3 72 
TIBET. 
to contain a greater or less mixture of silver, and as there is but one 
mine of this metal, known in Europe to be entirely free from it, it is at 
least not improbable, that the lead ores of Tibet are rich in silver; 
t 
and that the smelting of them for the silver, the manner of doing which 
is totally unknown to the natives, might be attended with very great 
advantage. 
Here are also mines of cinnabar, which they use for colouring, in 
paint, and which contains a great proportion of mercury, that they 
know not how to extract. 
The copper mines furnish materials for the manufactory of idols, 
and all the ornaments disposed about the monasteries, on which gild¬ 
ing is bestowed. 
A very small quantity of specie, and that of a base standard, is cur¬ 
rent in Tibet. It is the silver coin of Nipal, here termed indermillee ; 
each is in value wor h about one-third of a sicca rupee, and they are 
cut into halves, third parts, a: d quarters. This, which is the only 
money, serves to obtain the exigencies of life, but never enters into 
important contracts in the larger concerns of trade ; in all such trans¬ 
actions, the equivalent is made in bullion, that is, talents* of gold and 
silver, which bear a value, in proportion to the purity and specific 
gravity of the metal. 
The commerce between Tibet and China, is carried on principally at 
a garrison town, on the western frontier of China, named Sinning, or 
Silling: thither merchants resort from Tibet with their manufacture, viz. 
1 Tarreema, bearing the shape of the crucible in which the metal is fused, and allowed 
to cool. 
