Diamond Hunter: Bhutan, Tavernier Page 218



	202	TRADE WITH BHUTAN book iii

	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,²although 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, consisting 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.