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Depreciation of Silver.-But how is the silver difficulty to be surmounted? At first sight it would appear there can be no relief, but in truth the "silver dilemma" and the "famine question" have practically to be met in the same way. The communications which would facilitate the distribution of grain, would also facilitate the transport of the produce of India, and, whilst lessening the chances of scarcity of food for the people, would tend to equalise the balance of trade with foreign

countries.

To interfere directly with the silver currency itself is next to impossible, but it does not appear there are grounds for much despondency. Heavy as has been the fall in the value of silver, it is improbable that it should all at once and permanently lose its place. The demonetizing of silver by Germany and the alleged greatlyincreased production of the American mines have certainly produced a marked decline in its value, but it has already recovered 8 per cent. from the lowest point. The sensitive state of the market, however, has opened the door to speculation, and not only the Government of India but all who are trading with the East, find their calculations for the present at the mercy of bullionist speculators.

There can be no fixity of exchange between two countries, one of which has a gold and the other a silver standard, because setting aside all other considerations it is impossible that parallel lines of cost should be preserved between these or any other two substances, and this would be the first necessity for such fixity. With

regard to a metallic currency India's primary requirement is to possess that which is the most suitable for her internal transactions. If this be silver then of necessity her international transactions must be chiefly settled in that metal, which as an import would alone yield a certain return. The bitter experiences of the past resulting from the operations of unsound currency views are not likely to be repeated in India; and we may be confident that if it is found expedient to change the standard from silver to gold, it will only be done in common justice to our fellow subjects in India by the government calling in the silver currency and issuing a new gold currency for the same.

But it would appear that India is still far from requiring such a change. That the fluctuation in the price of silver will continue for some time to be a source of anxiety to those directing the finances of India is probable, but on the other hand there are fair grounds for believing that silver will not permanently fall very much below its present value. The reported yield of the American mines is proved to have been greatly exaggerated, and whilst some countries are exchanging silver for gold, there are others as yet without a metal currency, and to these silver is becoming more acceptable. Africa, for instance, only now being opened up to the commerce of the world, will doubtless take a portion, when the rich lands described by Livingstone, Burton, Grant, Speke, Baker, Cameron, Stanley, and other travellers, have been freed from the iniquitous slave trade and brought under cultivation.

The high protective duty in Great Britain of eighteen pence per oz. (about 33 per cent.) upon manufactured silver, has greatly diminished the use of the pure metal for such purposes during the past twenty-three years, notwithstanding the enormous growth of the wealth of the country. In the present position of the silver market, the wisdom of retaining this exorbitant tax is very doubtful.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

OUR NEIGHBOURS.

Beloochistán-Afghánistán-Persia-Turkistán-Russia.

Having treated in previous chapters of the various provinces and principalities or vassal States owning allegiance to the Empress of India, and of the settlements of European Powers, let us briefly survey the different countries which girdle the frontiers or affect the fortunes of her Indian empire.

Our relations with Russia may be powerfully influenced by our relations with Cabul, and our relations with Cabul may modify our treatment of the intervening hill tribes on our north-west frontier.

So that, whatever disturbs and excites one or other of the States named in the heading of this chapter, will affect or influence the others more or less remotely.

This

Beloochistan.-To begin with Beloochistan. country, spreading from the Arabian Sea to the borders of Afghanistan, forms the western boundary of Scinde. It is a land of hills and deserts, with here and there a cultivated valley, inhabited by a number of pastoral tribes who obey no government but that of their several chiefs. Of these the most considerable is the Khán of Khelát, who wields among his neighbours a kind of lordship as unstable as that which the earlier kings of France wielded

over the Dukes of Burgundy and other powerful vassals of their day. It is difficult to say what the Beloochees are by race, for they vary greatly among themselves in ethnical traits. Semitic or Aryan, however, they all speak some Aryan tongue, and profess some form of Mahomedanism. The country is said to be rich in minerals, especially copper and sulphur. Such trade as it boasts is carried on by caravans, or káfilas, which make their way across the Hála Range into Scinde through the long winding gorges of the Bolan Pass, liable occasionally to attacks from the robber tribes who infest the border. The chief carriers of the trade are the Lohanee merchants, a pastoral race of Afghans, who occupy the country eastward from Ghuzni to the Indus.*

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* Lohanee merchants. The following is an extract from an interesting letter from Sir Bartle Frere, when Commissioner in Scinde, to the Author: These men are the great carriers of the Afghan trade. They have their homes about Ghuzni, where they spend the summer. Since the trade viâ Tatta and the Indus was extinguished in the latter end of the last century, these people have supplied themselves with seaborne goods viá Calcutta. They descend the passes before they are blocked up by snow, between Ghuzni and the Indus, in vast caravans of eight or ten thousand souls-the whole tribe moving bodily-men, women, children and cattle their goods being on camels and ponies. Arrived in the Derajat, they leave the aged men, women and children in black felt tents, with their flocks and herds in the rich pastures bordering on the Indus, while the able-bodied men push across the Punjaub with their goods for sale, either in that province or on the banks of the Ganges. The leading merchants precede the main body on dromedaries, taking with them a few samples, letters of credit, &c., &c.—make their purchases at Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Cawnpore, Mirzapoor, and even Calcutta, and return with them express-collect their families and flocks, and force their way up the passes. Their numbers generally enable them to compound with the tribes of the mountains for a reasonable amount of black mail; but they have sometimes to fight their way. I have heard of the wife of an eminent merchant of this tribe, whose husband had been detained longer than he expected at Delhi, offering the "Kaffila-Bashee (head of the caravan)

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