C H A P T E R - V I

CROSS-COUNTRy TRADE

The growth of hills-plains trade during the colonial

period had its root in the ambitious project of opening up

of trade-routes to Burma, Tibet and china. Though frontier

trade developed under the active encouragement of colonial

rulers / the prospect of a flourishing commerce extending to

Burma, Tibet and china, however, narrowed down to the chang­

ing circumstances.

BURMESE TRADE

To the commercial interests in Britain the immediate

importance of Burma in the early nineteenth century was

not in its resources for they were largely unknown but in

its geographical position for a bridge with China. British

interest in the possibility of establishing overland contact

between India and china was shown as early as 1795 during

Symes mission to Burma. The interest had been sustained

by the fact that the trade between Burma and China during

the first half of the nineteenth century had continued in

considerable volume, both by river and by the caravan route.

!• Michael Symes, An Account of an embassy to the King­dom of Ava^ London 1800, pp. xxix-xxxv.

199

China 's raw s i l k , s i lk c lo th / ve lve t , gold- leaf , bul l ion

and tea were exchanged for Burma's cotton and sa l to I t

was believed t h a t if the predatory a c t i v i t y of Kachin

tribesmen inhabi t ing the border region could be curbed, 2

t h i s t rade might be capable of indef in i t e expansion, l if ter

the second Anglo~Burman war/ 1852/ Lower Burma came under

B r i t i s h adminis t ra t ion . Deputy Commissioner Lieutenant

General Aurther Fytche f e l t tha t B r i t i sh public were too

l i t t l e aware of the trade which already ex i s t ed between

upper Burma and Western China. In 18 54/ Fytche estimated

t h a t the t rade v ia Brahmo between two was of £500,000 in

value•

Unfortunately, Burma's t rade with china came to a

complete h a l t af ter 1855/ when a small Muslim sect (Sunni)

in Yunan province ca l led the Panthays rebel led against the

oppressive control of the Manchu Chinese. Peking was

challenged a t tha t time by Taiping Rebellion and was

dest ined to face shor t ly thereaf te r the Anglo-French war

of 1858-60. As a r e s u l t of t h i s confusion t rade suffered©

Fytche however/ hoped t h a t t h i s t rade could be revivedo

2 o India office Archives, Bengal P o l i t i c a l correspondences MSS, EUR/ E63/ No.155 p»70/ ins t ruc t ions to symes, dated 6 February, 1795, c i ted in J . F . cady' s /A History of Burma/ 1969, p«106.

3 . D« Woodman/ The Making of Burma/ London/ 1962/ P e l 7 3 .

4 . I b i d . ,

200

Anglo-Burmese Commercial Treaty of 1862 provided for joint 5

exploration of the caravan route to Yunan through Bhamo.

The apparent possibility of obtaining Burmese co-operation

in reopening trade with china was a major concern of the

British authorities in obtaining as part of the treaty of

1867, the right of British steamers to navigate the entire

course of the irrawaddy river upto Bhamo and the privilege

of posting a British censul at that city©

No sooner had the 1867 treaty being signed. Colonel

Sladen, British agent at Mandalaya proceeded to explore

the trade-toute to China via Bhamoo Sladen expedition was

financed by commercial interests in Rangoon. Colonel

Sladen obtained Panthay assistance in clearing a path for

him but encountered difficulties on his return journey. Two

members of his Panthay escort were killed. At that time

T.T. Cooper* was invited by the Shanghai chamber of Commerce

to attempt to travel through Tibet to India. At the

5, P.P. (H.CP)/ 1905, vol. 67, No,4, 19 January, 1863»

6» D. Woodman, Qpocit., p.186. •Thomas Thronvill Cooper, 'one of the most adventurous of modern English travellers', was born in 1839. In 1859 file came to India and was employed by a mercantile firm in Madras. After two years he resigned from his position and in 1863 went to Shanghai. In 1868, he was invited by the shanghai chamber of Commerce to attempt to travel through Tibet to India. Cooper was appointed as Political Agent at Bhamo in 1870's. In 1876 he was murdered at Bhamo by a sepoy in revenge for minor punishment. V. Elwin, India* s North-East Frontier in. the Nineteenth Century, Oxford University Press, Third edition, 1972, pp. xxi-xxii»

201

beginning of 1868, he l e f t Hankow for Batang. At the

end of s ix months, a f te r passing safely through the

Chinese empire, from eas t to west, t ravers ing the almost

impassable snowy ranges of Eastern Tibet he found himself 7

a t the town of Batang, some two hundred miles from sadiya .

From Batang Cooper attempted to reach sadiyao The Chinese

a u t h o r i t i e s , however, refused to l e t him proceed and he

went instead south to Bhamo. Cooper journey demonstrated

the imprac t icab i l i ty of a t rade- route over the rugged 8

mountains.

These explorations were undertaken in direct com­

petition with that.? of the French Lagree-Garnier mission,

which proceeded up the Mekong river valley into Yunan and 9

thence to shanghai in 1867-68. The French exploration

discovered that the Mekong valley was unsuitable for trade

but Red River valley leading directly into YUnan via

Tongking was eminently usable. In 1872, Bvirmese King

Mindon sent a diplomatic mission to Europe which concluded

commercial treaty with Italy and France. From this time

onwards, British commercial interests recognizing the

potential rivalry with France and Italy increased their

7o A.S.R., General Department, File No. 167J of 1878, serial No.l.

