Tibetan Trade and Industry.
I shall now describe the trade of Tibet, though my account must
necessarily be imperfect for obvious reasons.
I shall begin with an interesting incident that occurred to me in
November, 1901, when I was enabled to send home letters for the first
time after my arrival in the country. That was on the 18th of the
month, and through the agency of Tsa Rong-ba, a Tibetan trader with
whom I had become acquainted at Darjeeling. This man started for
Calcutta on Government business to buy iron, and as I knew him to be
trustworthy I entrusted him with a letter addressed to Saraṭ Chanḍra
Ḍās, in which were enclosed several others addressed to my friends and
relatives in Japan.
The iron which he was commissioned to procure was for the purpose
of manufacturing small arms at an arsenal situated at Dib near
Che-Cho-ling, on the bank of the river Kichu, which flows to the south
of Lhasa.
This industry was an innovation in Tibet, and in fact had begun only
about eight years before that time. It was introduced by a Tibetan
named Lha Tse-ring who had lived for a long time at Darjeeling and,
at the request of his Government, brought back with him about ten
gunsmiths, mostly Hinḍū and Cashmere Mohamedans. Only two of these
smiths remained in Tibet at the time I reached Lhasa, the rest
having returned home or died; but as several of the Tibetan smiths
had acquired the art from them, no inconvenience was experienced in
continuing the industry. This was a great improvement on the old
state of affairs, for Tibet had formerly possessed only flint-lock
muskets, and even these could not easily be introduced from India.
The manufacture of improved firearms was therefore a great boon to
the country, and the Government did not spare expense and trouble to
encourage the development of the art. Hence it came about that my
acquaintance was authorised by the Government to proceed to Calcutta
and procure a supply of iron.
It ought to be mentioned that about this time the departure of Tibetan
merchants to foreign countries for the transaction of business had
become quite frequent. They proceeded first of all to British India,
next to China, and lastly to the Russian territories. The trade with
the last was, however, quite insignificant as yet, and whatever
relations Tibet may have with Russia are in most cases political and
very rarely commercial.
I shall first describe the Tibetan trade with British India and Nepāl.
Of Tibetan products exported to India wool is the most important, and
next musk and the tails of yaks, furs and leathers. Buḍḍhist images and
books, being liable to confiscation when discovered, seldom go abroad,
though they are more or less in demand in India. Other goods exported
to India are insignificant. Formerly more or less Chinese tea for
consumption by the Tibetans residing at Darjeeling used to go to India,
but this is no longer the case.
The quantity of wool sent abroad is quite large. From five thousand
to six thousand mule-packs go to Darjeeling, about one thousand five
hundred to Bhūtān, about two thousand five hundred to Nepāl and about
three thousand to Ladak. These figures are of course far from precise,
for (reliable official returns being wanting) I based my estimates on
information obtained from the traders. Besides the figures given above,
there are quantities, greater or less, sent to China and also westward
to Mānasarovara, but as I did not visit either district, and moreover
had no means of making an estimate about them, I have nothing to say
on the subject.
Musk is obtained in Tibet, but from a certain species of deer and
not from civet-cats. The musk-deer is found almost everywhere in
that country. It is of about two and a half times or three times the
size of an ordinary cat, and though resembling the Japanese deer in
shape, it is not so tall as the other. The musk-deer subsists on
herbage, and is covered with light and soft fur of a deep grey color.
It has an exceedingly amiable face indicative of its mild nature.
One characteristic feature is that it has two small but pretty tusks
somewhat curved projecting from the upper jaws. The musk is found only
in the male, and is contained in a little pouch attached to the hinder
part. A strange fact is that the pouch is said to grow gradually in
size from the beginning to the middle of each lunar month and then
gradually to be reduced again until the end of the month, this periodic
change appearing with great regularity. The musk-deer is therefore shot
about the middle of the month, generally between the 13th and 15th.
The musk-deer is shot with a gun, but in preserved forests such as are
found round about Lhasa and other Buḍḍhist headquarters, where shooting
and hunting are strictly forbidden on pain of severe penalties,
hunters catch the animal, clandestinely of course, by means of traps.
Though the deer is found almost everywhere in Tibet, its principal
habitation is in such remote districts as Kong-bo, Tsari and Lo. Musk
is very cheap in all those districts, costing about one-tenth of the
price given in Japan. The musk produced there is also purer than that
produced in more prosperous places, for the people being simple-minded
do not tamper with it nor adulterate it with other substances. The
musk coming from Lo, for instance, is especially reputed for purity
and cheapness. The district is inhabited by half-naked aborigines,
who resemble in outward appearance both Tibetans and Hinḍūs, though
ethnologically they are more akin to the former than to the latter.
