CHAPTER I.

ON THE COMMERCIAL RELATIONS OF THE PUNJAB, AND THE ADVANTAGES OF OPENING THE NAVIGATION OF THE INDUS.

“It has been observed in every age, that, when any branch of commerce has got into a certain channel, although it may be neither the most proper or the most commodious one, it requires long time and considerable efforts to give it a different direction.”--_Robertson’s Disq. on Ancient India._

“When Egypt was torn from the Roman empire by the Arabians, the industry of the Greeks discovered a new channel by which the productions of India might be conveyed to Constantinople. They _were carried up the Indus_, as far as that great river is navigable: thence they were transported by land to the _banks of the river Oxus_, and proceeded down its stream to the Caspian Sea. There they entered the Volga, and, sailing up it, were carried by land to the Tanais, which conducted them into the Euxine Sea, where vessels from Constantinople waited their arrival.”--_Robertson’s America._ Book I., following _Ramusio_.

~On navigating the Indus to the Punjab.~

The navigation of the Indus and its tributary rivers, when laid open to the merchant, must advance the interests of commerce. In the revival of an ancient channel to exchange the goods of distant nations, we behold with equal pleasure the advantages of British supremacy in India, and an increased outlet for the commodities of our commercial country. An enquiry into the condition and manufactures of every region which adjoins this great river, as well as those situated between it and the Caspian Sea, seems, therefore, opportunely to suggest itself. I have also the greatest inducement to enter on the subject, since I have seen the bazars and associated with the mercantile community of these countries.

~Favourable position of the Punjab for trade.~

There is, perhaps, no inland country of the globe which possesses greater facilities for commerce than the Punjab, and there are few more rich in the productions of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. Intersected by five navigable streams, it is bounded on the west by one of the largest rivers of the Old World. To the north it has the fertile and fruitful vale of Cashmere to limit its sceptre; so placed, that it can export without trouble its costly fabrics to the neighbouring kingdoms of Persia and Tartary, China and India. Situated between Hindostan and the celebrated entrepôts of Central Asia, it shares the advantages of their traffic, while it is itself blessed with an exuberance of every production of the soil that is useful and nutritious to man.

~Extent and variety of its productions.~

The productions of the Punjab relieve it from any great dependence on external resource. Its courtiers and chiefs may robe themselves in the shawls of Cashmere, and the strong and beautiful silken fabrics of Mooltan. Its citizens and husbandmen may wear the cheap textures of the native cotton. Every animal may be bounteously fed on the grains indigenous to the country, and a range of mountains, entirely composed of salt, furnishes that necessary ingredient of food; while the upland parts yield condiments and fruits to season the daily bread. To such a mart we can export but with dubious success the productions of our own or other countries; yet there are some articles in which the industry of Britain may still cause a rivalry. Towards forming a conclusion on this subject, we shall treat of the different productions of the country, and afterwards point out the probable effects of opening a new door to commerce on its imports and exports.

~Shawls of Cashmere.~

The staple commodity of the Punjab is found in the shawl manufactures of Cashmere, which have been so often described by others, that they merely require a passing notice. They are a fabric which no exertion on the part of foreigners can imitate; and, though the European manufacturer may impart much of the beauty, and copy with success the pattern, his web possesses none of the delicacy of the original, and is equally destitute of that warmth and comfort which the inhabitants of Europe, in their more frigid zone, are so well able to appreciate. Nor are the weavers of the adjoining countries more successful in this branch of art than our own countrymen: the shawls of Lahore and Delhi, though woven by natives of the valley, and with the same materials, are wanting in the fineness of those prepared in Cashmere, and have the degenerated appearance of a coarse woollen, but little superior to our own manufactures. If implicit reliance is to be placed on the people, the shawl derives its beauty from the water in which the wool is dyed, and which is peculiar to Cashmere.

~Extent of the shawl manufactures.~

The yearly revenue from the shawl manufactures, exclusive of every expense, is rated at eighteen lacs of rupees; but, as it is entirely realised in kind, every fraud which the ingenuity of a deceiving people can devise is practised in remitting it to Lahore. Shawls which cannot be valued at a higher price than a couple of hundred rupees, are rated at a thousand; and it is not a subject of surprise that the amount which I have now stated far exceeds the actual realisation by the treasury of Runjeet Sing. With a more judicious system, this Prince might double this source of his revenue. An idea may be formed of the value to which these fabrics may be manufactured, by some shawls having been lately prepared to order, for the Russian and Persian courts, at the enormous price of 30,000 roubles per pair; which is, I believe, about 12,000 rupees. It is a source of complaint among merchants, that the shawls have lately declined in quality, and good articles are now only to be procured by commissioning them from the valley. The article, indeed, has become a drug, and the Punjab government have at present in Umritsir a store of shawls that cannot be valued at less than half a million sterling (fifty lacs of rupees).

~Silks.~

The commercial genius of the people has introduced another manufacture from silk, named “kais,” with a strength of texture and brilliancy of hue, that has secured to the silks of Mooltan a merited reputation in the Indian market. The worm is unknown in the Punjab; but the small bulk and great value of its produce admit of silk being imported from distant countries, and converted with profit by the trader into a rich manufacture. These silken stuffs are only woven in the shape of shawls and scarfs, which have an extensive sale, for the Indian weavers have been, hitherto, unable to rival either their colour or durability. There is also a considerable manufacture of satin in Mooltan, called “atlass;” but it only shares this branch of trade with Umritsir and Lahore. The “kincob,” or brocade, of the Punjab, is inferior to that of Bengal and Guzerat, and cannot, therefore, compete with the cloths of those countries. I should here mention the carpets of Mooltan, which do not equal those of Persia: but even they are far surpassed by the splendid shawl carpets of Cashmere. This manufacture is not to be purchased, and is made, I believe, only for the ruler of the country.

~Cottons.~

The climate of the Punjab is unfavourable to the cotton shrub, which affects another soil; yet it grows in considerable quantities. The plant is chiefly produced in the “doab,” between the Sutledge and Beas Rivers; but, on account of the demand, it is also imported from the dry country, south of the former river, which is known by the name of Malwa. The natives of the eastern portion of the Punjab, about Rohun and Hoshyarpoor, are skilful in the manufacture of cotton; and their looms furnish white cloth of various textures, from the value of a yard, to four times that quantity, for a rupee. The cloth is inferior in appearance to that of British manufacture; but it is stronger and lasts better, while it has the advantage of being much cheaper. The finer cottons of the Punjab are exported to the people south of the Sutledge, who are unable to vie with their manufactures. The chintses of Mooltan were, at one time, much sought for in the Punjab, and territories west of the Indus; but the trade is now ruined by the British imports, as we shall have occasion to mention hereafter.

~Minerals.~

The mineral resources of the Punjab have been but imperfectly explored; yet, from the little that has been laid open, their value must be considerable. A range of hills, extending from the Indus to the Hydaspes, formed entirely of rock-salt, furnishes an inexhaustible supply, and, being closely monopolised, contributes to the enrichment of the ruler. It is in general use throughout the country, and most extensively exported, till it meets the salt of the Sambre lake, and the Company’s territories. There is another deposit of salt on the verge of the mountains towards Mundee; but it is of an inferior description. In the same vicinity, if I can place reliance on my information, some veins of coal have been discovered; and there are also extensive mines of iron. The ore, after being pounded, is pulverised by grindstones, and then smelted: matchlocks and swords are formed from this metal; and the warlike weapons of Lahore are famous among the Indian nations. The precious metals are more scarce; yet gold is found among the sands of the Acesines, as it issues from the mountains. The salt range, as well as the other high lands, yield alum and sulphur. Nitre is gathered in quantities from the extensive plains; and “tooree,” or milk-bush, which gives the best charcoal, completes the enumeration of what is necessary for the manufacture of gunpowder.

~Vegetable.~

The productions of the vegetable world exceed the consumption of the population, and increase in abundance towards the hills. Some of them are exported with advantage to the neighbouring countries; but the surrounding plenty discourages the husbandman. The wheat and barley of the plains are expended within the limits of the Punjab; but such is the number of horses in this country, that gram, moong, mut, bajree, and other grain, reared in a dry soil, are imported with advantage. Rice is exuberantly produced under the mountains; but it is not a diet which suits the palate of the people. The cane thrives luxuriantly, and sugar is manufactured for exportation. The smallness of its stalk is remarkable; but it is said to produce the most saccharine fluid, and is preferred to the thicker canes of India. Indigo is reared about Mooltan and eastward of Lahore, and it is exported to the Mahommedan countries westward, where dark-coloured cloths are more prevalent than in the Punjab. A valuable oil is expressed from the “Sirsya,” or Sesamum plant, and is both used for the lamp and culinary purposes. The esculent vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, &c., are produced every where; and most of the vines and fruit-trees common to Europe may be seen in Kishtwar and Cashmere. The tobacco of Mooltan is only surpassed by that of Persia.

~Advantages of opening the Indus to the Punjab trade.~

Without a longer detail of the resources of the Punjab, it will have already appeared that the nature and extent of its productions forbid any sanguine hope of improving to a considerable degree our commercial communication, even by water, with the countries eastward of the Indus.

A region that yielded corn, wine, oil, and salt was considered, in ancient times, a favoured land; and we have here, likewise, extensive manufactures to keep pace with the modern tastes of mankind: yet the trade in loongees, at Tatta, and in the silks of Bhawalpoor and Mooltan, which still exists, affords undoubted proof of a former line of commerce by the Indus. Trade requires a fostering care, to which even uncivilised nations are no strangers. With such an extensive export trade as this country possesses in the single article of Cashmere shawls, it is evident that there must be equally extensive returns; and it is the province of commerce to effect an interchange of the goods of one country for those of another. An outlet for shawls was formerly found in Delhi; but in later years, since the tranquillity of Rajpootana was restored, they have been exported direct to Bombay, through that country, by Pallee. It may be unhesitatingly averred, that the least inconvenient and expensive route, which leads by the Indus, will turn the commerce into that channel. As we introduce our goods into Central India from other quarters, we must not look to the countries east of the Indus for any great increase to our commercial relations in this quarter. At present the import of European articles into the Punjab is far from trifling; and, as the resistance to the stream is removed, the consumption ought to increase with the diminution of price. It depends on the Lord of Cashmere, whether we receive the productions of his country alike reduced; but, if he properly understood his own interests, he might augment his revenue by diminishing the price, which, it is but reasonable to suppose, would increase the demand.

~Effects of a new route on the manufactures of the towns on the Indus.~

If we ourselves copy the manufactures of Tatta, Mooltan, and Bhawulpoor, as we did the chintses of India, we may supersede the lingering remnants of trade in these cities, since we shall be able, with our machinery, to undersell their merchandise; for there is nothing in them that an European would find it difficult to imitate; but, as I have before observed, we should confine our views to Western Asia. I do not touch upon the policy of supplanting still further the trade of India; but I am certain that, in the present instance, disappointment would follow the speculation, for the consumption of loongees, and silks, which form the apparel of the higher orders, is far less than that of chintses. A trade of ten lacs of rupees in that article has, I am credibly informed, been driven for some years past from Bombay alone to the northern parts of India. With silks it would, I am persuaded, never rise to thousands. I do not, of course, include brocade, which is at present imported.