8 . I b i d . , 9 . Ind ia office Archives, Foreign Department, P o l i t i c a l

proceedings . Vol. 48 3 (1068) Nos. 123-127 of May 1868; Nos. 112-114, 203-206 of July 1868, c i t ed in I b i d . ,

202

pressure and many meetings took place at which influencial

speakers advocated opening up of China trade through

Burma, Sir Aurther Cotton, an Engineer who took part

in the First Anglo-Burmese War, addressing a meeting of

the society of Arts in 1872 / commented that the missing

link of communication was between the -Irrawaddy and the

Brahmaputra. If this distance of only about hundred miles

could be linked, then the produce of South-west China could

flow down to Calcutta as well as to Rangoon,

Burma' s continuance as an independsent state was

sharply challenged by its falling within the scope of

Anglo-French rivalry in Eastern Asia. With strong backing

from Rangoon and from the British associated chambers of

Commerce, the secretary of state for India, Lord Salisbury,

authorised a new survey of the trade route from Bhamo to

12

China. The Burmese king Mindon afforded generous assist­

ance to the British^sikh contingent led by colonel Horace

A« Browne which was assigned to this task. Colonel Browne

proceeded from Rangoon to Bhamo in late 1874 to join with

Consul A.R. Margary, who was travelling overland to Bhamo

from Shanghai and was to act as Browne's Interpreter on

10 . D. Woodmun, O p . c i t . / p . 1 9 4 . 1 1 . I b i d . / 12 . H.A. Browne/ Reminiscences of t h e Cour t of Mandalaya,

1907 p p . 58-60/ 8 3 , c i t e d in a'»F. cadyf.s, Op.cit"7]i p , 10.

203

the return journey. Colonel Browne was welcomed enroute

at Mandalaya and was offered assistance including armed

escort in his journey to China border. Unfortunately

Consul Margary and a few companions who ventured out ahead

of the armed escort/ were murdered by armed Chinese on

13 21 February, 1875 in Kachin country near Yunan border.

Inspite of Burmese cooperation in the Browne - Margary

episode, British-Burma's relations took worst turn. The

Burmese king, Thibaw was suspected to be involved in

intrigues with French agents.

Imperialist rivalry between Britain and France in

south-east Asia was intensified following 1881 as a result

of the aggressive policy persued by France, French control

was extended to Annam and Tongking and then westward to

lihaos, to the left bank of the Mekong river. The river

marked the easternmost boundary of shan states tributary 14

to Burma. Domination of Tongking's Red River valley also

afforded France at long last easy commercial access to

Yunan province of China. Provocation also came from the

decision of the executive council of the Government of

Burma for levying, in August 188 5, of an exorbitant fine

of rupees twenty three lakhs on the Bombay-Burma Trading

13. Ibid.,

14, Ibid., p,117.

204

Corporation for alleged i l l e g a l ex t rac t ion of tea logs 15 from Burmese t e r r i t o r y . A subsidiary of the Wallace

Company^ a leading Scot t i sh firm in London and Bombay^

the said corporat ion entered Burma in the middle of the

nineteenth century to secure teak for the Great Indian

Peninsular Railways* I t a lso dea l t in r i c e , gram, co t ton ,

o i l / explorat ion and shipping. I t was an inf luencia l

Corporat ion. In t r igues of t h i s corpora t ion , pressures

from the chambers of Commerce of London and Liverpool/

and the Anglo-French r i v a l r i e s a l l these combined to p re ­

c i p i t a t e the annexation of Upper Burma in 188 5 by the

B r i t i s h . •'•

With the in tegra t ion of Burma in to imperial empire/

the question of developing t rade- rou tes to Burma l o s t I t s

importance. Burma became a par t of Br i t i sh empire since

the e i g h t i e s of nineteenth century and i t s economy was

well in tegrated in to the imperial economy during the

succeeding decades.

Even a f te r the annexation of Upper Burma, Br i t i sh

o f f i c i a l posted', in Assam were s t i l l arguing the merit of

opening up of a p rac t icab le route between nortern d i s t r i c t s

15. D.R. Sardesa i , B r i t i sh Trade and Expansion in South-East Asia 1830-1914, New Delh i , 1979, Also see A. Gtiha* s review of the same book in Economic and P o l i t i c a l Weekly, v o l . V I I I , No.45, November 11 , 1978.

15. I b i d . , 18. D.R. Sardesa i , O p . c i t . ,

205

IP of Assam and Burma. F.J« Needham/ Assistant Political

Officer of Sadiya explored two routes from the river

Dihing in Upper Assam towards Hukong valley. Though he

failed to reach Hukong valley/ explored to a considerable

extent two routes leading to it, one of which after leaving

the Dihing river crossed the Patkoi at an elevation of

4,650 feet/ and going up the Nongyang lake and Longlai

river reaciied to a singpho village called Namyang/ distant

eight marches from Dafa Nong's village in the Hukong

valley. The other of which going through the hills south

of Margherita via Yogli and Namchik river/ crossed the

Patkoi at an elevation of 7,300 feet and after passing

through the villages of Phoong, Morang/ shangye/ Hashan,

Khulluk/ reached a village in Hukong, inhabited by a

Singpho chief called sumbaynong. This village was distant

two days journey from Khulluk and was the farthest point

reached by Needham. In a letter written to the secretary

to the Government of India/ the secretary to the chief

Commissioner of Assam expressed the view that since Upper

Burma had become British territory, the belt of the

territory that intervened between it and Assam/ inhabited

by 'wild tribes* / must instead of being left alone as a

18 o A.S.R., File N0.547J of 1887/ From the Commissioner of Assam valley Districts to the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam, Letter No. 33,90, dated Gauhati 18 July 1887.

^^' Z^i^* File N0.613J of 1888, From the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam to the Secretary to the Government of India/Letter No.1/533, dated shillong/ 22 June / 1888 .

206

convenient barrier, be gradually brought under control

from one side or other and wherever the boundary between

two provinces was to be ultimately fixed, whether at

Patkoi or elsewhere/ it was for the interest of both the

provinces that the country should be explored and communi-20

cation established.

With the passage of time/ initial enthusiasm

gradually died out. As pointed out by G.R. Irwin, Under

Secretary to the Government of India, to the Chief Commis-21

sioner of Assam^

In view/ however of the difficulties which would attend any immediate attempts in that direction and the comparative unimportance at the present time of any results that could reasonably be anticipated from thei , even if completely successful, the Government of India do not now proposes to carr^ out any further exploration in that quartero

Along the old Burmese route through singpho terri­

tories/ some traffic went on in Indian tea, blanket/ matches

22 etco Bhamo/ the great trade centre on the Trrawaddy river,

attracted a large number of hill tribes from Tirap district

of Arunachal Pradesh. Through them some of the articles

20. Ibid., From G.R. Irwin, Junior Under Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department, to the secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam, Letter No. 1,8 50E dated, Simla, 18 September, 1888.

