Travels in India (Tavernier) 136.1
Travels in India (Ball) 136.1
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- English
136.1.1
The Kingdom of Bhután is of very wide extent, but we have not been able to acquire an exact knowledge of it as yet. This is what I have ascertained during several journeys which I have made in India, from people of the country who come from it to trade ; but I was better informed regarding it on the last occasion than I had been previously, as I was at Patna, the largest town in Bengal and the most famous for trade — at the time that the merchants of Bhután arrive to sell their musk. During the two months I spent there I bought to the extent of 26,000 rupees worth of musk, an once (Fr.) in the capsule costing me 4 livres and 4 sols of our money, and out of the capsule at the rate of 8 francs, and were it not for the custom duties which have to be paid in India, as well as in Europe, there would be a great profit to be made on it. The best kind of rhubarb also comes from the Kingdom of Bhután; the same country produces also the seed which yields worm powder, and other kinds of drugs, and from thence also beautiful furs are brought. But as for rhubarb, you risk much in its carriage, by whatever road you take it ; for if you go by the north towards Kabul the damp spoils it, and if you take the southern direction, as the way is long, the rains which may supervene are still more to be feared, so that there is no kind of merchandise which is more subject to be spoilt, and requires more care than it does.
136.1.2
As for musk, during the hot season the merchant does not make any profit by it, because it becomes dry and loses weight. Upon this article 25 per cent duty has generally to be paid at Gorakhpur, the frontier town of the territories of the Great Mogul in the direction of the Kingdom of Bhutan, although they extend 5 or 6 leagues farther. When Indian merchants arrive in that town they call on the customs officer, and tell him that they are going to the Kingdom of Bhutan, one to buy musk, another rhubarb, and they make declarations of the sums which they intend to expend, these the customs officer enters in his register with the names of the merchants. Then the merchants, instead of 25 per cent, which they ought to pay, agree for 7 or 8 per cent, and take a certificate from the customs officer or the Kazi, so that on their return they may not be asked for any more. If it should happen that they are unable to obtain a fair composition from the customs officer, they take a different road, which is both very long and very difficult, on account of the mountains being nearly always covered with snow, and because in the level country there are vast deserts to be traversed. They have to go up to the 60th degree of latitude, and then they turn towards the west to Kabul, which is at the 40th, and it is in that town that the caravan divides, one portion going to Balkh, and the other to Great Tartary.
136.1.3
It is where those who come from Bhutan barter their goods for horses, mules, and camels, for there is little money in these countries. Then these Tartars carry their goods into Persia, to Ardabil, and Tabriz; this it is which makes Europeans believe that rhubarb and the seeds (semencine) come from Tartary. It is quite true that rhubarb comes from thence, but it is not nearly so good as that which comes from the Kingdom of Bhutan, as it is much more tainted, rhubarb being subject to decay at the heart. The Tartars carry away from Persia silken stuffs of small value which are made at Tabriz and Ardabil, and some English and Dutch cloths which the Armenians bring from Constantinople and Smyrna, whither they are brought from Europe. Those of the merchants who come from Bhutan and Kabul go to Kandahar and on to Ispahan, and they generally take back coral beads, yellow amber, and lapis wrought into beads when they can obtain them. The other merchants, returning from the regions about Multan, Lahore, and Agra, take calicoes, indigo, and an abundance of carnelian and crystal beads. Finally, those who return by Gorakhpur, and have an understanding with the customs officer, take from Patna and Dacca coral, yellow amber, tortoise-shell bracelets, and others of sea shells, with numerous round and square pieces of the size of our 15 sol coins, which are also of the same tortoise-shell and sea shells.
136.1.4
When I was at Patna four Armenians, who had previously made a journey to the Kingdom of Bhutan, came from Dantzic, where they had had made numerous images of yellow amber, which represented all kinds of animals and monsters, these they were taking to the King of Bhutan to place in his pagodas, he being, like his people, exceedingly idolatrous. Wherever the Armenians see that money is to be made they have no scruple about supplying materials for the purposes of idolatry, and they told me that if they had been able to get an idol made which the King had ordered from them they would have been enriched. It was a head in the form of a monster, which had six horns, four ears, and four arms, with six fingers on each hand, the whole to be of yellow amber, but the Armenians could not find sufficiently large pieces for the purpose. I was inclined to believe that money lacked them, for it did not appear that they had much of it ; it is, however, an infamous trade to furnish the instruments of idolatry to these poor people. Coming now to the road which must be followed from Patna to the Kingdom of Bhutan, upon which the caravan spends three months. It leaves Patna generally at the end of December and arrives on the eighth day at Gorakhpur, which, as I have said, is the last town in this direction in the territories of the Great Mogul, where the merchants obtain their supplies for a portion of the journey.
136.1.5
From Gorakhpur to the foot of the high mountains there are still eight or nine days’ marching, during which the caravan suffers much, because the whole country is full of forests, where there are numerous wild elephants, and the merchants instead of sleeping at night must remain on the watch, making large fires and firing their muskets to frighten these animals. As the elephant moves without noise, he takes the people by surprise, and is close to the caravan before they are aware of it. It is not that he comes to do injury to man, for he contents himself with carrying off whatever food he can seize, as a sack of rice or flour, or a pot of butter, of which there is always a large supply. One can go from Patna to the foot of these mountains in Indian carriages or pallankeens, but oxen, camels, or the horses of the country are generally used. These horses are by nature so small that when a man is upon them his feet nearly touch the ground, but they are otherwise strong, and all go at an amble, doing up to 20 leagues at a stretch, and eating and drinking but little. There are some of them which cost as much as 200 and when you enter the mountains you can only use that means of carriage, it being necessary to leave behind all the others, which become useless on account of the numerous passes, which are very narrow.
136.1.6
The horses even, though strong and small, often have difficulty in getting through, and it is for this reason, as I shall presently say, that one has recourse to other expedients for traversing these lofty mountains. At 5 or 6 leagues beyond Gorakhpur you enter the territories of the Raja of Nepal, which extend to the frontiers of the Kingdom of Bhutan. This Prince is a vassal of the Great Mogul, and sends him an elephant every year as tribute. He resides in the town of Nepal, of which he bears the name, and there is very little trade or money in his country, as it consists of forests and mountains. The caravan having arrived at the foot of the high mountains, known to-day by the name of Nagar- KOT, which one cannot cross in less than nine or ten days, as they are very high and narrow, with great precipices, — numerous people descend from diverse places, the majority being women and girls, who come to strike a bargain with the people of the caravan, to carry the men, goods, and provisions to the other side of the mountains. This is the method by which they carry them. The women have a strap on the shoulders to which a large cushion hanging on the back is attached ; upon it the man seats himself. It takes three women, who change in turns, to carry a man ; and as for the baggage and provisions, they are loaded on goats which carry up to 150 livres weight each.
136.1.7
Those who desire to take horses into these mountains are often obliged, in the narrow and difficult passes, to haul them up with ropes ; and it is, as I have said, on account of this difficulty that but little use is made of horses in this country. They are fed only in the morning and evening. In the morning a pound of flour, half a pound of black sugar and half a pound of butter, are mixed together with water to give to the horse. In the evening it must be contented with a few horn peas, crushed and steeped in water for half an hour ; in this consists all their food during the space of twenty-four hours. The women who carry the men only receive 2 rupees each, for the ten days of traverse, and as much is paid for every quintal that the goats or sheep carry, and for every led horse.