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 likely to be spoilt, and requires more care than it does.
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,1 the frontier town of the territories of the Great Mogul in the direction of the Kingdom of Bhutan,2 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,3 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, as the
mountains are nearly always covered with snow, and in the level country
Commercial Products, 93. It is the Flores cince, or Semen cinoe, or Santonica of the pharmacopoeias. Most of it which reaches Europe comes through Russia, but the drug now to be found in Indian bazars is similar, consistÂing of the small unopened flower heads. It is found, in great abundance on the steppes of the Kirghiz, in the northern part of Turkestan. (See Pharmacographia, by Hanbury and Fluckiger. London, 1874.)
1
Gorrochepour in the original. Gorakhpur is the chief town of the
District of the same name in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It
adjoins Nepal on the north, through which territory the merchants
travelled to Bhutan.
*
This geographical indication is not correct, as Northern Bengal lies
nearer to Bhutan ; but it is evident from other references that
Tavernier's knowledge of the extent and position of Bhutan was vague.
3 For the KazI, a State minister in the Himalayan Kingdoms, see Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 475.