~European articles for which an increased demand might be looked for. Metals, woollens, &c.~

There are means of improving our exports to the Punjab, if shipped by the Indus. It has been seen that the country is without copper, brass, tin, lead; all of which are bulky articles, difficult of transport by land, and which could be imported with profit. Wrought iron might also be introduced: locks, keys, padlocks, bolts, screws, hinges, and such dead weight have now a steady sale, and are imported by land. But the great desideratum of this country is woollens; and, in a climate where the cold is greater than in other parts of India, they become an object to the people. Their consumption is considerable, and it is vastly increased by the large standing army, which Runjeet Sing entertains and clothes in them. In the time of Timour Shah, the Company’s factory in Sinde yielded a profit of five lacs of rupees, chiefly from the sale of woollens, which were sent up the Indus, or by its banks to Cabool, for the use of that King’s army. It is very immaterial to trade, whether the armed body occupies the east or west bank of the Indus; and, though Timour Shah and his successors have ceased to rule, Runjeet Sing governs in the zenith of his power. I must observe, however, that M. Allard, the general of Runjeet Sing’s regular cavalry, informed me that he could clothe his troops in English woollens at Umritsir, in the Punjab, cheaper than at Hansee and the British provinces on the frontier, where he had tried the experiment. This is to be accounted for by the reluctance of the merchants to open the bales before reaching the commercial mart. There is a taste among the people of the Punjab for woollens; and, though less than exists in the colder countries across the Indus, it could no doubt be improved by cheapening the articles, which would follow on a water communication.

~Cottons.~

~Chintses.~

With regard to the cottons of the Punjab, I entertain doubts of any decrease in the price of British goods (which a more facile line of commerce might effect) supplanting the existing manufactures: they are generally of a coarser texture than the European article; and in a cold country this accords with the inclinations of the people, and will induce them to adhere to their own fabrics. The case was otherwise with chintses, which pleased from their variety of patterns, and were, in other respects, a close imitation of their own: their introduction involved at once a complete revolution in the manufactures of the country. The chints of Mooltan was formerly exported to Persia; but, in its competition with the British article, the manufacture has almost ceased. The European article, when first introduced, about twelve years ago, was sold for four rupees per yard, and may be now had for as many annas, or one sixteenth of its original value. The Mooltan manufacturers, being unable to reduce their prices to so low a standard, find little sale for their goods with so formidable a rival. Chintses have, however, decreased in the demand; and the reason is obvious: they have ceased to be a rarity, and the fashion has changed; for it is a mistake to believe that the customs of the Indians are unalterable, like the laws of the Medes and Persians.

~Jewellery, cutlery, and finer European articles.~

For the finer articles of European manufacture, such as watches, cutlery, jewellery, China ware, glass, &c., the natives of the Punjab have no taste beyond the precincts of the court, and there the demand is exceedingly limited. Pearls and precious stones are already imported from India by a safe route, and much prized; for the more opulent natives give no encouragement to the minor manufactures of Birmingham and Sheffield, which too often compose an investment to this country. With a settled government, Runjeet Sing has introduced among his chiefs and subjects a taste for fine clothes: but the artizans of his own country supply these in abundance. In this respect his court is, perhaps, unequalled in the East; yet this prince and his courtiers are strangers to most of the elegancies and comforts of civilised life: nor could such a taste be hoped for from an illiterate people, whose habits of life, at a late period, were those of a predatory horde. Many of the chiefs have, within these few years, built costly mansions; but they are yet unacquainted with the necessity or advantage of furniture, or with the convenience of glass windows. A few of the Seik Sirdars exhibit the penchant of an epicure for savoury and preserved food, such as hams, &c.; but, though wonderfully relieved from prejudice, no outlet can be looked for in this quarter, as in India, to the hermetically sealed dainties of Europe. Ardent spirits would be brought to a better market; but the Punjabees still prefer the pungent fiery drink of their own soil.

~Depôt for a water commerce.~

In opening a water communication to the countries at the head of the Indus, it would not appear that any advantages arose from navigating the great river higher than Dera Ghazee Khan, or the streams of the Punjab above Mooltan, and, perhaps, Lodiana. The exports for Central Asia might be landed at Bukkur, which may be considered the port of Shikarpoor; a town which has extensive connections with all parts of Asia, and is situated on the plains below the Bolan pass, the great defile through the Sooliman mountains. If we found it advisable to transport them higher up to Leia, they would meet at the Kaheree ferry, the stream of commerce as it at present flows from Pallee, Becaneer, and Mooltan, which would involve a virtual annihilation of that trade. Though the passage from Attok downwards is perfectly open, and fruit is annually sent by the Indus to Shikarpoor, the difficulties of navigation increase above Karabagh, from the rapidity of the current that flows through mountains, and there are no solid benefits to be reaped from the risk. The Punjab trader, on the other hand, would effect his objects when he had reached Mooltan; for the Chenab and Jelum, both of which are navigable rivers, and the former a very noble one, lead to no mart beyond that city. The tortuous course of the Ravee, on which Lahore stands, with its inferiority to all the other streams in depth and size, will ever prevent its becoming a line of traffic, and the more so, since the trade of the capital is limited, and the great commercial city of Umritsir can be approached within a distance of thirty miles by the course of the Sutledge. I cannot doubt that this latter river will be found navigable from Ooch to Hurreeke, where it is 275 yards wide, and joined by the Beas; after which it is said to have a medial depth of twelve feet, and is never fordable. With but little difficulty it might be ascended as high as Lodiana by the boats of the country, and thus connect our communication between the sea and the most remote position of our Indian empire. It is to be regretted that we have no proper report of the capabilities of the Sutledge from Lodiana to its confluence with the Chenab at Ooch; but the facts which I have recorded, and I cannot doubt them, excite the greatest hopes that it will be found navigable throughout, and present no physical obstacles to commerce.[39] A mercantile capital of considerable consequence, the city of Bhawulpoor, fortunately stands on the banks of this river, towards the embouchure. The Sutledge, in this part of its course, traverses a barren and ill-protected country; and, though risks would be incurred at the outset, this and other disadvantages would probably disappear in the course of time.

~Political condition of the countries.~

An extensive commerce can only exist where a liberal protection is extended to the merchant and his property. In Sinde ample securities will be required before the trader embarks his capital; but beyond its limits the Punjab offers a safer route. The lawless tribes in the Derajat, between Attok and Mittun, owe allegiance to no sovereign; but they are, comparatively speaking, beyond the channels of commerce. Though Runjeet Sing has tranquillised the countries eastward of the Indus, he has not failed to exact the most excessive duties, which injures the trade. Since the Indus and its tributary rivers lie beyond the territories of British India, it might be supposed that the want of a tribunal for the adjustment of differences and disputes would prove hurtful to an infant commerce; but, with all the rectitude that characterises the public servants of the Company, and the enlightened intentions of the Government, it is very questionable, if our system of jurisprudence has not increased dishonesty and deceit among the mercantile community; while, unaided by facilities to complain, the traders of India, particularly under native governments, preserve an honesty in their transactions, and repose a confidence in each other, which is fast disappearing from our own territories. With an extension of our trade in this quarter, we shall require no advancement of our position; and if war follows in the train of commerce, we shall then have the double satisfaction of protecting our trade and our frontier.

CHAP. II.

ON THE COMMERCE OF CABOOL.

~Commerce of Cabool.~

The commerce of Cabool has undergone a great alteration, from political causes, since the year 1809, when this country was visited by a British mission. In the time of the monarchy, the trade with India was considerable, and our commercial factory in Sinde, for a long time, was principally supported by the demand from Afghanistan. The abolition of that establishment led the merchants of Cabool to seek their supply in the bazars of India; and though the monarchy has ceased to exist, yet the body of the people has acquired a taste for European manufactures quite unprecedented. I have stated that the wealth of Cabool is now to be found eastward of the Indus; but the dismemberment of this once extensive kingdom into a variety of small chiefships has not proved prejudicial to the interests of commerce. The wealth of the state is now subdivided, and we have four or five different courts, instead of one, of overgrown magnitude, which, in so poor a country as Cabool, has a very material influence on the market. But this is no speculative view of the subject; for the collections and town duties of the city of Cabool have greatly increased since the exile of the kings, and risen one fourth within the last six years, without any additional imposts being levied. Not only has the consumption of British and Indian manufactures been augmented in the country itself, but the transit trade to Toorkistan has at the same time increased it.

~Routes of commerce to Afghanistan.~

The merchandise of Britain, which is sent into these countries, is landed in India, either at Calcutta or Bombay. I am given to understand that the greater supply is derived from Bombay. The caravans from both these places concentrate in Cabool, which they reach by three principal routes. 1. The merchants from Bengal take the route of the Ganges, Delhi, Hansee, Bhawulpoor, Mooltan, and cross the Indus at the ferry of Kaheree, above the latitude of 31° north. From this they proceed to the Golairee pass and Goomul River to Ghuzni and Cabool. 2. Those from Bombay proceed by Guzerat to Pallee, in Marwar; from whence they cross the desert to Beecaneer, and join the above route at Bhawulpoor. 3. A portion of the merchandise from Bombay is shipped for Sonmeeanee or Curachee, in Sinde; from which they reach Candahar in eighteen marches, and proceed thence to Ghuzni and Cabool. Such part of these goods as is not sold in the country, or intended for the Bokhara market, is sent to Herat. The route through Sinde to Shikarpoor is little frequented, from fear of the Kakers. It will be observed in this enumeration, that the great road between India and Persia, from Delhi, by Lahore, Attok, and Peshawur, to Cabool, is deserted: this arises from heavier duties being levied by the ruler of the Punjab than by his neighbours. Such goods as are exported from Umritsir, which is the mart of the Punjab trade, cross the Hydaspes (Jelum) at Jung, and join the other routes at Kaheree. It is, therefore, a singular fact, that the city of Peshawur, which lies on the very eastern frontier of Afghanistan, is supplied with European and Indian articles, from Cabool, to the westward. The merchants can bring them cheaper to market by this circuitous route, and therefore prefer it; which, in part, accounts for the increased amount of the receipts in Cabool.

~Carriers of the trade.~

The principal carriers of this trade between India and Cabool, are the Lohanees, a pastoral tribe of Afghans, who occupy the country eastward from Ghuzni to the Indus. Many of these are men of great opulence, and proceed in person to make their purchases in the Indian markets. Their families and flocks repair, in due season, to meet them on the banks of the river, and their merchandise is conveyed on their own camels, by easy marches, to Ghuzni. The intervening country is mountainous, and the roads are stony and difficult; but the territory is their native soil, and they are free from the imposts and duties that obstruct commerce. The caravan reaches Cabool about the beginning of June; here the Lohanees dispose of their goods, and prosecute their journey to Bokhara. In return for the merchandise which is sold in Cabool, these traders export horses, the madder of Ghuzni and Candahar, as well as a great quantity of fruit, both fresh and dried. With these they repair to the banks of the Indus, where their camels are retained till the arrival of the caravan of the ensuing season.

~Imports to Cabool.~

It is a trite remark of the natives in these countries, that the exports of India are but grass, and her returns are gold. These are indigo, cotton, and sugar, the chief imports of Cabool. The goods consist of white cloths of all kinds, calicoes, and muslins; also chintses of European manufacture; shawls, brocades, Dacca muslins, Punjab turbans, spices, &c.: about a thousand camel-loads of these are now consumed yearly in Cabool. Previous to the year 1816, this country was supplied with many articles from Russia; but the chints trade, which is to be dated from that time, has effected a material change. The manufactures of Europe have since flowed from India with increased volume on this part of Asia. It has been believed, and not erroneously, that the cloths of Russia not only found their way to Bokhara, but to the countries southward of Hindoo Koosh, and were distributed through the provinces of Cabool; but a commercial revolution, almost unobserved, has gradually changed the channels of commerce. It would be difficult, in the most civilised kingdom of Asia, to furnish the authentic data, which are so necessary to our European notions for the establishment of such an important point; but the inward Custom-house receipts prove it. To the justice and equity of Dost Mahommed Khan, the chief of Cabool, we must mainly attribute a change so beneficial to Britain. Once effected, the fabrics of Russia have failed to vie with our own, and an outlet for our exports, which we owe to the wisdom of a chief, has been improved by the superiority of the exports themselves. The only cloths now received from Russia are nankeen and broad chints, of a description which are not manufactured in Britain.