21. Ibid., 22o E . c . Young, "A J o u r n e y from Yunan t o Assam," Geogra ­

p h i c a l J o u r n a l , V o l . XXX, J u l y t o December , 1907 .

207

23

that were imported from Assam found way to Burma. The

actual trade was not voluminous because any one making

the journey had to carry such a large stock of provisions/

as to preclude the possibility of carrying much merchandise.

LURE OF CENTRAL ASIAN MARKETS

The existence of a route into Tibet by the Brahma­

putra river was known to the British Government even before

the British occupation of Assam. A list of stages from

Sadiya to Rima, a town in the Tibetan province of Zayul /

numbering twenty altogether was explored by Lieutenant

24 Neufville in 18 25 and published in Asiatic Researches.

In 1826 captain Wilcox succeeded in advancing

three-quarters of the way to Rima along the southern or

left bank of the Brahmaputra but was stopped by the refusal

25 of the Mishmis to allow him to pass through their country.

Ten years later in 1836, W. Griffith followed the same

route to a point about half between sadiya and Rima and

then crossing the Brahmaputra river, visited some Mishmi

villages on the northern side but he too was deterred from

attempting further progress by the refusal of Mishmi chiefs

23. S. Dutta choudhury (ed)., Tirap District Gazetteers, Shillong, 1980, p.133.

24 , A .s .R. / F . P . , August 1886, From the secre ta ry to the Chief Commissioner of Assam to the Secretary to the Government of I nd i a , Foreign Department, Le t te r No 11,941/ dated Shi l long/ 21 June, 1886.

2 5 . I b i d . ,

208

26 to give him a safe-conduct. Lieutenant E.A. Rowlatt,

was the first explorer who in 18 44 followed the route

along the right on north bank of the Brahmaputra and went

as far as the river Du or Madum within sixty miles of the

Tibetan border and turned back on being told that the

27

intervening country was destitute of inhabitants. In

December 1869 and January 1870/ T.T. Cooper/ who in 1868

failed to reach India from Tibet/ attempted journey towards

Tibet by the route along the southern or left bank of the

Brahmaputra, He reached to a village called Prun/ some

twenty miles from Rima but was prevented from proceeding

further. Cooper received aid from Calcutta Chamber of 28 Commerce to pioneer the way,

Inspite of the difficulties experienced in promoting

British-India's trade with Tibet and China/ the British

constantly cherished a hope to extend their trade in central

Asia and this desire to capture markets articulated their

policy towards Eastern Himalaya. The Trigonometrical survey

29 of India embarked on its venture of exploring Tibet. It

trained and despatched native agents into Tibet. Pandit

A c(Nain Singh) visited Lhasa/ Ganden and Sera between

26. Ibid./

27. Ibid.,

28 o A.S.R./ General Department, F i le No. 167J of 1878/ Se r i a l No. I .

29. A.. Deb/ Bhutan and India - A Study in Front ier P o l i t i c a l Relat ions (1772-1865)/ Calcut ta 1976/ p«163«

209

30 1865-66 and his explorations yielded valuable results.

Soon he was followed by Pandit B and No.9. In addition

to scientific observations^ these adventurers collected

information about commerce of Tibet and her natural

31

resources . Though T.T. Cooper's mission ended in

f a i l u r e / Governor-General India in Council was much

in t e re s t ed in exploring Tawang and Eastern Assam routes

to T ibe t . The chief Commissioner of Assam strongly

recommended t h a t the survey par ty under captain Woodthrope,

which had penetra ted in Arunachal Pradesh during 1876-77

and became known to the t r i b e s who traded with china on

the one hand and Assam on the other / should complete 32

their work of exploration. The Chief Commissioner pointed

out that the obvious advantages of a direct trade-route,

if such a route could be found between India and China

need not be recapitulated. Quoting S.E. Peal/ a planter

of Sibsagar district/ the chief Commissioner of Assam

pointed out to the secretary to the Government of India

that such a route need not interfered with Bhamo route.

33 In S.E. Pea l ' s words/

To imagine tha t the trade to England from western China would go by the valley of Assam/ while Irawadi was open would be abiburd/ i t would be equally so to expect the Indian t rade to go via the Irawadi . Each would take what would leg i t imate ly belong to i t .

30 . A. Deb/ O p . c i t . / 3 1 . I b i d . / 32. A.S.R./ General Department/ F i le No. 167J of 1878/

Ser ia l No.4/ From the secre tary to the Chief Commis­s ioner of Assam/ to the Secretary to the Government of Ind ia /Le t t e r No.1477/dated Shillong 5 September 1878

3 3 . I b i d . /

210

In a bid to mobilise public opinion/ C. Lepper

of Alexander Lawrence & Co. appealed in the leading

34 newspaper/ 'Englishman'/

Let any of your readers look for a moment at a map of Asia, and it will puzzle him on most maps to discover anything to separate British Province of Assam from the Chinese province of Yunan. They appear next door neighbour and now that attention has been drawn to this fact, let me further explain that no geographical difficulties of any moment intervene between the two countries to prevent a good drivable road being made©

The Indian Tea Gazette of 4 May, 1878/ pointed out that

the opening up of western China to Manchester and shefield

trade in the bad times, when English manufactures were

suffering so severely from the competition of America,

Australia and Belgium, was surely no slight claim on

35 attentiono

Since the mid-nineteenth century, a movement was

set on foot in London, to agitate for the extension of

Assam Trunk Road from sadiya through Singpho country to

tap the provinces of Sezchuen and yunan. Meetings were

held in London by the British officials and planters of

Assam. An association called 'Assam Association' and a

34. Ibid./ Extract from the Englishman, dated 25 March leTe.

35. Ibid., serial No.2.

211

a working committee comprising Sir T. Wade, Sir Alcok

and other were formed. It pointed out in an issue of

the 'Englishman' of 5 June 1878, that to tap sezchuen,

the most direct route lay apparently by the way of Rima

on the Brahmaputra. To tap Yunan, a route lay by the

Noadihing valley to the Borkhampli country to Atenze/ the

border town of Yunan. To tap B&tma, the convenient route

37

was by the Noadihing val ley and Meinkhoon to Bhamo. In

Ju ly 1878, a memorial was presented by i t s member to

Secretary of State for India in council for l inking Assam 38

with ch ina .