The musk produced by these savages is bartered against articles either
of ornament or domestic utility, such as mirrors, glass beads, iron
pans, sickles, knives, flour, confectionery and foreign trinkets.
Though the musk is obtainable at a very reasonable price in these
districts, the risks and dangers from highwaymen which traders
encounter on the road are so great that only those who are uncommonly
adventurous proceed thither to get a supply from the natives.
The Tibetan musk is sent in larger quantities to China than to India,
notwithstanding the fact that transport to the latter is easier. Almost
all goods from Tibet to China travel through Ta-chien-lu. However, even
at present, more or less is sent to Yunnan, whence Japan has been used
to obtain its supply. The so-called ‘Yunnan-musk’ so much prized in
Japan therefore comes originally from Tibet.
The ‘Blood-horn’ of the ‘Precious deer’ is the most valuable item among
the commodities on the export list to China. This horn makes a medicine
highly valued by Chinese physicians, being considered to possess the
power of invigorating the body, prolonging life and giving lustre to
the face. It is in fact used as an elixir by the Chinese. The horn
therefore commands a high price, and even in Tibet a Chinese merchant
will give as much as five hundred _yen_ in Japanese currency for a pair
of good horns. The inferior horns, however, can be bought at even two
or three _yen_ a piece, these being used not for medicine but only for
ornament. Sharp, experienced eyes are required to distinguish a good
and valuable horn from an inferior one, and even in Tibet there are not
many such experts.
This special kind of deer is found in the wild districts of the
south-eastern and north-western parts of Tibet, especially in the
former. It is a large animal, larger than an average horse, but in
shape it resembles an ordinary deer, only that it is plumper. As a rule
it is covered with greyish hair, though some are covered with fur of
other hues.
The horns are renewed every year, the growth beginning from about
January of the lunar calendar. The new horns are covered with a hairy
epidermis and consist of nothing but thickened blood. They continue to
grow, and about March or April produce one ramification. At the same
time the base becomes hard and bony, whilst the upper parts remain of
the same consistency as before. They are further ramified and elongated
with the lapse of time, and the growth reaches its climax by about
September, after which the counter process of decay commences and the
horns, now grown quite long, drop off about the middle of December.
The largest specimens I saw measured thirteen inches in length with
the main stem of about 1-4/5 inches in girth, and even such horns are
completely covered with hairy integument.
The best season for the horns, that is when they are medically most
efficacious, is believed to be April or May, and it is then that
the natives go out to hunt the animal. The shooting should be done
with accurate aim so as to drop the animal at once, and the hunters
therefore generally aim at the forehead. This is owing to the fact
that when the animal is only wounded, instead of being brought down by
a single shot, he invariably knocks his head against rocks or trees
and breaks the precious horns to pieces. About the month of April or
May, the animal, probably from the necessity of protecting his horns,
sojourns in less remote and rocky places, and this habit makes him fall
an easy prey to the hunter.
I may mention that I brought home a fine specimen of these horns
which I bought at Lhasa. They are genuine, for I had them judged by a
competent expert.
The exports to Nepāl comprise wool, yak-tails, salt, saltpetre,
woollen goods and a few other articles. To the districts lying to the
north-east of Tibet, that is to the north-western parts of China and
Mongolia, go various kinds of woollen goods; Buḍḍhist books also go
largely to Mongolia, as do also Buḍḍhist images, pictures and various
paraphernalia. These, considered as objects of art, are worthless,
though formerly Tibet produced images and pictures of high artistic
standard. The contrast between old and new images and pictures, both
of which are to be seen in most temples in Tibet, is sufficiently
glaring, for the latter are as a rule clumsy performances, offensive to
the taste and also to the sense of decency, being invariably bi-sexual
representations of men and women with one common body. I was once
struck with the notion that the Tibetans are characterised by four
serious defects, these being: filthiness, superstition, unnatural
customs (such as polyandry), and unnatural art. I should be sorely
perplexed if I were asked to name their redeeming points; but if I
had to do so, I should mention first of all the fine climate in the
vicinity of Lhasa and Shigatze, their sonorous and refreshing voices
in reading the Text, the animated style of their catechisms, and
their ancient art. But to cut short my digression, and to resume the
description of Tibetan trade, I must next give an account of the import
business.
Of the imported goods, those coming from India are mostly in evidence.
Among them may be mentioned woollen cloth for decorating the rooms of
temples and for other uses, silk handkerchiefs, Burma _crêpes_, Benares
brocades, silk tissues, and cotton fabrics. White cotton piece-goods
are mostly in demand, next piece-goods of light blue and of russet
color. Figured chintzes of various patterns are also imported more or
less.