~Dispositions of the Cabool chiefs in regard to commerce.~

The chiefs of Peshawur and Candahar do not extend to commerce that encouragement which so distinguishes their brother at Cabool; but their conduct in this respect is of less consequence, as they have less power and influence: and the great road to Toorkistan passes through the country under Cabool. The shawl trade from Cashmere to Persia has been driven into other routes by the exactions of the Candahar chief. These goods are now either sent by way of Bombay and Bushire, or the circuitous route of Cabool, Bokhara, and the Caspian. I am persuaded that these exactions at Candahar arise from ignorance, for the chief is well disposed to the British Government; and he must be aware of the fact, that all the Bokhara merchants choose the route of Cabool, to his detriment. It is otherwise with the Peshawur chief, who is overawed by the Seiks, and can only secure his existence by oppression. His capital, which stands on the high road from India to Tartary, has ceased to be an entrepôt of trade, owing to his own exactions, as well as his disturbances with the Seiks. The only merchandise imported into Peshawur is consumed in the city; and, as I have before said, much of it is brought by way of Cabool. No merchant can afford to transport his goods through the territories of the Punjab to Peshawur; and the Khyber pass between that city and Cabool is unsafe. A tax of sixty rupees is levied on each horse between Peshawur and Lahore, which has almost suppressed that trade. Peshawur has no manufactures peculiar to itself, but a course kind of cotton loongee, which is exported through Tartary and the whole of Afghanistan. European goods are sold in its bazars, but the demand is limited. The better orders of people wear them; and chints dresses and muslin turbans are common. They also wear Russian nankeens and velvets, and Indian silks. The lower classes dress in the cloths of the country. The whole revenues of the city of Peshawur do not amount to 30,000 rupees a year.

~Remarks on improving the trade of Cabool.~

The trade to Bokhara or Toorkistan is so intimately connected with that of Cabool, that it is necessary to state the information which I have gathered on that subject before I offer any conclusion on this commerce. That it can be improved and extended, I feel most fully satisfied, since those who shared it with us have been driven from the field within these few years, and the import of Indian chints has nearly ceased. The duties of Cabool are also moderate, not exceeding 2-1/2 per cent. It occurs to me that the establishment of fairs or bazars, in imitation of the Russians, is the best means which we can follow towards the accomplishment of so desirable an end as the extension of British commerce westward of the Indus. The Cabool merchants began to frequent these annual assemblages in Russia within the last fifteen years; and at present make extensive sales and purchases. They have been so much encouraged by the emperor, that the greater part of the Russian trade to Bokhara has fallen into their hands; of which the Uzbeks complain bitterly. I mention the fact, to show that these institutions might be introduced with the greatest advantage on the frontier of our Indian empire, which immediately adjoins that of Cabool. It may be seen that they have attracted merchants to a distant country, who would more readily embark their capital in speculations nearer home, if they had an opportunity. This would diminish their risks, and, in all probability, increase the demand, and, consequently, the exports of British manufactures to Afghanistan. It would at the same time counteract the intrigues and designs of the great power I have named. No men are more deserving of encouragement than the Lohanee merchants of Cabool: they are an enterprising race, who may be often met in the upper parts of India. In returning to their own country, they speak of little civilities, which are sometimes shown them, with a gratitude that proves how sensibly they would appreciate the more substantial favours of a liberal government. An introduction to the authorities in India, and a few presents of the most trifling description, would be to them a strong manifestation of the good feelings of our government. It would also show them that it took an interest in their welfare, and that it was not our desire to transfer the trade of British goods into the hands of British merchants, which is universally believed by these people. In my interviews with them, I have often had to combat such an opinion, which I did, by assuring them that it was an increase of the national exports which we desired, and not an enrichment of any individual set of men. Perhaps the most material service which can be rendered to these people is, the removal of grievances in the Custom-house (to which I shall hereafter allude), that have been generally felt in these countries. That they only require to be known to be redressed, is, I am sure, most certain.

CHAP. III.

ON THE COMMERCE AND FOREIGN COMMUNICATIONS OF BOKHARA AND CENTRAL ASIA.

~Progress of the commerce between Asia and Europe.~

The commercial intercourse which has subsisted between Europe and the nations of Central Asia and India is of high antiquity: it flourished under the Greek monarchs of Bactria, the successors of Alexander, and is mentioned by Pliny, and earlier writers. The inroads of the Caliphs appear to have obliterated for a time the traces of this extensive commerce; but the inhabitants of modern Russia imported, during the tenth century, the riches and aromatics of the East into the “great Novogorod.” The opening of a passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, in the fifteenth century, effected an eventful change in the channels of ancient commerce; but the fruits of that discovery continued for a long time in the hands of the Portuguese. In the middle of the following century, while that nation were reaping the advantages of this new line of trade, the English sent merchants and ambassadors to seek for other outlets of commerce, among the nations on the Caspian and eastward of that sea. These expeditions were productive of no salutary consequences, as we learn from the quaint and amusing accounts of Anthony Jenkinson, and those who followed him. “Cloth they will buy none,” says that traveller, in his Journey to Bokhara; “and there is little utterance, and little profit.”

~Particular revival of commerce by the Russians.~

The attempt to establish a commerce between Europe and these countries, in particular with Bokhara, at this time abortive, was not such as to discourage all future endeavours. The kingdom of Bokhara, though of secondary importance, politically considered, holds a far higher position in the commercial world. Fruitful in the productions of the earth, where all around is desolation, it lies between Europe and Asia, and is a central mart, where the merchant may exchange with advantage the productions of China, Persia, India, and Cabool. The proximity of the eastern parts of Europe pointed to it as an outlet for its commodities, since it appeared to lie beyond the influence of the line of maritime trade with India. But these advantages were only to be enjoyed by the nation that adjoined its territories; and, if the expeditions of the English were unsuccessful, the Russians, who enjoyed more favourable opportunities, succeeded, though at a much later period--about the middle of the eighteenth century. It was the design of Peter the Great of Russia to form a commercial communication between the Caspian Sea and the banks of the Oxus; but he was frustrated by the foulest perfidy. He succeeded, nevertheless, in opening the roads from the southern frontier of Asiatic Russia, eastward of the Caspian and Aral; and, for a period of about eighty years, they have been annually travelled by the caravans of Bokhara. I will not assert that, in this line of commerce, we have a revival of the exact channels of ancient trade; but a comparatively safe and easy communication has assuredly been opened between Asia and Europe.

~British Indian trade established.~

While the bazars of Bokhara have been supplied by the over-land route from Russia, the merchant of India, who formerly resorted to them with the productions of his native soil, has likewise introduced the fabrics of Britain. The commerce of the English has been thus widely extended, and the Russian merchant discovers a formidable rival in the diminution of his trade. It is a curious reflection, that the manufactures of Europe should reach the central parts of Asia by a retrograde route, after they have half circumnavigated the globe, and that the opening of commerce between Britain and these countries, which had failed by the direct road of Europe, should be now firmly established from an opposite direction. The subject is curious and important; and it is the design of this paper to follow up that trade through its course, and to give such particulars concerning the general commerce of these countries as appear interesting, as well as to delineate the lines of communication by which it is conveyed. The flourishing condition of this trade will then enable me to speak of the means of improving our exports, and to state my hopes and reasons for believing that these may be further increased, to the great benefit of our commercial country.

~Modern alterations, and routes of commerce.~

Till within these twelve or fourteen years, the trade in European fabrics to Toorkistan, which includes Bokhara and the regions north of the Oxus, was principally confined to the Russians, who exported their goods into these countries from Orenburg and Troitskai; but it is now carried on more extensively through India and Cabool. There are four great lines of route between Russia and Bokhara, by which the commercial intercourse is carried on: the first of these leads from Astracan, across the Caspian, to Mungusluck, and thence to Orgunje and Bokhara, and may be voyaged and travelled in thirty days. The next begins at Orenburg, and passes between the Aral and Caspian Seas, to Orgunje and Bokhara, and is a journey of sixty days. The third commences at Troitskai, in Asiatic Russia, and, crossing the “Dusht-i-Kipchak,” or desert of Kipchak, passes eastward of the Aral, and across the Sirr or Jaxartes, near its mouth, to Bokhara. A caravan may march it in forty-eight days. The fourth and last commences at Kuzzul-jur, or, as it is also called, Petropolosk, on the Issim, considerably to the eastward of Troitskai, and leads down upon Bokhara by a south-west direction, passing through Tashkend. This is a journey of ninety days. A commercial intercourse is carried on between Toorkistan and the empire of Russia by all these routes; but that by Orenburg and Orgunje (Khiva) is the safest and most frequented. The great yearly caravan, which sets out from Bokhara in June, takes that route; and the portion of it intended for Astracan diverges to Mungusluck, on the Caspian. The stragglers of the year, and about two hundred camels of the less valuable merchandise, proceed to Troitskai, and march in August. The “Dusht-i-Kipchak,” which the whole of these routes traverse, is a flat and dreary country, without fixed inhabitants; and the traveller provides himself with the necessaries of subsistence, before he sets out on his journey. But this tract is not destitute of forage, fuel, or water; and its inhabitants, the Kirgizzes and Kuzzaks, wander over it with their flocks and herds in search of pasture. They are possessed of numerous herds of camels, of the strongest and most robust breed: these are the two-humped, or Bactrian camel. One of them will carry 640 lbs. English, which surpasses by 150 lbs. the burdens of those of India and Cabool. The caravan is entrusted to these shepherds; the merchandise is committed to their charge, and they are followed by their families in the journey. There is no road, and no guide but the stars of heaven; and the camels, in a line of fifteen and twenty abreast, in a slow but steady pace, only advance during night.

~Negotiations of Russia regarding its commerce.~

In the year 1819, the government of Russia despatched M. Mouravief on a mission to Orgunje, with the view of effecting a change in the established line of commerce: they desired to bring it at once to the Bay of Krasnovodsk, on the Caspian, which is a much nearer route, and where the merchandise could be shipped for Astracan with the same facilities as at Mungusluck. The Khan of Orgunje objected to the arrangement, and the negotiation failed. In the following year another mission was despatched to Bokhara, by the way of Troitskai and the east bank of the Aral, under M. Negri, which had also in view an improvement of the commercial communications between the two countries. The road was found practicable; and, on the return of the mission, a caravan of merchants, protected by a party of five hundred soldiers and two field-pieces, was despatched in due course to Bokhara. This attempt on the part of Russia also failed, for the chief of Orgunje took umbrage at a measure which turned the traffic from his own territories. He sent his army to the embouchure of the Sirr to obstruct the advance of the caravan, and, if possible, to plunder it. The detachment, taking up a position on a hillock, defended itself with great bravery, and succeeded in scaring off some thousand horse; but they only extricated themselves from the dilemma by burning the merchandise, and precipitately returning to Russia; for their provisions were exhausted. No attempt has been since made to avoid the territories of Orgunje; nor are the duties levied by the Khan of that state immoderate or unreasonable. It may be supposed that the government of Russia has taken offence at the conduct of this chief, and is not wanting in a desire to chastise his obstinacy. There is now no intercourse of a friendly nature between the countries, though the pertinacious chief of Orgunje is dead, and has been succeeded by his son. Russia has not entirely trusted to negotiations for the further extension of her commercial influence. Numerous fairs are annually held on the southern frontiers of the empire: that called by the Asiatics Mucrea (St. Macaire), on the banks of the Volga, is the most considerable: it commences in August, and lasts forty days. The merchants who carry on the trade of Central Asia make the most part of their sales and purchases at this market; and even Hindoos are found at St. Macaire.

