Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/962

 years the chiefs send a tribute mission to the capital of Szechuen, and once every ten years to Peking, but the tribute sent is purely nominal. The Chinese maintain a few small military posts with from six or eight to twenty men stationed in them; they are under the orders of a colonel residing at Tachienlu. There are also a few lama chiefs.

The part of Tibet under the rule of Lhasa, by far the largest and wealthiest, includes the central province of Ü, Tsang, Nari and a number of large outlying districts in southern and even in eastern Tibet. The central government of this part of the country is at Lhasa; the nominal head is the Dalai lama or grand lama. The Tashi lama or head of the monastery of Tashilhunpo near Shigatse is inferior to the Dalai lama in secular authority, of which, indeed, he has little—much less than formerly—but he is considered by some of his worshippers actually superior to him in religious rank. The person next in consideration to the two great lamas is the regent, who is an ecclesiastic appointed during the minority of each Dalai lama. Under him are four ministers of state (sha-pē or kalön), who divide among themselves, under the immediate supervision of the two imperial Chinese residents (or amban), the management of all secular affairs of the country. There is also a Tsong-du or National Assembly, divided into a greater assembly, including all government officials, and called together only to decide on matters of supreme importance, and a lesser assembly, consisting of certain high officials of Lhasa, noblemen, and delegates from the monasteries of Debung, Sera and Galdan, and fairly constantly in session. The Tsong-du discusses all matters of importance, especially relating to foreign policy, and its decisions are final. The army is under the command of the senior Chinese amban, a Tibetan generalissimo or mag-pön, and six Tibetan generals (dah-pön or de-pön). The military duties of the generals are slight, but their political status is high. Under the dah-pön are six rüpön or colonels, and a number of subordinate officers. The regular army consists (in theory) of 6000 men, on active service for three years, and at home on half-pay for three years. After the six years they pass into the reserve or militia (yulmag). The taxes paid to the Lhasa government are mostly in kind, sheep, ponies, meal, butter, wool, native cloth, &c., and the coin paid is said to be about 130,000 ounces of silver a year. Chandra Das states that the crown revenues of Lhasa amount to about 2,000,000 rupees annually. All high Tibetan officials, whether ecclesiastics or laymen, are appointed subject to confirmation by the Chinese government. The administrative subdivisions of the Lhasa country, of which there are fifty-four, are called jong, or “prefecture,” each of which is under the rule of two jong-pon, the one a lama, the other a layman. They collect all taxes, are responsible for the levy of troops, the courier service, corvées, &c., and exercise judicial functions, corresponding directly with Lhasa. There are 123 sub-prefectures under jong-nyer. Under them are village headmen or tso-pön, headmen or mi-pön, and elders or gyan-po. All are appointed for indefinite periods by the prefects.

Industries and Trade.—The industries are confined to the manufacture of woollen cloth of various degrees of fineness, and colour, and called truk, tirma and lawa, to that of small rugs, pottery of an inferior quality, utensils of copper and iron, some of which show considerable artistic skill in design, and to such other small trades as are necessary to supply the limited wants of the people. The best artisans are Nepalese and Chinese, the former being the best workers in metal and dyers.

The great trade routes are, first, that which, starting from Cheng-tu, the capital of the Chinese province of Szechuen, passes by way of Tachienlu or Dartsedo, Litang, Batang, Chiamdo, Larego, Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse, reaches the Nepalese frontier at Nielam and goes thence to Katmandu. This route is called Gya-lam, “the China road” (or “high road”); the great bulk of Tibetan travel goes over it. Minor roads go from Sining Fu in the Chinese province of Kansuh via Tsaidam and the Tang la pass to Nagchuka and Lhasa. This road, called the Chang lam or “northern road,” was much used by traders till the middle of the 19th century, when the Mahommedan rebellions in north-western China practically closed it. Another road starts from Sung-pan in north-western Szechuen, and, by way of the sources of the Yellow River, joins the Gya-lam at Chiamdo; it is little used, as it passes through the country of the wild marauding Golok. Still another route starts from Tachienlu, and by the valley of

the Yalung and the Dze chu runs to Yekundo, and thence to Chiamdo. From this point it leads to Riwoche, and then through Gyade or Chinese province to Nagchuka and Lhasa. An important trade road starts from Likiang Fu in Yunnan, and by way of Chung-tien (Guiedam of the French missionaries) joins the Gyalam at Batang.