The industrial depression of 1880's led many

manufactures to re-emphasize the pressing need for new

markets. Report on trade between Assam and the adjoining

foreign countries for the year 1880-81, pointed out that

the trade of Assam could not become important as long as

it remain confined to the wild regions immediately beyond

the province. The only prospect of development of trade

lay in the possibility of establishing safe and permanent

communication with South Western china from Assam and this

was yet in the somewhat distant future. The construction

of railways, the report pointed out, which had been

36. I b i d . , 3 7 . I b i d . f 38 . I b i d . ,

212

cominenced from Dibrugarh to Sadiya would facilitate

triiffic of course, but the trade it would carry would

be of tea and other products of the province of Assam

and merchandise from Bengal for consumption in Assam.

The railways however, would be a valuable adjunct in

developing external traffic if a safe and convenient

trade-route to China could be established and maintained

through the almost unknown region lying between south-

39 western china and Northern Burma and Assam. The same

40 view was expressed by another trade report of 1883-84.

Colman Macaulay, a Secretary of the Government of Bengal,

who was sent as head of a mission to Tibet in 1885 in

41 his memorandum on relations with Tibet pointed out.

The more we can push the facilities of trade by the cis Himalayan passes by cultivating friendly relations with Lama Government and by making roads to the frontier of Tibet, the greater will be the progress of southern trade... Assam fabrics, raw coarse, silk cloth are sought by all classes of men from the highest to the lowest ... The demand for this coarse staff is incredibly large but the supply is meagre.

Along with these, was the prospect of finding in Tibet a

market for Indian tea.

39. Report on Trade Between Assam and the Adjoining Foreign Countries for the year 1880-81.

40o Review of the Trade by Land of British India with Foreign countries for the year 1883-8 4.

41. N.A.I., F.D., secret F, May 1885, proceeding No.752

213

FEASIBILITY OF TEA. TRADE

The question of introducing Indian brick tea

into Tibet was one which occupied the attention of Board

of Tea Industries for many years. The potentialities of

tea trade was discussed in Fyzabad Conference/ held on

26 January 1880. The proceedings of the conference laid

down that the question of supplying Indian tea for central

Asia was one which should at no time be neglected and all 42

means should be taken to afford its every possible opening.

In a book entitled 'Tea Trade with Tibet* written

by L. Listard and published by Agriculture Department of

Government of India in 1880, the question was discussed at

43 length. In the first place it was pointed out that any

attempt to open such a trade would not in the least inter­

fere or divert any tea from the well established outlets/

which planters had in Europe, Australia, United states as

well as in India itself. Such a division could take place

if the same sort of produce was required both for these

markets and Tibet. But this was not so. What was necessary

to manufacture expressly for Tibet/ a new produce with

leaves the coarest, the hardest, which certainly no European

would care to take, the way Chinese prepared tea for Tibet.

42. N.A.I./ Political A/ July, 1880, Proceedings No.80.

43. L. Listard, Tea-Trade with Tibet/ Government of India/ Simla, 188 3.

214

This new class of produce therefore would not interfere

with the already existing industry and would not divert

a single leaf from the already existing markets. Such

being the case, the planters of North-Western provinces/

Punjab, Bengal and Assam would find it profitable to

turn attention in utilising the waste and refuse of their

plantations. It was suggested that the planters should

push the Indian tea, prepared in such a way as to suit

Tibetan taste and habit, and introduce it among the people

of Tawang, Bhutan, Sikkim and Garwal where from tea would 44

very well find its way to Tibet proper.

The Report of the Agriculture Department in Assam

for 1884-8 5 laid down that the place indicated by the

Bhutanese of Dewangiri, as the source of their tea, was

doubtless the Chinese emporium on the Tibetan frontier,

Darchendo. That the wants of the Bhutanese should be

supplied by tea from the distant and inaccessible region

when the tea-gardens of Assam were lying within their easy

access could be explained only by the fact that Assam tea

was unsuitable to their peculiar taste. It was difficult

to believe that if a brick tea like that of Darchendo was

offered to them from the gardens of Assam at a lower price,

44. L. Listard, Op.cit.,

215

the former not soon be driven out of the market atleast

in all the southern part of Bhutan and if the tea could

only be offered cheap enough, it might penetrate into

Tibet through the medium of Bhutanese and supplant

45 Darchendo tea over the western portion of that country.

COLONIAL ACHIEVEMENTS

The attempts of the nearly whole of the century

to penetrate into central Asian markets was not crowned

with much success. The hostile attitude of the Tibetans

and the events that followed stood on the way of promotion

of direct trade with Tibeto

Between December 1885 and January 1886/ vT.F.

Needham* Assistant Political Officer at sadiya undertook

an expedition from sadiya to the Zayul valley of Eastern

Tibet. Needham succeeded in crossing the frontier and

advancing twenty-six miles into Tibetan territory but on

approaching the village of Rima, where the Governor of

the Province was believed to reside, he was met by a

demonstration of force. Needham failed to enter into

communication with local authorities and was obliged to 46 return back to Assam. In 188 5 caiman Macaulay obtained

45. A.S.R., B.P.P., September/ 1870, Proceeding No.4, From Colonel J.c. Haughton, Commissioner of the cooch Behar to the Secretary to the Government of Bengal,Letter No. 69, dated Jalpaiguri, 22 July, 1870.

46. Ibid.# F.P.,August 1886/From the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam to the Secretary to the Govern­ment of India, Letter No.1410, 23 July 1886.

216

Chinese assent to lead a mission to Lhasa. The Tibetan

Government/ however, was opposed to closer intercourse

with India for they were suspicious of British activities

47 in India.

In 1816/ the British through the Treaty of Sugauli

had not only extended their influence in Nepal but had

also acquired the Himalayan districts Kumaon and Ghaxrwal,

The group of hill states from Tehri to the borders of

Ladak also passed into British control about the same time.