~Exports from India and Russia to Bokhara.~

The imports of Bokhara from India are the same as those of Cabool. About two thousand camel-loads of these goods reach Cabool yearly, and one half of the quantity is passed on to Toorkistan. The exports of Russia are sent from Orenburg and Troitskai, across the desert, to Bokhara. They consist of white cloths, muslins, chintses, and broad cloth, _both_ of English and Russian manufacture; of imitation brocade (kimcob) velvet, with nankeen and gold thread; all of home manufacture; also furs, cochineal (kirmiz), locks, iron pots, iron, brass, and copper; wires, leather, paper, needles, inferior cutlery and jewellery, hardware, refined white sugar, honey, and a variety of other small articles. Much of the returns from Russia are made in specie, such as ducats and venetians. The annual caravan, which arrives at Bokhara, consists of about thirteen hundred camels, and leaves Russia in January. It will be seen that there is a large portion of the Russian exports that encounter no opposition at Bokhara from the Indian trade; and I am credibly informed, by respectable merchants, that three fourths of those articles, which are alike imported from both countries, are of British manufacture. Where two streams of commerce meet from opposite quarters, the prices of the one must be lowered, and approximate to the standard of the other, whatever may have been their original cost, or the expense of transport. The sale of British goods is discouraged in Russia, and their transit is impeded by heavy duties; still they find their way to Bokhara, and are there sold with profit. There are some articles, such as broad cloth and velvets, which only reach that country from Russia, though of British fabric.

~Prices of merchandise.~

The prices of merchandise, both British and Russian, when exposed in the bazars of Bokhara, will illustrate the relative value of the commodities, and exhibit, at the same time, the profit which is to be derived by their export. I give the prices in gold tillas of Bokhara, each of which is equal to six and a half Sicca rupees, or about thirteen shillings.

---------------------------+--------+-----------------------+-------- | | English Goods from | Goods from Russia. | Tillas.| Cabool. | Tillas. ---------------------------+--------+-----------------------+-------- Broad piece of Russian } | | | chints, 23 yards } | 8 | None such imported. | Second best ditto, ditto | 5 | None such imported. | A piece of Russian chints | 3-1/4 | Ditto, ditto, English | 3-1/2 Second sort, less flowered | 2-1/2 | Ditto, ditto | 2-3/4 Coarsest chints | 1-3/4 | Ditto, ditto | 1-3/4 | | { Flowered English } | Flowered muslins, 20 } | 18 | { muslin jamdanes, } | 22 pieces for } | | {20 pieces } | Finest Russian muslin, } | | | gold border, per piece } | 3 to 4 | English muslin | 2-1/2 Long cloth, piece of 10 } | | { Ditto, ditto, } | yards, 20 pieces } | 15 | { English, per } | | | { 20 pieces } | 18 | | { Long cloth, piece } | None such imported | | { of 40 yards, per } | 3 to | | { piece } | 3-1/2 Finest English broad } | | | cloth, 2-1/4 yards } | 5 | None such imported. | ---------------------------+--------+-----------------------+--------

A profit of fifty per cent. is not unfrequently derived by the merchants on English chints: one merchant realised it while I was in Bokhara.

~European goods. Chintses.~

It will be seen that the British chintses sell more profitably than those of Russia; but that there are goods of a description from that country which do not appear to be manufactured in Britain. These chintses are of Polish or German manufacture: they are broader, and more highly coloured; they look like flowered velvet, and are much prized, both in Bokhara and Cabool. A knowledge of the pattern would also throw this into the hands of our merchants. It is broader than common chints, striped and exquisitely coloured: very coarse chintses should not be exported to Bokhara, as there is a native manufacture of that kind. It is about a foot broad, and striped: five pieces of sixteen yards each may be purchased for a tilla. About two hundred camel-loads of this commodity are annually exported to Russia, where the nobles employ it in clothing their slaves. Though the sale price of chintses be much diminished in Bokhara, a profit of thirty and forty per cent. is yet realised.

~White goods.~

Of the white goods which are imported into Bokhara, the Russian muslins are better, and bear a higher price than those of Britain; but they are in less demand. All other Russian goods are inferior in texture, and none of them now find their way south of the Oxus. There are about one thousand pieces of long cloth, three fourths of which are short webs, expended yearly in Bokhara, and as many pieces of flowered muslin (jamdanes.)

~Broad cloth.~

~Velvets.~

~Nankeens.~

~Kirmiz die.~

~Cochineal.~

The broad cloths of England are never brought from India to Bokhara: they are imported from Russia; and such is the present state of this trade, that a most intelligent merchant of Cabool, whom I met at Bokhara, was thinking of taking an investment of it to Lodiana in India, where he could afford to sell it cheaper than it is to be had there, notwithstanding the length of the journey! The finest English broad cloth, which sells in India for twenty-two rupees a yard, may be purchased for fifteen in Bokhara; but the merchants who bring it from Russia say they are losers by it. It is much more prized than the broad cloth manufactured in Russia, from its retaining its colour, and lasting better; and, if the price could be reduced so as to meet the means of the natives, it would soon supplant the other article. Velvet is brought into Bokhara from Russia: it is flowered cotton velvet, and about two feet broad. There is a demand for it, and it is not imported from India. The Russians have imitated, with much success, the brocades of India, and export great quantities of what is called “false brocade” to Bokhara: it looks nearly as well as that of Benares, and sells for half the price: it is wove in narrow webs. There is nothing to prevent the successful fabric of this article in Britain. The staple commodity of Russian manufacture exported to this country is nankeen: it is seldom of a white colour, for they have imitated the patterns of this country, which are striped and dark. The article sells for 1-1/2 tillas per piece of forty yards: it is in general use among the people for their pelisses, or “chupkuns.” I had at first imagined that it was a Chinese import; but it is brought by the Russian caravans, and sent as far as Cabool, and even India. I have seen it at Lahore. One of the most important articles of import from Russia is kirmiz die, or cochineal: it is used to die raw silk. Till lately, it was sent in great quantities from Bokhara to India and Cabool: but the article has been brought from the seaports of India to the Punjab; and the trade in kirmiz, like that in cloths, declines yearly, and will shortly be confined to Bokhara. It now sells there for eight or nine tillas a maund of Tabreez, which is equal to seven lbs. English, and it may be had cheaper than this at Cabool. It is an article which may be exported from India to Cabool with advantage. I bear an impression that the kirmiz, or cochineal, may be procured in Bokhara; but no one knows how to prepare it.

~Indian goods.~

~Muslins.~

~Shawls.~

~Indigo.~

~Sugar.~

The demand for Indian goods in Bokhara is steady. Dacca muslins of the larger sort sell for twenty tillas per score, the smaller being half the price. There are about five hundred pieces of Benares brocade (kincob), imported yearly: that from Guzerat is too expensive. The whole of the natives of Bokhara and Toorkistan wear turbans of white cloth which are imported from the Punjab: they are about thirty yards long and a foot broad, and sell for a tilla each. They are in universal use among both sexes, and might be manufactured in Europe, and sent with advantage into Toorkistan. The shawl trade is only one of transit: it is not considerable. Two lacs of rupees worth of shawl goods have passed to Russia within the last year (1832). There is never more than double this sum risked in the trade. The number of pairs of shawls varies from one hundred and twenty, to three hundred; but they must be of the finest texture, since none others will bring a price in Russia. Several natives of the valley of Cashmere, have from time to time repaired to Russia; and the shawl fine-drawers, or “rufoogurs,” sometimes alter the patterns of the shawl to suit the taste of the purchasers, who, by all accounts, are not a little fastidious. The passion for shawls among the Russian nobles is great, and will account for the exorbitant prices given for them, to which I have before alluded. The greatest import from India is indigo, which averages five hundred camel-loads a year. A portion of it is again exported to Yarkund, in the Chinese territories; where, though the plant is found, they are ignorant of the means of preparing it. The sugar of India is also brought into Toorkistan, for the cane does not grow in Bokhara. The China sugar, brought by way of Bombay, will not bear the expense of a journey beyond Cabool; nor can the Chinese themselves send it further than Yarkund, for the same reason. This coarse sugar has not a very great sale, for the richer people use the refined loaf-sugar of Russia; and the poorer classes employ the “turunjbeen,” a saccharine substance, gathered like manna, which is found in this country, and which I have mentioned in the account of Bokhara.

~Trade with China.~

~Trade with Persia.~

Besides the Russian and British Indian trade, Bokhara carries on an extensive and direct commercial intercourse with the Chinese garrisons of Cashgar and Yarkund. A coarse kind of China ware, musk, and bullion, are received from that quarter, but the chief import consists of tea; and the extent of the trade, as well as the remoteness of the tracts by which it is brought, equally arrest our attention. The inhabitants of Toorkistan are inordinately fond of that beverage, which they drink at all hours; nine hundred and fifty horse-loads of tea, or about 200,000lbs., have been this year brought from Yarkund to Bokhara. The greatest part of this quantity is consumed in Toorkistan; but little of it finds its way south of the Hindoo Koosh. The trade is carried on by the natives of Budukhshan. These merchants praise the equity of the Chinese, and the facilities of transacting matters of commerce with them. They levy a duty of one in thirty on all traders, which is very moderate. The tea is brought from the central provinces of China in boxes, by a tedious journey of many months. It is transferred to bags, and then sewed up in raw hides, as the boxes would not stand the journey. A horse-load of 250lbs. costs sixty tillas in Yarkund, and sometimes sells for a hundred in Bokhara: it is entirely green tea. The best tea found in Toorkistan is imported overland from a place called Tukht, in China, situated on the banks of a river, and sent by way of Astracan, in small tin or lead boxes. It goes by the name of “banca” tea, I believe from the tin in which it is packed: it sells for four rupees the pound, and is very high-flavoured. This tea is superior to any which I ever saw in England; and I have been informed that it retains its flavour from never having been subjected to the close atmosphere in a ship’s hold or the sea air. The Yarkund caravans cross the high lands of Pamere, and follow the valley of the Oxus to Budukhshan, Balkh, and Bokhara. The road is unsafe, and in many places dangerous, from overhanging cliffs. An earthquake, which occurred in January, 1832, threw down several of these, and also destroyed many villages and people in Budukhshan. The traveller likewise experiences a difficulty of breathing in crossing the Pamere ridge; and the caravans are sometimes attacked by the wandering Kirgizzes. Obstacles both natural and political endanger the path of the traveller and merchant. There is another and better route from Yarkund to Bokhara by the valley of the Sirr, or ancient Jaxartes, and Kokan, but less frequented than that by Budukhshan, from differences which exist between the Khan of Kokan and the Chinese. The Kokan route may be travelled by a caravan in forty-five days; and, as far as that town, the merchandise is conveyed from Bokhara in carts. The route by Budukhshan is more circuitous, and occupies a period of sixty-five days. At Khooloom, which is a mart between Yarkund, Bokhara, and Cabool, the ponies are exchanged for camels, and the load of two horses is borne by one camel to Bokhara. The Persian trade is inconsiderable, from the unsettled state of the roads, and the hatred which subsists between the people, who differ in their religious tenets. The shawls of Kerman form the principal article of import. Opium has also found its way from Persia to Bokhara, and is again exported to Yarkund and Cashgar, in China, where the same demand exists for it as on the sea-coast. In Bokhara it is sold for five tillas per maund of Tabreez.[40] These articles, as well as others of inferior note, are despatched by the route of Meshid, in Khorasan.

