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.

[Illustration:

_PL III._

_BACTRIAN AND OTHER COINS._

_Procured by Lieut. Burnes during his travels into Bokhara._

_Drawn & Eng^d. by L. Beadley._

_London, Published by John Murray, Albemarle Str. June 1834._]

[Illustration: _BACTRIAN AND OTHER COINS._

_Procured by Lieut. Burnes during his travels into Bokhara._

_Drawn & Eng^d. by L. Beadley._

_London, Published by John Murray, Albemarle Str. June 1834._]

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