetans settled in Sikkim is Lhopa Bhotia, literally Thibetans of the south. 
Risley, loc. cit ., vol. i, p. 217. 
'> J. Claude White, “ Sikhim and Bhutan,” p. 288, London, 1909. 
c J. Claude White, loc. cit. 
* “ Beyond the Pir Panjal , ' ’ London, 1912. 