~Exports of Bokhara to other countries. Silk.~

~Cotton.~

~Wool.~

~Skins.~

I shall next notice the exports of Bokhara; and these are far from inconsiderable, since it has silk, cotton, and wool. The silk of Bokhara is chiefly produced on the banks of the Oxus, where the mulberry thrives luxuriantly; and nearly all the Toorkmuns are engaged in rearing silk-worms during the months of summer. It is exported in considerable quantities to Cabool, and even finds its way to India. At Bokhara it varies in price from nine to ten tillas for eight English lbs. The silk is wound and manufactured at Bokhara into a stuff called “udrus,” of a mottled colour,--red, white, green, and yellow,--which is the fashionable and most expensive kind of dress in Toorkistan. It sells from one half to one and a half tillas per piece of eight yards long and a foot broad. It is woven by the Mervees, now settled in Bokhara; but is not exported. There are likewise extensive cotton manufactures in Bokhara. I have mentioned the coarse chints which it exports to Russia; but most of the people dress in the native manufactures. There are dark and striped coarse cloths of different hues, of which a pelisse, or “chogha,” may be purchased for half a tilla. I do not suppose they would be worth imitating in Europe. The cotton thread of Bokhara seems to be in as much demand as that of Britain: it is exported in quantities to Russia, and much of the raw material is sent to Balkh, Khooloom, and Koondooz. The wool (pushm) of Toorkistan is sent across the mountains to Cabool and the Punjab, where it is manufactured into a coarse kind of shawl. It sells from six and a half to eight tillas per maund of Bokhara, which is equal to 256 lbs. English. A few years since it sold for double the price; but the articles manufactured from it have been found inferior, and the sale of the wool has declined. It is procured from among the Kuzzaks and wandering tribes about Bokhara, who were long ignorant of its value, and yet use it in the common ropes by which they bind their horses and cattle. The lamb skins of Bokhara are celebrated in the East: they are only procured at Karakool, a small district that lies between Bokhara and the Oxus. They are exported to Persia, Turkey, and China, but chiefly to the former country; the merchants of which purchase them for ready money, being afraid to risk a commercial investment across the desert. It is not possible to negociate a bill between Meshid and Bokhara.

~Duties on trade.~

~Abuses in the British Custom-house.~

The duties demanded on European goods at Bokhara are most moderate. They are levied according to the Koran, and are fixed at one fortieth of the capital, or 2-1/2 per cent. A merchant who was not a Mahommedan would have to pay higher duties; a Christian so much as 20 per cent.; a Hindoo 10 per cent., since the law so enacts it; but the greater part of this trade must ever be carried on by Mahommedans. The same principles guide the authorities in Cabool, though the chiefs eastward of the Lower Indus are more extravagant in their demands. Trade, however, is not obstructed by their exactions; while the upper routes, through the Punjab, are nearly closed on that account. Besides the regular customs, there is a transit duty levied in several places between the Indus and Bokhara; and some increased disbursements arise from the hire of escorts through troubled parts of the route. The merchants do not consider them exorbitant, and complain much more loudly of the rapacity and malpractices of the subordinate native officers of revenue in the British provinces. It is stated that these persons, when on duty at the custom-houses, purposely delay the merchants in their journey, though provided with the requisite passes; and that it is impossible to get their goods cleared without bribery. One merchant of Cabool assured me that he had been mulcted, in copper money, for one cart in which he was travelling, without goods, to the amount of eighteen rupees, between Hurdwar and Benares. The mercantile community of Cabool and Bokhara complain of this evil, and feel it the more, as the public duties are considered moderate, and their property is well protected. The Russian government, on the other hand, is free from such corruption, though it levies heavier duties: these have been made the subject of remonstrance on the part of the king of Bokhara, and are now partially reduced.

~Russian and British trade compared. Openings for increasing British exports.~

When we review the productions of Bokhara, and the apt uses to which they are applied by her native population, we may wonder at the great outlet which exists to our commerce in that quarter; but the demand is steady, and its constancy leads to a belief that it may be improved. There is no country in the Mahommedan world where a merchant is safer, and more free from oppression and exaction, than in Bokhara. If the people are bigoted on account of their religion, they are also bigoted to the injunctions which that religion imposes upon them. The Koran enjoins the most strict protection of the merchant in a variety of passages: nor are these violated or evaded by the ruler of the country. The goods which are imported into Bokhara are again sent to Samarcand, Kokan, and Yarkund, in China; also to Orgunje, and all the little cantons around the capital. Coarse articles are in more request than the finer fabrics, for the Uzbeks are very indifferent judges. We have seen that this market is supplied by two great European nations; but the females of both Cabool and Bokhara prize more highly the manufactures of Britain: and the influence of the ladies is of no mean weight in any country. The chints, while it has almost superseded the demand for shawl goods, has instilled a desire for novelty, and given a general taste for other articles of British import. Russia possesses such an extent of inland navigation, that she can bring the whole of her goods to the confines of Asia by water-carriage; and it is the superiority and cheapness of our manufactures that alone enable us to appear in the contest by the Indian route. We must surrender to her, I imagine, all trade in metals, and other weighty articles made from them; but we may successfully compete with her in our manufactures. To a mercantile country like England, a demand for goods is of the highest moment; and it is to be presumed that increase of demand will generally be attended with a diminution of price, while the increased sale would still bring an adequate profit to the manufacturer. A more extended exportation of British goods into these countries, in particular of white cloths, muslins, and woollens, I am assured by the first merchants, and even by the Vizier of Bokhara, would have the immediate effect of driving the Russians from that branch of commerce. The present exports of these articles from that country have been gradually declining; and the increase of the custom-house duties of Cabool affords the best evidence of the cause--the late increase of our own exports. I have taken pains to investigate this fact in other quarters, and the result of my enquiries leads me to believe, that we may not only throw the Russian part of this trade into the hands of our own merchants, but very materially augment the trade to Toorkistan in the whole of these articles. There are merchants in Cabool who would willingly push speculation still further, though some of them have a capital of eight or ten lacs of rupees floating in the Toorkistan trade. The transport of merchandise by the route of Cabool costs little; and, if Russia navigates the Volga, the greatest of the European rivers, Britain can command like facilities, by two more grand and equally navigable streams, the Ganges and Indus.

CHAP. IV.

NOTICE ON THE TRADE OF PERSIA.

~State of commerce in Persia.~

It is an old and just remark, that the Persians are not a trading nation, and have ever evinced equal timidity in adventures of navigation and commerce. The extent of trade which may be carried on through an inland country must always be limited, as compared with one possessing a sea-coast and harbours. In these Persia is not altogether wanting; but her population neither navigates the sea which washes her southern shores, nor the Caspian, that approaches her capital. The shipping of both is in the hands of foreigners, who have it in their power to lead the taste of the country by the nature of their exports, and to increase their quantity as occasion and opportunity present themselves. Persia is well supplied with goods of European fabric, both Russian and English, which stand much in the same relative estimation in this country as they do in Bokhara. English manufactures are preferred to those of any other nation; and, as the Persians dress well, their country is, perhaps, the best mart for their exportation in Asia. It is nevertheless very remarkable, that the British merchant here encounters a greater share of competition than in most other countries; and I cannot but think that it is greatly owing to the remissness and inattention of the English themselves.

~Routes of the commerce, and their advantages.~

It is not intended that we should here enter on an account of the general commerce of Persia, nor is the deficiency of our information such as to require any such essay. My own attention has been particularly directed to its northern trade; but we shall be throwing a clearer light upon that subject by sketching the whole of the routes of commerce into the kingdom. The intercourse between Russia and Persia is principally carried on by the ports of the Caspian; but there are also routes both east and west of that sea, by which its commodities reach the country. Meshid, in Khorasan, is supplied with many Russian articles by way of Bokhara. Tabreez and Tehran likewise receive them by way of Teflis and the Caucasus. Till lately, the imports of Britain into this country were conveyed by way of Bushire, which is the only port in the gulf of Persia, since Gombroon or Bunder Abbas, opposite the famous Ormuz, has long ceased to hold its former supremacy. We are informed that English East-Indiamen at one time sailed direct from Europe, and landed their cargoes in this harbour; but the annual amount of customs does not now exceed four thousand ducats. In our own times the exports of Britain have first been sent to India, and then reshipped for Persia by a most circuitous channel. It is with great propriety, therefore, that an endeavour has lately been made to open a road from Trebizond, on the Black Sea, to the northern provinces of Persia. With due care and attention, it cannot fail to become a most valuable opening to Britain, for it brings her goods into those parts of Persia, which are most stored with those that are brought from Russia, and gives a fair opportunity for a just competition with them, since it is equally inconvenient for the Russians to send their goods south of Isfahan, as it was for the English to carry them beyond that city. The trade by Trebizond places the rival powers on a more equal footing: and it will be remarkable if the experience of a very few years does not bear testimony to the greater consumption of British goods in Persia. This route too has great advantages over those from the Levant by Aleppo or Damascus, for both the Euphrates and Tigris traverse inhospitable countries; and there is no safe road into Persia from these cities but by way of Bagdad. At present, the goods which are sent beyond that city are of trifling value, for there is a loss in pushing on the greater and more common articles. The eastern provinces of Persia, about Herat and Meshid, are partly supplied from Candahar, in the kingdom of Cabool, which is a better line of commerce than would generally be believed. A boat may reach the coast of Mekran in ten days from Bombay; and Candahar is but eighteen easy marches from the sea. It is therefore a most valuable position, as the Indian exports which reach it branch eastward into Cabool, and westward into Persia. In this direction, too, there is no competition from any other nation.

~Foreign nations which trade with Persia. Goods introduced.~

With the command of position acquired by the English from their possessions in India, it is a matter of surprise that any other nation should be at all able to appear in the gulf of Persia as a trader; yet the case is very different, and many of the imports into Bushire are of foreign manufacture. The Dutch are in the habit of trading with this port, and have lately established a company for the purpose, though their operations have been at no time very active, and are now suspended from fear of the plague. They send indigo, spices, sugar, and coffee of their own produce from Batavia: they export little cloth, and their indigo is inferior to the article produced in India. When the Hollanders do not find a sale for their goods at Bushire, they take them on to Bussora. The French import the same articles as the Dutch from their settlements in Bourbon and the neighbouring islands. But the most formidable rivals are the Americans, who have only entered lately on this trade. At present, they land most of their cargoes in the east coast of Africa, from which they find their way to Muscat and Persia. Hitherto, they have only sent white goods, and with them they have spread an opinion, which was repeated to me by the Armenian merchants of Isfahan, that their cloths are superior to British, because the cotton is produced in their own country, and not injured from pressing. It is said to wear and wash well; and, if this cloth were introduced more extensively, the merchants assure me it would have a good sale: very little of it has been hitherto imported. The chintses of India, which are manufactured at Masulipatam, have a considerable consumption in Persia, and of late years have been preferred to English. There is not sufficient attention given to the brightness and variety of the pattern in England; and the native manufactures of India, though much coarser, retain their hue and brilliancy much longer. The demand for them is, therefore, on the increase, which is the more worthy of notice, as the English chintses for a long time superseded those of India, and are now sold cheaper than those of Masulipatam. We have stated that the Russians introduce their manufactures into Northern Persia; and they also import the fine Polish chints which I met with at Bokhara. There is no similar manufacture of the English to compete with this; which is also in great demand throughout Persia. The English do not, therefore, keep the ground which they might maintain in the chints trade, both from their position and manufacturing skill.

