52
NEPAL
across the forehead, whereas the Newars invariably carry theirs in
baskets with a pole balanced on the shoulder. What has been said
of the Katmandu route applies to other means of communication
with Nepal. There is scarcely a made road in the country, but
carts and pack-bullocks from British territory pass freely to and fro
during the dry season.
The principal articles of export from Nepal into British India are
rice, husked and unhusked ; food-grains ; mustard, rape, and other
oilseeds ; ponies, cattle, sheep, and goats ; hides and skins ; ghi or
clarified butter; timber; cardamoms, red pepper, turmeric, and other
spices ; opium ; musk, borax, madder, turpentine, catechu, and
chiretta. The chief imports are cotton piece-goods, cotton yarn,
woollen cloth, shawls, . flannel, silk, salt, spices, sheet copper and
other metals, tobacco, petroleum, provisions (including sugar), indigo
and other dyes. Of the aggregate value of this trade it is difficult
to form an accurate estimate, owing to the many channels by which
it passes and the imperfect methods of registration, but the following
are figures compiled by the Director-General of Statistics :-
In lakhs of rupees.
1890-1. 1900-1. 1903-4
Imports from India to Nepal . , 1,29 1,63 1,3¢
Exports from Nepal to India . . 1,72 2,36 2,61
Some articles of trade, such as timber, salt, cardamoms, and tobacco,
are State monopolies : otherwise trade is free, subject to import and
export duties, which are sometimes charged ad valorem, but more
commonly by load, weight, or, number of articles. The chief traders
in Nepal are the Newars, while many natives of India, both Hindu and
Muhammadan, have settled in the country and carry on a brisk
commerce.
Communications throughout Nepal are, as already observed, very
primitive. The Nepalese have always set their faces against improve-
ment in this direction, trusting to the natural inaccessibility of the
country as the best means of preventing invasion and annexation. In
pursuance of this policy they have always kept the country strictly
closed to Europeans, the only route open to them being that from
Raxaul to Katmandu via Hataura. No railway or telegraph system
has been introduced into Nepal, although branches of the Bengal and
North-Western Railway touch the frontier at various points, the chief
of which are Nepalganj, Raxaul, Bairagnia, and Anchera Ghat. A
good postal service, under the control of the British Postal department,
has been in existence for some years between Katmandu and the plains
of India, and is largely utilized by the Nepalese for the transmission of
money and goods, while the Nepal State has postal services of its own.
As previously mentioned, the government of the country is entirely
|
![[Digital South Asia Library]](/graphics/thirdlevel.gif)