A few years later/ in 1835/ the British acquired Darjeeling

from Raja of Sikkim. In 18 46, Lahul and Spiti were

detached from Ladak and brought under British control.

Later on Ladak, which lay on the west of Tibet, also

came under British influence. The Tibetans were alarmed

at this rapid extension of British power in and around

the Himalayan Kingdoms. Mac'aulay Mission was successfully

opposed by the Tibetans. In 1886, Tibetans sent a small

body of militia to occupy LingthU/ which is about twelve

48 or thirteen miles within Sikkim frontier. They were

driven out by the British and negotiations between Britain

and china followed. A convention between the two powers

was signed on 17 March, 1890. The undivided supremacy

of the British in Sikkim to the total exclusion of all

49 powers was recognised in 18 90.

47. C. Bell/ Tibet/ Past and Present/ London, 1924; B. Nand/ British India and Tibet, New Delhi/1975/ p.4.

48. H.E. Richardson, Tibet and its History,New Delhi,1975. 49. Bidya Nand, Op.cit., ppo5-6.

217

In accordance with the convention of 1890/ a

trade treaty was concluded between China and Britain in

1893. By this treaty/ a trade mart was established at

Yutung, eight miles on the Tibetan side of the frontier.

British had all along accepted Peking's suzerainty over

Lhasa and therefore there could be no direct communication

between the Government of India and the Tibetans. Yutung

was unsuitable for a trade mart and though every attempt

was made by the British to induce Chinese to substitute

Phari for Yutung^ it was found impossible to overcome

50

their reluctance. Phari was at the head of the Chumbi

valley/ on the southern side of the main Himalayan range/

whereas Yutung was thirteen miles inside the Chumbi valley

from the sikkim Tibet frontier. The Chinese must have

thought that British presence at Phari would weaken Peking's

hold over Lhasa. But this was not all. The Tibetans

nullified the attempt of opening the trade mart at Yutung

by building a wall. This prevented British traders and

travellers from going any further into Tibetan territory.

Attempt to develop Yutung were frustrated by Tibetan 52

obstructions.

The event showed that Chinese influence was on the

wane and when Curzon arrived in India as Viceroy, there was 50, India Government to secretary of State, July 4/ 1893/

Foreign proceedings/ secret E, August 1893, proceed­ing No.44/ cited in Ibid./

51, Ibid., 52o C. Bell^ Op.cit.y pp.61-62.

218

^ 53 as It were a power vacuum m the north. Rumours were

afloat that the Chinese had surrendered their sovereign

rights to the Russians and that Russian arms had already

54 reached Lhasa. Curzon feared that if the Russians came

to Tibet/ they would certainly endanger peace and security

of India's Himalayan borxJers . To counteract Russian designs

the viceroy despatched colonel Younghusband ostensively

on a peace mission, but in reality to establish British

influence in Tibeto The mxssion was opposed enroute by

the Tibetans but ultimately they were compelled to retreat.

Younghusband succeeded in concluding a treaty with

Ti-Rimpoche, the Regent and the members of the Tibetan

National Assembly. By the Lhasa convention of 1904, the

British succeeded in establishing direct contact with the

Tibetans and in extending their influence in Tibet to the

exclusion of all Foreign powers o

This was construed by the Russian Government tanta­

mount to the establishment of British protectorate over

Tibet. The India office was not prepared to accept an

agreement which was offensive to the Russians and with

53. H.K, Barpujari/ Problem of the Hill Tribes; North-East Frontier 1873-1962/ volume III/ polSl.

54. c. Bell/ Op.cit. / p.62; H.E. Richardson, Op.cit./ p.4; A. Lamb, Britain and Chinese Central Asia the Road to Lhasa 1767-lb^Ob, London, 1V60, pp.2 53ff.

55. F.B. Younghusband, India and Tibet/London» 1910,p.417.

56. C. Bell, Op.cit., Appendix, IX, pp. 284-87.

219

whom it was then anxious to arrive at a settlement of 57

its disputes in Central Asia. On the insistence of

the Home Government, the British Indian Government con­

cluded a treaty with china in 1906 with a view to secure

Peking's approval of Lhasa conventiono This was* however,

not a simple adhesion agreement but a separate treaty

which nodoubt confirmed the nglo-Tibetan Treaty but also

whittled away the gains of the "younghusband Mission and

the Lhasa convention. British not only ireaffirmed China's

control over Tibet but undertook 'not to encroach on

Tibetan territory nor to interfere in the Government of

Tibet.' China's rights in Tibet were thus recognised to

an extent to which the Chinese had been unable to exercise

58 them during that period.

The British Government further tied their hands

across the Himalayas by concluding a treaty with Russia

in 1907. under Anglo-Russian convention of 1907, the

contracting parties agreed to respect the territorial

integrity of Tibet and to abstain from all interference

in its internal administration and to carry no political 59

negotiation with Tibet except through intermediary of China.

57. H.K, Barpujari, Op.cit., pol52o

58. H.E. Richardson, Op.cit., p.94/ P. Mehra, The North-Eastern Frontier^ Vol. I, 1906-14, pp-1.4

59. P. Mehra, op.cit..

220

By the new Trade Agreement of 1908/ activities of the

British Trade Agent was restricted even at Gyantse and

Yutung. Not only the number of escorts at the marts

were to be reduced and gradually replaced by the Chinese,

but the telegraph line from the Indian frontier to Gyntse

and r t. hooste built by the British along the route were

to be sold out to the Chinese at original costo

The political situation and increasingly cautious

attitude of the British influenced comntercial relation of

British India with nations on immediate frontier. The

keynote of British policy towards central Asia during

this period was to wait for opportunity and not to *' risk

the substantial gain of Entente Cordiale with china by

clutching too eagerly at the problematic chances of

Tibetan markets.'*

Moreover/ by the later part of the nineteenth

century it became evident that the wealth of Tibet was 6>2

much fabricated by early explorers. In Tibet towns are

few and had limited population. The villages were not

numerous and the buildings with the exceptions of monasteries

did not convey the picture of an affluent society. The

60o P. Mehra, Op.cit./

6 1 . H.R. R i s l ey ( e d ) , The G a z e t t e e r of s ikk im, p . x i i .