~Hints for improving the trade to Persia.~

Towards the improvement of the commerce with Persia, there are other points to be considered than the routes which ought to be pursued; but these are of great importance, since a number of outlets must be favourable to an increased sale. While we improve the communication from the west by Trebizond, we should not neglect it by the east from Candahar: that road is safe; but the chief exacts exorbitant and irregular duties, which he might be disposed to reduce on representation, as he professes a friendship for the British nation. It is at the same time practicable to open a better route into Persia, by the river Karoon, a navigable stream west of Bushire, which unites with the Euphrates, or Shat ool Arab, before it falls into the gulf. Goods sent up the Karoon would be thrown at once into the heart of Persia; but it may be doubted if the Persian authorities have either power or inclination to effect any such change: it would require their cordial co-operation, because the country that lies between the Karoon and Isfahan is wild and unsettled. Next to the lines of route, the kind of articles to be imported must be considered. English cloth bears a far higher character in Persia than Russian; but the colour which is in demand depends upon the fashion; and if due attention is not paid to it, a merchant will sustain loss. When I was in Persia, in the end of 1832, the colours most in request were, Oxford blue, blue, and brown, and next year they may change to red and grey; but it may be remarked, that, if dark coloured, they generally sell best. The outer garment of most respectable persons is made of broad cloth; and a cheap kind, that will keep its colour, is the best for export. _No high-priced goods of any description should ever be sent into these countries_; for property is insecure, and all persons will purchase that which is cheapest, if it be but respectable. The Persians, however, are fond of fine clothes, and will pay a liberal price for them. I remarked, on approaching the sea-coast, that the common people dress better; I presume because the goods are cheaper, or that there is greater temptation to buy them. This is observable in particular at Shiraz. In the case of broad cloths, a sombre colour will be most prized; but it is quite the reverse with chintses, which should be highly coloured. The patterns, also, should be frequently changed, as many of them being on a white as on a coloured ground: this will not only ensure a better sale, but a more constant one, as the Persians are fond of novelty. A profit of 30 and 40 per cent. is often derived in the Persian trade; but the mercantile community of that country are neither strict nor honourable, and an European trader must deal among them with caution. They are very liable to overtrade, and few of them have any capital. Bankruptcies are common; fifteen considerable merchants failed last year in Isfahan, simply from the non-arrival of silk from Gilan on the Caspian. It is also necessary to be cautious regarding the coinage, for it is liable to alteration, according to the pleasure of the monarch. A Persian ducat now bears a value of nine _kurans_, or rupees, while it was only held at eight last year. The increase has arisen from the Prince Royal taking the field, and his Majesty’s desire to fill his coffers: he does not seem to have considered that, since nothing ever goes out of his treasury, and he only receives to hoard, he himself must be the loser. From what I saw of the market in Persia, if money may be lost from this cause, I am also sure that great sums might be realised; for there is a scarcity of gold, and it may be transferred with profit from one province to another. Cutlery is a good article for export to Persia, and there is, perhaps, nothing that would sell so profitably as good flint locks: they must be good, for it is to be remembered they are already supplied from Constantinople, and also from Russia; and though their workmanship is inferior, it is by no means bad. All the hardware in the country is brought from Russia.

~Singular instance of commercial enterprise. Advantages held out from that instance.~

On the banks of the Caspian I had a singular instance of the wide extent to which the articles of import into Persia are scattered in the case of China sugar-candy: I there met a merchant, at Astrabad, with an investment of that article, with which he was proceeding to Khiva: he had purchased it at Tehran, and was embarking at a small port called Kara-tuppa, and would coast along the east side of the Caspian by Hoosn Kouli, Chelken Isle, and the bay of Balkan, to a place called Okh, which is but ten days’ journey, and due west from Khiva. Here he intended to disembark his property, and forward it by hired camels belonging to the Toorkmuns, which he assured me he could do without fear, since the barbarous part of that community lie south of the road to Khiva, and between it and Persia. What a proof of enterprise have we in this single fact! The sugar had been first brought from China to Bombay, shipped from thence to Bushire, and then sent inland to Tehran and the banks of the Caspian, where it was a third time embarked, and transported across a desert to Khiva. It would there meet the sugar of our West India possessions, that is exported by the Russians, which would place the products of America and China in competition with each other in the centre of Asia. I have before observed, that the sugar-candy of China sent from India will not bear the expense of transport beyond Cabool, and does not, therefore, find its way to Bokhara. In the instance before us, we have the same commodity pushed far beyond that city by the route of Persia, which will better suggest the other advantages to be reaped from this route than any further remarks on my part. I have only to observe, that if a bulky, and by no means valuable commodity, brought from so vast a distance as China, can be sent to such a remote quarter of Asia, and bring a profit to the trader, the same route may be used with still greater advantage as another channel for the export of British manufacture.

OBSERVATIONS ON LIEUT. BURNES’S COLLECTION OF BACTRIAN AND OTHER COINS.

BY MR. H. H. WILSON, SANSCRIT PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD;

AND

MR. JAMES PRINSEP, F.R.S., SECRETARY OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL.

PROFESSOR WILSON’S NOTES.

The coins, of which delineations are now offered to the public, form an extensive and important contribution to a branch of numismatic enquiry which has been, within a few years, successfully prosecuted in India. To Colonel Tod belongs the merit of having introduced it to notice by his paper on Greek, Parthian and Hindu medals, in the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society: further information was published in the 17th volume of the Researches of the Asiatic Society of Bengal; and the Journal of the same Society contains several interesting communications on the same subject, many of these relate to the present collection, which, for the variety, number, and description of the coins that it comprises, and the authentication of the sites in which they were found, is of the highest interest and value.

The coins in question may be classed under four divisions, exclusive of the Macedonian and Syrian medals, which sometimes occur. These are--1. Bactrian, 2. Indo-Grecian, 3. Indo-Scythian, and 4. Hindu. In the former there have been discovered by Colonel Tod and Dr. Swiney: coins of Apollodotus and Menander, one such coin has been found by Lieutenant Burnes, and one of Euthydemus, besides several which cannot be ascribed to any individual prince, although unquestionably Bactrian coins. The Indo-Grecian coins are comparatively rare, and the series is not very extensive: one specimen is in the present collection. The Indo-Scythian coins are more numerous, and offer a number of interesting specimens: some of them are the same as those described by Colonel Tod, Mr. Prinsep, and myself; but there are some which are new, and there is one (pl. iv. fig. 18.) which is in better preservation than any that has hitherto been found.

The coins of the last class, or Hindu are less numerous in this than in other collections, but such as it comprises are new.

Besides these coins, which are the subjects of more special attention, as little known and calculated to throw light on Indian history, the collection includes a gold and several copper coins of the Sassanian kings of Persia, and a number of Mahommedan coins, for the verification of which there has not yet been an opportunity: from their late date, however, and the fulness of the information derivable from Mahommedan writers with regard to the history of this part of Turan, less interest attaches to them than to the Greek and Indian coins, and it was less necessary to have them delineated. The following are brief notices of the coins which are engraved.

Plate III. No. 1. A coin of Euthydemus, who has been hitherto regarded as the third Bactrian king. Obverse: a head with the Bactrian diadem. Reverse: Hercules sitting on a seat over which the lion’s hide is spread: he holds his club in his right hand, resting it on his right knee. Legend, ΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΘΥΔΗΜ.

Until recently, the only coin known of this prince was a gold coin, originally published by Pellerin, and described by Mionnet and Visconti. In 1831 the abbé Sestini published a catalogue of the collection of Baron Chaudoir, and has there given a description and plate of a silver coin of Euthydemus, exactly similar to the one in our plate. These are the only two perfect specimens yet described: No. 2. agrees in general character and appearance with No. 1.; but it presents on the obverse a very dissimilar portrait; and the attitude of the sitting Hercules is something different. The letters also vary, and offer only ΛΕΩΣ and ΗΜ. It is possibly, therefore, rather the coin of Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus, than of the latter; but, if so, it differs still more widely from the coin of Demetrius described by Sestini in the collection of the Baron Chaudoir, in which the obverse presents a king, very unlike the individual in our coin, and having on his head an elephant’s hide by way of a crest: on the reverse is a standing figure of Hercules.

The succeeding figures, Nos. 3. to 5., express evidently Bactrian coins, as the device of the sitting Hercules, and the general character of the portraits, sufficiently establish. Some are much worn, and they are more or less of inferior execution, and present no legible inscriptions: such traces of letters as are visible appear to be intended for Greek, although very rude. In the catalogue of Sestini, above referred to, are three coins of a similar description, all Bactrian, evidently having the same sort of profile on one side, and the sitting Hercules on the other. The difference that prevails in the features of the kings whose portraits we have on these coins, sufficiently proves them to belong to different individuals. If these were all Greek kings of Bactria, as is probable, they also show that our series of those kings is much more imperfect than has been hitherto suspected, and that it undoubtedly omits several names, whilst it probably includes others who never ruled over Bactria.

Fig. 6. This coin is identified with the preceding by the reverse, the sitting Hercules; but the execution is much more rude, and the disposition of the hair peculiar. There are characters on the reverse, but undecipherable: they seem designed for Greek. This coin may, perhaps, be referred to one of the first barbaric princes who subdued Sogdiana, if not Bactria Proper, and adopted the device of the Bactrian coins.

7. A copper coin, much worn: on the obverse a standing figure, something like the Apollo on Colonel Tod’s coin of Apollodotus. (Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, pl. 12. fig. 1.) On the reverse, also, is the same figure, a tripod, with similar characters. The letters on the other face are Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ is legible, the others are less distinct; but they appear to be ΝΙΚ. ΜΕΝΑΝΔΡΟΥ, making this a coin of Menander, not of Apollodotus.

8. Is the coin of an Antiochus; apparently, from the countenance, Antiochus the Great. On the reverse is a standing figure casting a javelin with the right hand, and bearing the lion’s hide by way of shield on the left arm: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ. The device on the reverse is unusual, if it occurs at all amongst the coins of the Antiochi.

9. One of a number of small copper coins, the impression on which is in most effaced. Those that are perfect present a head on one side with a figure on the reverse, intended for a rude fire altar: there are Pehlevi characters; and these coins, there can be little doubt, are of Sassanian origin.

10. A gold coin, evidently of one of the Sassanian kings.

11. These are very doubtful. The other engravings are antiques found at Khojuoban, near Bokhara.

Plate IV. fig. 18. This coin is of singular interest and value: it belongs to the class which is considered Indo-Scythian, and of which representations have been published in the third volume of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, by Colonel Tod, and, in the seventeenth volume of the Asiatic Researches, by myself. In all these coins Greek letters are traceable, but the inscriptions are imperfect or indistinct: that of Colonel Tod’s coin has been read by Professor Schlegel ΒΑΣΙΛΕVϹ ΒΑϹΙΛΕΩΝ ... ΙΕΡΝΙϹΛΕΙϹ ... ΕΔΟΒΙΓΡΙϹ; but the legend is interrupted, and the final letters of the latter word indistinct. In this coin the inscription on both sides is entire and distinct. On the obverse is plainly ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥϹ ΒΛΕΙ Λ-ΩΝ ΚΑΝΗΡΚΟΥ, and on the reverse ΝΑΝΑΙΔ.