Imports from China comprise first of all silk fabrics of sundry kinds,
as brocades, tussore silk, _crêpes_ and satins of various kinds. Silver
bullion and drugs are also imported, but in respect of value tea
stands first on the list of Chinese imports. From what I have roughly
estimated, the quantity of tea arriving at Lhasa alone will cost not
less than six hundred and fifty thousand _yen_ a year approximately,
while the import to Eastern Tibet, which is more thickly inhabited than
the other half of the country, must of course reach a larger figure,
for the Tibetans are great tea-drinkers and both high and low imbibe
a large quantity of the beverage all through the year. The poorest
people, who cannot afford to buy, are satisfied with a thin decoction
obtained from the refuse of the tea-pots of wealthier people. Tea is
rather costly, for one brick of inferior quality measuring about one
foot long, 6-1/2 inches wide and three inches thick costs two _yen_
seventy-five _sen_ at Lhasa; a brick consisting of only leaves without
any mixture of twigs cannot be obtained at less than five _yen_. The
prices rise as we go westward, owing to the cost of transportation, and
for a brick costing two _yen_ seventy-five _sen_ at Lhasa as much as
three _yen_ twenty-five _sen_ has to be paid in Western Tibet.
The imports from Bhūtān or Sikkim comprise tussore-silk goods, woollen
fabrics, and cotton goods.
Then from India, Kashmīr, or Nepāl are imported copper utensils,
grains, dried grapes, dried peaches, dates, medical drugs, and precious
stones of various kinds, as diamonds, rubies, agates, turquoises and
corals. Of these turquoises and corals are the most important, being
widely used by the Tibetans as a hair decoration. For this purpose the
best quality of turquoises are even more prized than diamonds, and a
good turquoise of the size of the tip of the small finger fetches as
much as one thousand two hundred _yen_. Coral without spots is rather
rare, and most of those seen on the heads of the Tibetan women are
spotted more or less. The Tibetans are fond of the reddish or deep
reddish variety, which are not popular among the Japanese. Superior
kinds come from China, and one good coral ball from China commands
from one hundred and twenty to two hundred and thirty _yen_. Indian
specimens are usually inferior in quality. Coral-beads are also
imported from that country. Glass beads do duty for corals for poorer
folk, and imitation corals made in Japan are sold also. These were
formerly passed off as genuine by dishonest merchants, and were sold
at comparatively speaking fabulous prices. They are now taken at their
proper value. Cheap foreign fancy goods and Japanese matches also find
their way to Tibet through India.
Several queer customs prevail in Tibet concerning business
transactions. The mode of selling woollen and cotton piece-goods is
particularly singular. The standard of measurement is the length of the
two outstretched hands, while another measurement based on the length
from the elbow to the tip of the fingers is also used. This measurement
is determined by the buyers, so that a large person enjoys the
advantage of getting a longer measure, while the merchant is subjected
to so much disadvantage. However, this primitive mode of measurement
is generally applied to the native products only, as for foreign cloth
the unit of measurement is a square, each side of which is equal to
the breadth of the cloth to be sold. This is called a _kha_, and a kha
varies with the breadth of each piece of cloth.
Very seldom are native merchants honest in their dealing; even the
most trustworthy ask a price ten to twenty per cent higher than is
reasonable, and the price asked by the more dishonest is really
monstrous, being double or even as much as five or six times the real
rate.
Another interesting feature in Tibetan transactions is the blessing
which the merchants bestow on anything which people buy from them. The
most common formula of blessing is to this effect: “May the goods you
have bought from me avert from you disease or any other suffering; may
your purchase bring good luck and prosperity, so that you may grow
richer, build storehouses, and buy more and more goods from us!”
The blessing accompanying the parting with sacred books is more
ceremonious. The merchant reverentially lifts the book over his head in
both hands, and then hands it over to the purchaser (a priest in most
cases) with this blessing:
“May your reverence not only seek the true light from this sacred work,
but may you conduct yourself according to that light, so that you may
attain better intelligence, wisdom and morals, and fit yourself for the
holy work of salvation, for the good of all beings!”
The purchaser has also a ceremony to perform in this transaction, and I
must confess that his performance is more obviously selfish, outwardly
at least; for in handing the price he just touches the dirty coin with
his tongue, then wipes it on the neck of his garment, and finally hands
it to the merchant after having cast upon it one lingering glance
indicative of his reluctance to part with it. This act of licking and
wiping signifies that the purchaser has licked off and wiped away for
his own benefit all the good luck that was contained in that piece.
The coin that goes to the merchant is therefore considered as a mere
empty thing, so far as the virtue that was originally contained in it
is concerned.
Though these tedious processes are omitted by big merchants, such as
those engaged in dealing in tea, all the others faithfully observe
them, especially those in the country.