62o N . A . I . / F . P . , May 1865, S e c r e t F , Proceeding No.752.

221

Tibetans did not lad^ warm clothing. These were sold

in Katmandu at a much cheaper rate. In the climate of

Tibet/ cotton cloth was not sufficient. So the Manchester

63 goods were not in demand. Similarly in China^ villagers

wove a coarse cloth of a kind which was almost worn by

majority of the people of china. It was more durable

than the foreign shirtings and the foreign materials

could not supply an equal material to that commonly worn

64 by the Chinese people.

T^^ only hope was trade on tea. In 1870, Deputy

Commissioner of Lakhimpur left with the agency muharir

at Sadiya/ a small quantity of brick tea procured from

superintendent of the East India Company/ with the instruc­

tions to give it to the Mishmi traders who had direct

65 intercourse with the Tibetans. The idea was to give

tea as present to the Mishmis with the hope that they

would carry tea into Tibet and by selling there at cheap

rate would create a demand for it. The attempt however,

failed to yield any result in that direction. In 1887,

Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup after making careful enquiry

pointed out that there was no opening whatsoever for

63. Ibid.» J. Sen, Indo~Nepal Trade in the Nineteenth century, Calcutta, 1977, pol26.

64o N.A.I./ Foreign Political B, January 1878, proceed­ings NO.I.

65. A.S.R., B.P.P., 1870, From Deputy Commissioner of Lakhimpur to the Commissioner of Assam, Letter N0.25P dated Dibrugarh, 2 April, 1870,

222

Indian tea in Bhutan or Tibet* even i£ made in brick

form. The sale o£ tea in Tibet was apparently a Chinese

monopoly and Indian t ea even if low priced would meet no

encouragement.

Brick t ea was e s sen t i a l l y a low-class t e a , being

composed of old l eaves , s t a l k s and struck together with

mucilage and some degree of p ressure , Chinese disposed

t h e i r rough tea to Tibet and a prohib i t ion existed in 67 Tibe t of B r i t i s h tea enter ing in to T ibe t . sezchuen

province of China supplied Tibet annually 2/000,000 Lbs,

of t e a valued at about 100,000 t a e l s (£250,000) and produ­

cing a revenue of about 150,000 t a e l s . A large number of

po r t e r s were engaged to t ranspor t t h i s huge quant i ty of

t ea from sezchuen to d i f f e ren t pa r t s of T ibe t . The

Tibetan trade was in the hands of Lamas vAio would have

na tu ra l ly resented any d i s loca t ion in t h e i r tea businesso

Moreover, the Chinese o f f i c i a l s s ta t ioned a t Lhasa also

thr ived on the funds ra ised by tea t r a d e . The Lamas used

t o give to the Chinese whatever s i l v e r they required and

Amban repaid the advance by documents which freed the

Tibetan t raders from the payment of duty a t Tachienlu.

66 . I b i d . , F . P . , July 1887, Proceeding No.2, From Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup to the Secretary to the chief Commissioner of Assam, Le t te r No, 894, dated Gauhati 2 2 June , 1887.

67. I b i d . , 68 . N . A . I . , F . P . , Secret E, August 1893, proceedings

No. 23 , c i t ed in B. Nand, O p . c i t . , p . 9 .

223

Thus the admission of Indian tea in to Tibet would have

dis turbed Chinese o f f i c i a l ' s f inancia l arrangements/

imperiled Lama's tea monopoly/ thrown f ron t ie r por te rs

out of work and deprived Sezchuen tea-growers of a market 69

for a million tael's worth of tea annually.

A native of Sezchuen domiciled at Darjeeling once

manufactured some brick tea and sold it to a Tibetan who

took it to Tibet but was stopped/ fined and his tea confis­

cated and destroyed on the frontier. A guard of Tibetan

71 soldier was quatered at Rxma to prevent trade in Assam tea.

The facts disclosed show that there was an apprehension

that British Indian tea would successfully compete with

China tea and the Chinese influence was exercised to keep 72

it out of marketo Over and above/ carriage was so

difficult and routes were so steep that no trade in such

73 a bulky article of any importance could be established»

The interests in Tibet as shown by commercial

concerns of London such as Dewsbury and Bradford Chambers

of Commerce / always depended on the provision that the

Tibetans would be persuaded to acquire a taste for Indian

tea. This on the other hand depended on the development

69. Ibid./ Proceeding No.7/ cited in Ibid., 70o A.S.R./ B.P.P., No.4/ From Colonel J.c. Haughton,

Commissioner of cooch Behar to the secretary to the Government of Bengal/ Letter No. 69/ dated Jalpaiguri/ 22 July 1870.

71. Ibid.., File No. 167J of 1878, Serial No.I. 72 o Ibid. / B.P.P./ September 1870/ Proceeding No.4-» 73« Ibid./ F.P./ July 1887, Proceeding No,2»

224

of easier means of cominunication and spread of western

influence. The British experience during Macaulay Mission

showed that this could be brought by force only and by

1886 it was decided that the prize did not justify the 74

efforts.

Coming to the actual extent of trade that went

through Eastern Himalaya to Tibet, it has been seen that

in the different trade centres and weekly huts that g::r'.ew

up in the frontier and at annual trade-fairs, the hill

tribes came down with their usual hill products and in

exchange they took European and Indian manufactures. As

the hill-tribes / particularly the Arunachalis/ were in

the habit of exchanging with the Tibetans and Chinese,

through them British piece goods and manufactures of

plains poured into those countries. Commenting on the

export of cloths at Udalguri fair. Colonel comber, the 75

Deputy commissioner of Darrang reported, A large portion of the cloths taken up by this pass are sent to North Tibet and even to the inhabitants beyond Tibet and I have nodoubt that the sales at udalguri are influenced a great deal by the tastes or fashions prevailing at the time amongst the actual consumers.

The direct trade with Tibet was possible only at

Udalguri fair where Tibetans continued to come down annually

74. A. Lamb, Op.cit., p.359. 75c Report on Trade Between Assam and the Adjoining

Foreign Countires 1878-79.