It has been conjectured by Mr. Prinsep that the name on the obverse Kanírkos, or, perhaps, Kaníthkos,--for the letter is rather undetermined,--is intended for _Kanishka_, a Turk or Tartar sovereign of Kashmir, who reigned about 120 B.C. according to the “_Raja Tarangini_” a history of Cashmir. Mr. Csoma Körösy also informs us that Kanishka is well known in the Tibetan annals as a king of Kapila; near Hurdwar, about the date already mentioned, who was a patron of the Bauddha doctrines; name, date, and locality are therefore in favour of the verification, and it must be admitted, until, at least, something more satisfactory can be proposed. It is not possible to offer an equally plausible conjecture with regard to the inscription on the reverse. If it could be read _Tanaid_, it might be imagined to refer to the original seat of the Scythian tribes, who conquered Bactria, according to Des Guignes, about 134 years before Christ, and extended their power to the delta of the Indus. In this coin the figure on the obverse is the same that prevails on these Indo-Scythian coins: a man in a high cap and a long tunic, holding a spear in his left hand, and extending his right either to grasp a trophy, a buckler or coat of mail, or, as supposed by Colonel Tod, to drop incense on an altar: on the reverse is a figure in a long robe, holding, apparently, a flower. There is also the monogram which is found on all the coins of this class, and on a series of coin apparently Hindu. This monogram is figured by Mionnet No. 1222, and referred by him to an unknown coin (vol. 6. p. 715); the description of which shows it to be a coin not yet observed amongst those recently found in India, but belonging, probably, to the class.

19. A coin belonging, possibly, to the Indo-Grecian series: on one face is a helmeted head, on the other a single horseman with his right arm extended. The specimens found in this instance are much worn; but on several, with this device, Greek inscriptions have been read: this is particularly the case with two delineated in the Journals of the Asiatic Society for August 1833, on one of which is plainly ΣΩΤΗΡ ΜΕΓΑ; and on the other, ΜΕΓΑ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ. On one of Colonel Tod’s is ΤΡΩ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ, and there can be no doubt, therefore, that these are coins of Greek princes either of India or Bactria.

20. Is an Indo-Scythian coin, figured by Colonel Tod: the man on the obverse is the same as in No. 18.; but on the reverse is an Indian bull and a figure in front.

21. Has the same reverse as the preceding; but the costume is more distinct, and is that of a Brahman; the figure on the obverse appears to be clad in mail. These two coins were found at Balkh.

22-30. These coins all belong to the same series as the foregoing, some bearing the same devices; whilst on some the reverse is varied. Detached Greek letters are observable on one or two.

31. This is one of several coins which are unquestionably Hindu: they mostly bear an elephant on one face, and a horse, or a nondescript animal, on the other; above the elephant are Devana gari letters, the most legible specimen of which appears to read Srí Mahá deva, the common title of the god _Siva_.

_Oxford, 17th May, 1834._

MR. JAMES PRINSEP’S NOTES.

Considering the short space of time allowed to a traveller, in his rapid passage through a foreign country, for the pursuit of objects not immediately connected with his errand, and the disadvantages which his own disguise and the suspicions of the natives oppose to his search after the very rare relics of antiquity, which may have escaped destruction for twenty centuries in their country; considering, too, that the inhabitants are unable to appreciate the value of such objects, and mostly ignorant of the demand for them among inquisitive natives of the West, Lieut. Burnes may be deemed very successful in the store of coins he has brought back from the Punjab, and from the valley of the Oxus.

Of pure Bactrian coins he will be able to add at least three to the cabinets of Europe, upon one of which the name of Euthydemus is quite distinct; while of the Indo-Scythic, or subsequent dynasties, his store is so ample as to afford ten to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, besides those he takes to Europe; and among the latter is one coin of the dynasty which supplanted the Macedonian princes of Bactria, calculated to excite much curiosity among antiquarians.

I shall note the observations that occur to me regarding the whole of this collection of coins.

Plate III. Figs. 1. to 6.--These silver coins, tetradrachms, are known at once to be of Bactrian origin from the sitting figure of Hercules holding his club, on the reverse, much in the same posture as that of Jupiter on the Syro-Macedonian coins. The epigraphe on fig. 1., a valuable coin and in fine preservation, is ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΘΥΔΗΜ, or, “of king Euthydemus,” the third king of Bactria. The only coin of this monarch hitherto known in Europe, is described in Mionnet’s _Description de Medailles Antiques_. Pinkerton says it is a gold coin, having “two horsemen with Bactrian tiaras, palms, and long spears,” on the reverse; it is therefore quite different from the unique specimen before us.

Fig. 2. has the features of a different prince; the reverse is, however, similar to the last, and the three final letters of ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ are visible; as are ΗΜ, which can only form part either of ΕυθυδΗΜος, or of δΗΜητριος, his son.

Fig. 3., of which there is a duplicate, is of a similar nature; the features corresponding with No. 1. or Euthydemus. There are two others of still ruder fabrication, distinguished by a more projecting forehead, (Nos. 4. and 5.); they are illegible on the reverse.

Fig. 6. One of two silver tetradrachms. These are more like Arsacidan coins, the stool on which the figure on the reverse sits having the form of those depicted in Vaillant: although the connection with the foregoing coins is very strong, the headdress and formal curls appertain to the Persian monarchs. The inscription is in the Pehlevi character, some of the letters resembling badly executed Greek.

Fig. 8. This is a coin of Antiochus, probably struck in Parthia, from the figure of the javelin-thrower.

Fig. 9. One of twenty small Sassanian copper coins. They have a good head on the obverse, and a very rudely executed fire altar on the reverse.

Fig. 10. A gold coin of one of the Sassanian kings of Persia, supposed to be Sapor (Shapûr). The name and titles are very distinct, in the _Pehlevi_ character. It is remarkable that the usual supporters of the fire altar, two priests or kings, are omitted; unless, indeed, the rude ornaments on each side are intended to represent human figures holding swords. A silver Sassanian coin, delineated in Hyde’s _Religio Veterum Persarum_, has similar supporters.

All these coins are from Khoju oban, the ruins of an ancient city, thirty miles N.W. of Bokhara, where numerous gems and antiques, some of which are engraved, were also procured.[41]

Fig. 7. This is a square copper coin, from Shorkoth, a fortress twenty miles from the junction of the Jelum and the Chenab (the Hydaspes and Acesines), where Alexander lost his fleet in a storm. It is by some thought to be the fortress of the Malli, in the assault of which he was wounded. All that can be read of the inscription is ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. On the other side the inscription is Pehlevi. This coin may be ascribed with tolerable certainty to Menander, both because it resembles in shape the coin of that prince, in Col. Tod’s plate, and because the first three letters of the word which follows ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, have much the appearance of ΝΙΚ, or ΝΙΚΑΤΟΡΟΣ, the epithet applied to Menander, according to Schlegel, Journal Asiatique, Nov. 1828. The standing figure, however, on the obverse, and the curious emblem on the reverse, supposed by Col. Tod to be a portable altar, agree rather with his coin of Apollodotus.

Plate IV. fig. 18. This is a copper coin, procured in the neighbourhood of the Tope of Manikyala.

Obverse--A king or warrior holding a spear in the left hand; and with the right sacrificing on a small altar. (?) Epigraphe, ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥϹ ΒΑϹ ... ΚΑΝΗΡΚΟΥ.

Reverse--A priest or sage standing, and holding a flower in his right hand; a glory encircles his head; on the left the letters ΝΑΝΛΙΔ; on the right the usual Bactrian monogram, with four prongs.

This coin is of great value, from the circumstance of its being the only one out of many discovered in the same neighbourhood, upon which the characters are sufficiently legible to afford a clue to the prince’s name. In the onset, however, we are disappointed to find, that none of the recorded names of the Bactrian kings at all resemble that before us[42]: yet there can be no doubt about any letter but that preceding ΚΟΥ, which may be either Θ, Ρ, or Ϲ. By assuming this latitude in the reading, I discovered a name which would agree, as nearly as it could be expressed in Greek, with ΚΑΝΗΘΚΟΥ or ΚΑΝΗϹΚΟΥ; and should my conjecture prove correct, the discovery of this coin will be hailed as of the greatest value by all who are engaged in the newly developed study of Bactrian antiquity. The coin was at first placed with the Society by Lieut. Burnes; but, seeing its value, I thought it but just, after taking impressions and drawings of it, to place it in the discoverer’s hands, for the personal satisfaction of numismatologists in Europe. I suppose it to be a coin of KANISHKA, a Tartar or Scythic conqueror of Bactria.

According to Mr. Csoma De Körös, the name of KANISKA occurs in the Tibetan works as a celebrated king in the north of India, who reigned at _Kapila_, which is supposed to have been in _Rohilkhand_, or near _Hardwar_. His reign dates above 400 years after Sakya, when the followers of the Buddha religion had become divided into eighteen sects (the Sakya tribes, or _Sacæ_), under four principal divisions, of which the names, both Sanscrit and Tibetan, are on record.[43]

In Mr. Wilson’s Chronological Table of the history of _Kashmir_ (As. Res. xv. p. 81.), we find Hushca, Jushca, and _Canishca_, three Tartar princes, who succeeded Domodara in the kingdom of _Kashmir_, either reigning successively or synchronously. They introduced the Buddha religion, under a hierarch named Nagarjuna, and were, according to the _Raja Taringini_, of _Turushca_ or Tatar origin. The Sanscrit MS. places their reign 150 years before _Sacaysinha_ (or Sakya Singh); but the learned translator, in a note, proves that the text was at least misunderstood, and that the passage intended to express “150 years after the emancipation of the Lord Sakya Sinha.”

The epoch of Sakya (the fifth Buddha or Goutama) is determined by concurrent testimony of the Ceylonese, Siamese, Pegue, Burmese, and Chinese æras, which are all founded on the birth or death of the Buddha legislator; and, though all differing more or less, concur in placing him between the limits of 544 and 638 years B.C.: the Raj Gúrú of Asam, a pundit well versed in Buddha literature, fixes the _Nirwan_ or emancipation of Sakya-Muni in 520 B.C.[44] Taking, then, from this epoch an interval of 400 years to the reign of Kaniska, the latter would fall near the end of the second century B.C. We know from other sources that the overthrow of the Bactrian dynasty by the Scythian or _Sakyan_ tribes happened in 134 B.C. (125 by Schlegel). The present coin, therefore, confirms the fidelity of the _Raja Taringini_ as an historical work, and leaves no doubt of the epoch of _Sakya_.

Mr. Wilson finds grounds for throwing back the termination of the reign of Abhimanya Canischa’s successor, from B.C. 118, as given in the _Raja Taringini_, to B.C. 388; because _Kashmir_ became a Buddha country under Tartar princes, _shortly after_ the death of Sakya; but from Mr. Csoma’s subsequent examination of the Tibetan sacred books, in which the three periods of their compilation are expressly stated; “first, under Sakya himself (520-638 B.C.), then under Ashoka, king of Pataliputra, 110 years after the decease of _Sakya_; and lastly by Kaniska, upwards of 400 years after Sakya,”--little doubt can remain that the epoch, as it stands in the _Raja Taringini_, is correct.

There are other circumstances connected with the Bactrian coins, which tend to confirm the supposition of a Buddhist succession to the Greek princes. In the first place, the reverse ceases to bear the formerly national emblem of the Bactrian horseman, with the Macedonian spear; and in its place a sage appears, holding a flower, and invariably having a glory round his head, proving him to be a sacred personage.[45] Secondly, although upon the first coins of the dynasty, we find the inscription in Greek characters (a custom which prevailed under the Arsacidæ also, and continued under the first Sassanian princes); still, upon coins of the same device, but probably of later fabric, we find the same kind of character which appears upon the Delhi and Allahabad pillars; the same which is found at Ellora and in many ancient caves and temples of Central India, and is held in abhorrence by the Brahmans, as belonging to the Buddhist religion.[46]

I need not repeat Mr. Wilson’s opinion, drawn from other grounds, that the _Tope_ of _Manikyála_, in the neighbourhood of which these coins are found, is a Buddhist monument, but it receives much confirmation from the discovery of this coin of the Sakyan hero, Kanishka.