It may be supposed that with so little to export and so much to import,
the country would be impoverished. This, however, is not the case, as
I shall explain. Tibet has been used to obtain a large amount of gold
from Mongolia--more as donations to Tibetan Lamas than as the price
paid for Tibetan goods. This influx of gold from Mongolia has done much
thus far in enabling the country to keep the balance of her trade. She
therefore cannot adopt an exclusion policy economically, even though
she may without much inconvenience do so politically. In fact the
enforcement of economic exclusion would be followed by serious internal
trouble, simply because it would put a stop to the inflow of gold from
Mongolia.
However, so far as this Mongolian gold is concerned, it seems as if
circumstances were about to bring Tibet to a result tantamount to the
enforcement of economic exclusion, for since the war between Japan and
China and especially since the Boxer trouble the inflow of Mongolian
gold to Tibet has virtually ceased, so much so that the Mongolian
priests who are staying in Tibet for the prosecution of their studies
are sorely embarrassed owing to the non-arrival of their remittances
from home. Some of them have even been obliged to suspend regular
attendance at lectures, and to seek some means of earning their
livelihood, just as the poorer native Buḍḍhist students are accustomed
to do.
Another thing that adds to the economic difficulties of the Tibetans
is their tendency to grow more and more luxurious in their style of
living, a tendency that began to be particularly noticeable from
about twenty years ago. This has been inevitably brought about by the
foreign trade of Tibet and the arrival of goods of foreign origin. All
these circumstances have impressed the Tibetans with the necessity
of extending their sphere of trade with foreign countries instead of
confining their commercial operations within the narrow bounds of
their own country. The consequence is that a larger number of the
inhabitants have begun to proceed every year to China, India and Nepāl
on commercial enterprises.
Now suppose that Tibet should prohibit her people embarking in this
foreign trade, what would be the consequence? In the first place she
would be unable to get any supply of goods from India, China and other
countries, goods which are now articles of daily necessity for her
people. This, though sufficiently hard, might be endured; but what
would be unendurable would be the closing of Indian markets to the
wool of Tibet, India being the most important consumer of this staple
produce of the country. More wool being produced than can be reasonably
consumed at home, the close of foreign markets is certain to bring
down prices, and therefore to rob the sheep-farmers, or more properly
the nomadic people of that country, of the greater part of the income
they are at present enabled to get from their wool. The supply for food
is, on the other hand, less than the demand, and as the prices of this
essential of life cannot be expected to go down in proportion to those
of wool, the sheep-farmers who constitute the greater part of the whole
population would be threatened with starvation.
The incoming of gold from Mongolia being suspended, Tibet cannot, even
if she would, cut off her commercial relations with the outside world.
Urged by necessity, trade is advancing with great strides, judging at
least from the larger number of people engaged in it, for as matters
stand at present the Forbidden Land may without exaggeration be
considered as a “nation of shop-keepers”.
In fact all the people, with the exception of those who are
disqualified through physical defects and age, are engaged in business
of one kind or another. Even farmers are partly traders. In winter
when farm-work is slack they proceed to northern Tibet to lay in their
stock of salt, obtained from the salt lakes that are found there. Then
these men start for Bhūtān, Nepāl or Sikkim, to sell their goods in
those places.
Priests are not too proud to deal with secular dollars and cents, and
monasteries often trade on a large scale.
[Illustration: PRIEST TRADERS LOADING THEIR YAKS.]
The Government itself is a trader, not directly, but through its
regular agents, who in virtue of the important trust reposed in them
enjoy various privileges, such as the liberty to requisition horses for
carrying their goods or to take lodgment _gratis_.
Peers are also traders, mostly by proxy, though some of them refrain
from making investments and are content to subsist on the income
derived from their land. None the less the business spirit permeates
the whole Peerage, and even these non-trading Peers are ready to make
small bargains now and then. Suppose a visitor to a Peer’s house takes
a fancy to some of the furniture or hall decoration in it. In such a
case it is not considered impolite for the visitor to ask the host
the price of that particular article, and to ask him, if the price is
considered reasonable, to sell it to him. Nor is it thought derogatory
for the host to sell his belongings, and so the bargain is struck when
both parties can come to terms. The whole proceeding is conducted with
the shrewdness and vigilant attention to details which characterise
regular businessmen.
It is interesting to note that even boy-disciples in monasteries are
traders in their own way, and do not hesitate to invest their money
whenever they happen to notice in the shops or other places articles
that appeal to their fancy. These they bring home and either sell,
(generally at a large profit) to other boys, or exchange for other
objects.
One great evil attends this propensity, and that is the danger of
stimulating cunning practices, each party trying to impose upon the
other in all those dealings.