225

to trade. There were also some Tibetans who resorted

to Dewangiri via Bhutan. The introduction of cheap

Liverpool salt pushed Tibetan salt out of market. At the

beginning of the century/ the Arunachalis brought down

Tibetan rock-salt in the markets of Assam. In 1875-76/

the quantity of Tibetan salt imported into Udalguri fair

76 was 1/889 maunds and at Doimara 225 maunds. In 1876-77,

the quantity imported in Udalguri and Doimara fairs was/

77 1/764 maunds 19 seer and 259 maunds respectively. The

salt was bartered for Assamese cloth and other articles

of local produce. In Lakhimpur district/ the Tibetan

rock salt was imported by the people of Assam for medicinal

78 purpose only. Eventually/ rock salt failed to compete

with cheap Liverpool salt.

LABOUR MIGRATION

While a flourishing trade could not be developed/

under the prevailing condition of labour and capital in

the province of Assam/ the idea of obtaining surplus

population of Yunan in Assam to settle or hire for work

also could not be entertained.

The Assam Company in its early years paid its

76. A.S.R./ R.P./ June 1878/ From the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam to the secretary to the Government of India/ Letter No. 1/584 dated Shillong 8 June 1878 .

77. Ibid./ 78. Ibid./

226

imported Chinese staff some seventy workers a t one stage

four to five t ine the wage ra te paid to the corresponding 79 ca tegor ies of Assamese labour. In Gauhati, the labour

on t e a -p l an t a t i ons was obtained on terms equivalent to

wages at rupees two and e ight annas a month. In Dibrugarh

where wage was h ighes t , labourers were paid at the ra te

of rupees four and eight annas a month. Taking rupees

five as the highest l imi t of wage paid in Assam by 1864/

t h i s was not even half of what would have secured a Chinese 80 l abour . On the other hand, ten rupees a month-'; was a

much higher leve l t h a t was suf f ic ien t to inundate Assam

with tabouK^-from Bengal. There were thousands of Chinese

and Shans in Pegu and Tenassyrim. Any able bodied Shans

or Chinese could earn more than rupees ten a month in

Pegut^ or Tenassyrim. The surplus population of Ytuaan could

find t h e i r way in to Pegu and .Tenassyrim via the Shan s t a t e s

without coming in to contact with Burmese at a l l . To 81

quote Henry Hopkinson, the Chief Commissioner of Assam,

Yunan i s as sparsely populated as iSi-ssam and the f e r t i l e val leys of Khyndueng and Irrawady are even more th in ly inhabi ted . While for most p a r t s ty le of l iv ing of the inhabi tants i s superior to t h a t of the people of Jkssam/ nei ther Chinamen, nor Shans could subsis t on the highest wages t ha t have been h i t h e r t o allowed in Assam, they were accustomed to be t t e r food, be t t e r c lo ths and be t t e r lodging than the Assamese.

79 . H.A. Antrobus , A History of the Assam Company, Edinburg, 1957, pp,3Sa[-88.

80o A.S.R., Let ter issued to Government, Vol. No,38, 1869, From F. Jenkins , Agent to the Governor-General,North-East Front ie r to the Secretary to the Government of Bengal ,Letter N o . I I , dated Gauhati , 14 June, 1864,

8 1 . I b i d . , Le t te r No.18, dated Gauhati 20 January, 1864.

227

Hence / even i £ an e a s y and s a f e r o u t e from Yunan

was e s t a b l i s h e d / t h e p r o s p e c t d i d n o t a p p e a r v e r y b r i g h t

and a s such no a t t e m p t was made t o l i n k Assam w i t h C h i n a .

PROSPECT OF TRADE AT THE END OF THE CENTURY

The c a r d i n a l hope of e x p a n s i o n of commerce t o

c e n t r a l A s i a t h r o u g h E a s t e r n H ima laya however / d i d n o t

f a d e o u t d u r i n g t h e p e r i o d under s t u d y . Even i n 1 9 0 1 /

t h e q u e s t i o n of f i n d i n g a new m a r k e t i n T i b e t f o r I n d i a n

t e a was n o t g i v e n up and t h e i d e a of p r e p a r i n g I n d i a n t e a

e x a c t l y i n C h i n e s e f a s h i o n was d i s c u s s e d . I n a memorandum

of 13 A p r i l 1903 / c o l l e c t i n g a l l a v a i l a b l e i n f o r m a t i o n on

t r a d e - r o u t e s be tween I n d i a and T i b e t / W . F . T . O 'Connor /

who l a t e r was t o accompany Younghusband t o Lhasa^ n o t e d

t h a t Tawang was a m a r t of some i m p o r t a n c e as t h e d i s t r i b u ­

t i n g c e n t r e of goods from Lhasa and e a s t e r n T i b e t / from

B h u t a n , I n d i a and Assam and from f e r t i l e though ' s a v a g e

d i s t r i c t s ' of s o u t h - e a s t e r n T i b e t and he hoped t h a t commerce

of t h i s p l a c e would someday assume f a i r l y l a r g e p r o p o r t i o n s .

H i s r e p o r t f u r n i s h e d a f a i r l y a c c u r a t e d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e

8 3 Kameng d i v i s i o n and t r a d e - r o u t e t h r o u g h Tawang.

The e x p l o r a t o r y t o u r of Noel W i l l i a m s o n / t h e t h e n

8 2 . N . A . I . / F . D . / E x t e r n a l B, S e p t e m b e r , 1 9 0 1 / No. 186 .

8 3 . N . A . I . / F o r e i g n s e c r e t a P r o c e e d i n g s June 1903 / N o s . 3 0 3 - 4 .

228

Assistant Political officer of Sadiya, to south-eastern

Tibet in 1907-8 , focussed considerable attention on the

practicability of Lohit as the 'natural highway' to Tibet.