The most direct route from India to Lhasa, and that most frequented by the traders of Lhasa, is by the Chumbi Valley, and was followed by the British Mission. It crosses the Himalayas by the Tang Pass (15,200 ft.), and thence proceeds via Gyantse (13,200 ft.) and the Kharo Pass (16,500 ft.), Yamdok Lake (15,000) to the Tsang-po (12,100 ft.), and crossing the river winds up along the Kyi Chu, on which Lhasa stands, 33 m. from the Tsang-po. The total distance from Siliguri railway station is 357 m. From Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, a difficult mountain route runs by Kirong to the No la (16,600 ft.), descending from which pass it strikes the Tsangpo about midway between Lhasa and Lake Manasarowar. Farther west Tibet may be reached from Kumaon by one of a group of passes (of which the best known is the Milam) leading to Lake Manasarowar. The lake becomes a sort of obligatory point on all routes to Tibet which lie between Ladak and Nepal. The Shipki road from Simla, which strikes the Sutlej at Totling (where there is a bridge), leads up to Manasarowar, coinciding with the great high-road (Changlam) after passing Totling. The remarkable area of gold-mining industry which lies to the north-east of Gartok is reached by another route from Leh, which, crossing the Chang la close to Leh, passes by Rudok at the eastern extremity of Lake Pangong in a south-easterly direction, running north of the great mountain masses which crowd round the Indus sources. It continues through the central lake district to Tengri Nor and Lhasa. The principal trade with China is carried on over the Lhasa-Tachienlu road.

According to a summary furnished by Lieut.-Colonel Waddell (Lhasa and its Mysteries), the chief imports from China are silk, carpets, porcelain and tea-bricks. From Mongolia come leather, saddlery, sheep and horses, with coral, amber and small diamonds from European sources; from Kham perfumes, fruits, furs and inlaid metal saddlery; from Sikkim and Bhutan rice, musk, sugar-balls and tobacco; from Nepal broadcloth, indigo, brass work, coral, pearls, sugar, spices, drugs and Indian manufactures; from Ladak saffron, dried fruits and articles from India. In the market at Lhasa opium sells for its weight in silver. The exports from Tibet are silver, gold, salt, wool, woollen cloth, rugs, furs, drugs, musk. By the Nepal, Kumaon and Ladak routes go borax, gold and ponies. Patna in Bengal is the chief market for the Nepal trade; Diwangiri and Udalguri for Assam, and Darjeeling and Kalimpong for Sikkim and Chumbi. One of the most universal articles of consumption in Tibet is the Chinese brick-tea, which even passes as currency. The tea imported from Szechuen is for the most part of very inferior quality, estimated at 35% tea-leaves and 65% twigs and other material. It is compressed into large bricks, and costs two-thirds of a penny per pound. Efforts have been made by the planters of the Duars to prepare Indian brick-tea for the Tibetan market, which is calculated to consume some 11,000,000 ℔ yearly.

Money.—It is curious that Tibet, though using coined money, seems never, strictly speaking, to have had a coinage of its own. Till nearly the end of the 18th century the coinage had for a long time been derived from Nepal. That valley prior to the Gurkha domination (1768) was under three native dynasties (at Bhatgaon, Patan and Katmandu), and these struck silver mohurs, as they were called, of the nominal value of half a rupee. The coins were at first not struck specially for Tibetan use, but were so afterwards. These latter bore (obverse) a Nepalese emblem surrounded by eight fleurons containing the eight sacred Buddhist jewels, and (reverse) an eight-petalled flower surrounded by eight fleurons containing the names of the eight jewels in Tibetan characters. Ingots of Chinese silver were sent from Lhasa with a small proportion of gold dust, and an equal weight in mohurs was returned, leaving to the Nepal rajahs, between gold dust and alloy, a good profit. The quality of these coins (weighing about 81 grains troy) was low, and at last deteriorated so much that the Tibetans deserted the Nepal mints. The Gurkhas, after becoming masters of Nepal, were anxious to renew the profitable traffic in coin, and in this view sent a deputation to Lhasa with a quantity of coin to be put in circulation. But the Gurkhas were mistrusted and their coin refused. A coinage was then issued (it would appear once only) in Tibet for domestic use, modelled on an old Kathmandu pattern and struck by Nepalese artists. The Gurkhas, however, in 1788 and following years continued to strike coins of progressively debased quality, which were rude imitations of the old Nepalese mintage, and to endeavour to force this currency on the Tibetans, eventually making the departure of the latter from old usage a pretext for war and invasion. This brought the intervention of the Chinese, who drove the Gurkhas out of Tibet (1792), and then began to strike silver coins for Lhasa use, bearing Chinese and Tibetan characters. For practical use these Tibeto-Chinese coins (of which 2＝1 rupee, and which are known as naktang, i.e. nagskyang, “cash”) are cut into aliquot parts by the guidance of the figures on them. Large lumps of Chinese silver, stamped with the imperial seal, are also used. But of late years there has been an enormous influx of Anglo-Indian rupees, so that these have become practically the currency of the