Having thus far endeavoured to reconcile the coin before us, and others of the same class to the Sakyan dynasty, to which the term Indo-Scythic very aptly applies, we may reasonably follow up the same train by ascribing the next series, which exhibit, on the reverse, a Brahmani bull, accompanied by a priest in the common Indian _dhoti_, as the coins of the Brahmanical dynasty, which in its turn overcame the Buddhist line. Colonel Tod includes these coins in the same class as the last, and adduces his reasons for referring them to Mithridates, or his successors, of Arsacidan dynasty, whose dominions extended from the Indus to the Ganges, and to whom Bactria was latterly tributary. Greek legends “of the King of kings,” &c. are visible on some; and what he supposes to be _Pehlevi_ characters on the reverse; but I incline to think these characters of the Delhi type, and the Bactrian monogram should decide their locality. Mr. Wilson and Schlegel, both call them Indo-Scythic; and the latter, with Colonel Tod, names the figure “Siva, with his bull, _Nandi_.”[47]

Mr. Schlegel thinks it curious, that such marks of the Hindú faith should appear on these Tartar coins; but, considering the Indian origin of the Sacæ, does not this rather prove the same of their successors, instead of their Tartar descent. It is more curious that the fire altar should continue on all of the devices; but the fact of its being a fire altar at all, is still matter of great uncertainty.

Figs. 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. The series of small copper coins found near _Manikyála_, and generally throughout Upper India, which have a head on the obverse, and a Bactrian horseman on the reverse, may be referred to the reign of Eucratides I., since the gold coin from the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea, described by Bayer as having the same device on the reverse, bears, in legible characters, the epigraphe “of the great king Eucratides.” Our coins of this type have never shown us more than the words, “King of kings;” and in most of them (as fig. 19. ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥ, ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥ) the Greek is so corrupted as to give the idea of a later epoch. The type of the horse seems to have prevailed long afterwards.

Fig. 24. Copper coins of this device are met with throughout Upper Hindostan: they constitute the third series of Colonel Tod’s plate; and some in his possession have decided Greek characters upon them. On the _obverse_ is the same warrior, with spear and altar. On the _reverse_ is what he supposes to be a priest about to sacrifice the bull; but in the coin before us the _dhoti_ is so precisely the costume of the Brahmans, that it inclines rather to look upon the animal (especially as he has the hump) as the sacred bull of this country, denoting the prevalence or predominance of the Brahmanical faith in the Indian dependencies of Menander’s or Eucratides’ dominion.

Fig. 25. This type of coin is, if any thing, more common than the last; and the inscriptions are no longer Greek; but either of the unknown character of the Delhi column, or genuine Hindi. The figure astride upon the elephant is always much out of proportion, and the Raja with the altar more rudely executed. The elephant is, like the horse, preserved in subsequent coins of the Hindus; thus:--

Fig. 31. This same device is still common in Southern India. The form of the Nagni characters on this and fig. 14. agrees with those on copper grants of land, 700 or 800 years old.

Figs. 20, 21. These coins were found at Balkh, and resemble those of Manikyála.

_Calcutta, June, 1833._

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

LONDON: Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE, New-Street-Square.

FOOTNOTES

[1] I can only give the native names.

[2] “Ta khooda khubur shoodun ab i Maroochak adum ra mee kooshud.”

[3] Arrian, l. iv. c. 6.

[4] See “Memoir on the Run of Cutch,” in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. May, 1834.

[5] See Robertson’s America, books v. and vi.

[6] Travels in Khorasan, by J. B. Fraser, Esq.

[7]

Meshid ra goombuz i subzush nubashud Khuwarish khanu i rooe zumeen hust.

[8]

Meshid ufzul i rooe zumeen ust Ki anja noor i rub ool alumeen ust.

[9] As this work is passing through the press, intelligence has been received of Abbas Meerza’s death.

[10] Lieut. Conolly has just published an account of his “Journey to the North of India overland from England.” 2 vols. 8vo. London.

[11] Lord or chief.

[12] Foray.

[13] This is the manner of reckoning their years.

[14] The name of the poet.

[15] Places on the river Goorgan.

[16] Plain north of the Sir, or Jaxartes.

[17] The poet’s name.

[18] I need not observe that this was written before the intelligence of Abbas Meerza’s death reached England.

[19] See his valuable Atlas, which has just been published, and exhibited at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society.

[20] As the text in Mr. Elphinstone’s work describes the neighbourhood of Balkh to be a plain, the mountains in his map are probably an error of the engraver.

[21] About three shillings.

[22] I brought from Toorkistan melon seeds of every description, which I have distributed in this country and India, in the hope that this delicious fruit may be introduced into Britain and our Eastern possessions.

[23] Some observations of my fellow-traveller, Dr. Gerard, determine this most satisfactorily. A bowl-full of water altogether disappeared in two days.

[24] Since this chapter was written I have been favoured with a sight of the journals of Mr. Geo. Trebeck, who accompanied Moorcroft to Ladak, where this information is completely confirmed. That enterprising young gentleman determined the latitude of the two places to be as follows:--

Cashmere, 34° 4′ 28″.

Ladak 34 10 13.

[25] Macartney.

[26] Since I drew up the information contained in this chapter, I have fallen in with the “Mémoires relatifs à l’Asie,” by M. Klaproth. Speaking of the translation of the history of Khotan, by M. Abel Remusat, that distinguished Orientalist adds, “Nous attendons avec impatience ces traductions, et nous engageons ce savant à les donner an public aussitôt que possible, pour faire disparaître des abrégés géographiques un amas d’absurdités reçues à bras ouverts par les compilateurs, et entre _lesquelles le double Kachgar occupe le premier rang_. Le voyageur Anglais, M. Elphinstone, ayant entendu parler de la ville de Kachgar dans le nord de la petite Boukharie, et du pays du même nom situé dans la partie méridionale de cette contrée, n’a pas su autrement _combiner ces notions que de supposer deux Kachgars_. Il est cependant bien clair que dans le premier cas il était question de la capitale, et dans le second du pays qu’elle gouverne.” Tom. ii. p. 293. It is satisfactory to find my observations on the two Cashgars confirmed by so high an authority as M. Klaproth, but I cannot agree with him in his inference, that the one is the country, and the other the capital; since it has already appeared in the text that Cashgar, which erroneously fills up so large a part of the country eastward of Budukhshan, really exists as a small district near Peshawur.

[27] The whole of the altitudes have been determined from the boiling point of water in thermometers carefully examined and compared, reckoning each degree roughly to be of the value of 600 feet.

[28] Dundan-shikun.

[29] I observe that the Emperor Baber mentions this fact.

[30] The rest of the lines recommend Herat as the place of evening prayer; Bagdad for that at the hour of sleep; and Nishapoor for that at sunrise.

[31] “If I could but captivate the heart of that Toorkee girl of Shiraz--I would give in exchange for the black mole of her cheek all the riches of Samarcand and Bokhara.”

[32] The Uzbeks themselves believe the Kalmuks and Kutghun Uzbeks one tribe. In their native seats, a colony desiring to migrate took the name of “Kutghurn,” which means, “we go;” and the greater portion which remained were afterwards called “Kalmuk,” which signifies, “we stop:” such, at least, is the popular belief and tale of the Uzbeks.

[33] Kizzak, or Cossack.

[34] Holcus sorghum.

[35] I am in possession of this curious work, which Shah Shooja himself did me the honour of presenting.

[36] A khurwar is 700 lbs. English.

[37] See the MSS. to which I have alluded.

[38] This person has been lately seized by Abbas Meerza, and deprived of his power.

[39] The capabilities of this river have not been here over-rated; a mission lately sent down it by the Governor-General, under Captain Wade, has verified the facts above recorded.

[40] Seven Pounds.

[41] A gold solidus of the Lower Empire was also found at Khoju oban, of rude fabrication; it is either of Marcianus, or more probably Mauricius: inscription, DN MAVRC..TIb PP AVG.; on the reverse an angel holding the cross and globe, with VICTORIA AVGGG, and below, CONOB.

[42] By way of convenience to those who have not the power of reference respecting the history of Bactria, I subjoin a catalogue of its kings, according to the authority of Schlegel.--_Journal Asiatique_, 1828, p. 326.

B.C. 255. Theodotus I. } 243. Theodotus II. } 220. Euthydemus of Magnesia.} Fixed historically by Strabo, &c.

195. Appollodotus Soter. { Alluded to by Plutarch, Trogus, Menander Nikator. { and Arrian. Their coins prevalent { in Baroach, A. D. 200.

{ On the authority of Visconti and Heliocles Dikaios. { Mionnet, from a single medal.

Demetrius. { Son of Euthydemus: doubtful if { he reigned in Bactria.

181. Eucratides I. { Artemidorus calls him the “Great { king.”

146. Eucratides II. { Murdered his father, and was { himself slain.

125. Destruction of the empire by the Tartars and the Scythians or Sacæ.

[43] Csoma’s Life of Sakya, M.S.

[44] Orient. Mag. IV. 108.

[45] See Col. Tod’s Coins, 11. 14.; Mr. Wilson’s Plates, figs. 1, 2. 6. 7.; and Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Plate II. figs. 17. and 18.

[46] See translation of portions of the Salsette and Ellora inscriptions, by Major Wilford (Asiatic Researches, vol. xiv.); which shows them all to refer by name to Sakya. Mr. A. Stirling (Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p. 314.) says of some similar inscriptions on the _Udaya Giri_ hill in Orissa:--“The Brahmans refer the inscription, with horror and disgust, to the time when the Buddhist doctrines prevailed. I cannot, however, divest myself of the notion, that the character has some connection with the ancient _Prakrit_; and I think an explanation is to be looked for only from some of the learned of the Jain sect.” What has become of the key to this and other ancient Sanscrit alphabets, which Wilford says he fortunately discovered in the possession of an ancient sage at Benares?

[47] “Ce qui me parait la circonstance la plus remarquable dans ces medailles, ce sont ces preuves du culte Brahmanique adopté par les rois Tartares. Ils régnaient donc certainement sur des provinces où ce culte était établi.”--_Journal Asiatique_, Nov. 1828.

Transcriber's Note

The following apparent errors have been corrected:

p vi "Khoochan" changed to "Koochan"

p. xi "Recal" changed to "Recall"

p. xii "Khan. His" changed to "Khan.--His"

p. xv "Shawls--Indigo." changed to "Shawls.--Indigo."

p. 4 "That, since" changed to "that, since"

p. 69 "pass of Derbund" changed to "pass of Durbund"

p. 86 "proud to" changed to "seemed proud to"

p. 86 "seemed out on" changed to "out on"

p. 165 "but in in winter" changed to "but in winter"

p. 184 "a polation" changed to "a population"

p. 186 "the the Oxus" changed to "the Oxus"

p. 236 "Balk, his" changed to "Balkh, is"

p. 238 "Kooosh" changed to "Koosh"

p. 279 "describe" changed to "described"

p. 353 "Kafirs" changed to "Kaffirs"

p. 356 "the country." changed to "the country.”"

p. 363 "Nusseir oollah" changed to "Nussier oollah"

p. 386 "achievment" changed to "achievement"

p. 458 "Bacrtian" changed to "Bactrian"

p. 460 "ΒΛΣΙΛΕΥΣ" changed to "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ"

p. 468 "we find “Hushca" changed to "we find Hushca"

p. 471 "Ce qui me parait" changed to "“Ce qui me parait"

p. 472 "19. 22," changed to "19, 22,"

p. 472 "23. 26," changed to "23, 26,"

Inconsistent or archaic language has otherwise been kept as printed.

The following possible error has not been corrected:

p. 285 besides a sons