Noel Williamson reported that the real obstacle to the

development of trade had been the lack of incentive and

if communications were developed along the Lohit valley

and the facilities for exports were made available, a good

bridle path developed from the borders of Tibet to sadiya

the shape of things would change. Once the Tibetans

learnt that every hide and every pound of wool! had a

marketable value in Assam/ which could be reached quickly,

comfortably and safely, and where in return they could

purchase tea, clothing etc., commercial interchanges were

84 assured and expenditure in the route justified. A rail

link with china extending the railhead from Saikhowtaghat

to Chinese province•^Szechuen as advocated by Thomas

Hodrich and supported by Noel Williamson occupied the

85 attention of the British authorities for sometime.

It was only after 1908 , when Chinese under Chao

Erh-feng, the newly appointed Imperial Commissioner of

Tibet, overran Eastern Tibet and after subjugating Pome*

Pemako and Zayul, the southern part of Tibet, attempted to

84« P. Mehra, The MeMahon Line and After, Madras, 1944, p«13.

85o MoL. Bose, British policy in the North-East Frontier Agency, New Delhi, 1979, p.W.

229

penetrate Yunan to Upper Burma, then under British rule

including Hpinaw/ Ahkyang and Hkaitipti Long that the

shadow of Chinese monster started haunting the British

Government and the idea o£ cross-country trade was allowed

to fall in apathy on defensive ground. Although the

British and the Indian manufactures found an outlet into

central Asia, the volume was too small to achieve the

target originally anticipatedo

APPENDIX - ~J

EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTER OF SECRETARY TO THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF ASSAM ON TIBETAN TRADE

26. Notwithstanding their internal feuds the Mishmi

find time to do a good deal of trade both with the zayul

valley and with Assam. Wilcox was struck by the mercantile

propensity of these people. "Every man among them" he

wrote "is a petty merchant". Lieutenant Rowlatt describes

them as divided into two classes who trade ipespectively

with Assam and Tibet (i.e. the Digarus and Mi jus) the

latter "have nothing to offer in barter but the Mishmee-

teeta and poison/ which is only to be found on the moun­

tains near the limit of perpetual snow being in great

request with the people of Tibet/ they are enabled to

exchange it for cattle/ gongs, sword and copper vessels."

He adds that they also do a great deal of barter among

themselves. The Pandit A-K tells us that the Zayul valley

is much frequented by traders from Mishmi tribe who bring

Jungle products (grass, bark and dye-stuffs), deer skins

and cloth and money from Assam and exchange them for

salt and horned cattle. Mr. Needham, met several parties

A.S.R./ F.P./ August 1886/ Letter No.1/410/ 23 July 1886.

231

of Mijus returning from Zayul with the cattle which

they had brought/ and he noticed that one of the Tibetans/

in the party which blocked his way to Rima had on a dress

of Assamese muga silk. To the articles enumerated by

the Pandit/ he adds musk-pods on the part of the Mishmis,

and woollen coats/ brass and iron vessel/ swords/ beads/

silver amulets and ammunition, supplied by the Tibetanso

Similarly wileox says that the Taieng chief "are seen

wrapped in long cloaks of Tibetan woollens/ or in hand­

some/ jackets of the same" and that their wives wear a

profusion o£ beads of wMte porcelain/ or of colourless

glass mixed with oblong pices of coarse cornelian and

all of Tibetan or Chinese manufactures. Besides the

Zayul valley/ another rendezvous for trade is the Maduan

river/ to which the Tibetans can resort either by way of

the Brahmaputra or by the Mdaun valley route which has

been mentioned above. The Mijus and Digaru Mon^o clan

keep the Tibetan trade in their own hands/ while the

Digaru Taiengs similarly engross the trade with ssamo

Th .s monopoly on the part of the Taieng is felt as a

grievance by the eastern section of the Digarus/ and the

Manjo clan begged Mr. Needham to persuade their westerly

Kinsmen to admit them also to a share of ita

232

27. «»* *** ***

28 o These extensive trading enterprises suggest the

possibility of encouraging the cominercial intercourse of

the Mishmis with Assam, Mr. Needham is of opinion that

if the Digarus were not so jelous in guarding their

monopoly/ large number of Mijus, and likewise Tibetans,

could come to sadiya yearly to trade. The Tibetans/

however (or the inhabitants of Zayul) are hind ced also by

the exclusiveness of their own Government, which hitherto

prevented them from entering British territory. The two

Tibetans whom Lieutenant Rowlatt met at Tipping on the

Mdaun told him that they were not allowed to visit the

plains of Assam. Cooper was assured by the Miju chiefs

that all intercourse with Assam was forbidden by the Lamas

on the pain of death. The only natives of the zayul valley

whom we know to have entered sadiya seems to have been

the man whom Kaiya brought to captain Dalton in 18 52/ on

the ill-omened expedition out of which his quarrel with

the whitemen arose. If/ however/ the mission now going

to Lhassa should succeed in establishing a better under­

standing with Tibet/ the route of the Brahmaputra valley

may prove an important one for supplying the Eastern

Tibet with English goods. Mr. Needham's return march from

Rima occupied only sixteen days, though some of the

233

marches were much shorter than regular trading stages.

It may be assumed that with the help of a fair bridle

path, the journeys could be done by laden men or animals

in twelve days or a fortnight. From Rima to the Pass Ata

gang La at the head of the Rong Thod ChU/ where the

highlands of Eastern Tibet are entered upon/ is 15 days

journey. If the alternative route out of the zayul valley

is preferred/ it is only six days' journey frora Rima to

the Tiha pass at the head of the Zayul Chu. On the other

hand^ the journey from Ata gang La pass to Chili Shiogong

on the sanpo south of the Lhasa/ as travelled by the

Pandit A.K./ Contains 45 stageS/ while there are 24 stages

between Lhasa and Darjeeling. The Brahmaputra valley

route has thus a great advantage in shortness, as a means

of communication between British India and Eastern Tibet.

The first step towards improving this route would be the

construction of a good track for pack-animals from Sonpura

as far as the Dalei/ or perhaps as far as the Mdaun from

either of which rivers there are two routes into Tibetan

territory. In all this distance there is only one con­

siderable range of hills to cross viz./ th^t which inter­

venes between the Yamne and the Tiding and is crossed at

an altitude of about 4,500 feet. For the rest of the way,

a level track can be laid without difficulty.