Kashmir Part 11

The crops reaped in the spring in Kashmir are wheat, barley, rape, flax, pea, and bean. Those reaped in the autumn are rice, maize, cotton, saffron, millet, tobacco, hop, amaranth, buckwheat, pulse, sesame.

The alluvial soil of the valley is of great fertility, and every year is renewed by rich silt from the mountain streams. The soil of the higher parts is not so rich, though it, too, will give good returns.

Irrigation is largely used for water is abundant, as the snow on the mountains forms a natural reservoir stored up for the hot weather, when it melts and runs down to the valley at the time when it is most wanted. The Kashmiri is very clever at making his little water channels and leading the water on to his field.

The agricultural implements used are simple and primitive. The plough is light, for the cattle which are yoked to it are small. It is made of wood, and the ploughshare is tipped with iron. The spade likewise is made of wood, has a long handle and a narrow face, and is tipped with iron. A hand hoe is also used for weeding.

Ploughing for rice, maize, and other autumn crops commences in the middle of March. In April and May these crops are sown. In June and July wheat and barley, sown in the previous autumn, are harvested. In July and August linseed is harvested. In August and September cotton-picking commences. In September and October rice, maize, and other autumn crops are harvested. In November and December ploughing for wheat and barley takes place. And during the winter rice and maize and other autumn crops are threshed.

FORESTS

Besides agricultural products the yield of the forests of Kashmir is also of great value. All the northward-facing slopes are covered with dense forests, a considerable part of which is of the valuable deodar.

This is cut into sleepers, launched into the streams which find their way into the Jhelum, and so allowed to float down the river to the plains of the Punjab. Here the sleepers are caught where the river is slow and shallow, and sold at considerable profit to the State. The deodar is a very handsome tree, and is a variety of the cedar of Lebanon. It will be noticed by visitors to the valley along the road between Uri and Baramula, especially near Rampur. Less beautiful and less valuable as timber is the Blue pine (_Pinus excelsa_). It grows to a greater height than the deodar, which does not flourish above 6000 feet, and it may be seen at Gulmarg. The Himalayan spruce (_Picea morinda_) is very common, and also grows round Gulmarg, but its timber is of little value. Birches grow high up above the pines and next the snows; their timber is of no use, but the bark is much employed for roofing. In the forests are also found silver fir, horse-chestnut, and maple.

All these forests are owned by the State, and are now under the charge of a Forest Department, with a conservator from the Government service at its head. The boundaries of forests are being laid down, and the State is determining under what conditions neighbouring villagers and others may be granted the customary concessions for felling timber, grazing, and gathering gra.s.s and fuel. It is usual for the State to let fuel and fodder be gathered free, and to charge for grazing and for cutting timber for building and agricultural purposes. But the areas in which these operations can be permitted, and the rates to be charged, have to be fixed, and the operations regulated. The trees are counted, marked for felling according to their age, and in regular succession, so as to allow of young trees growing up to fill their place. And in many other ways the forests are watched so as to prevent their denudation, and all the damage that would be caused through the rainfall rushing off at once instead of being held up by the trees. By the proper regulation of the forests the State raises a handsome income; it secures the soil being retained on the hill-sides; and it has the water held up in springs as a reservoir; while the authorities in the Punjab know that the rain which falls in Kashmir will be held up by the forests till the cold weather, when it is wanted for the ca.n.a.ls which are taken off from the Jhelum and Chenab rivers flowing out of Kashmir territory.

Of the trees which grow in the level portions of the valley the chenar is by far the most striking. As it grows in Kashmir it is a king among trees, and in its autumn foliage is one of the many attractions which go to make Kashmir one of the supremely beautiful spots in the world.

Its official botanical name is the _Plata.n.u.s orientalis_, and it is one of the varieties of the plane tree. The chief characteristic is the ma.s.siveness of its foliage--its umbrageousness. It grows to a considerable height; it has long outstanding branches and great girth--one which Mr. Lawrence measured was 63 feet round the base. And as the leaves are broad and flat, the whole ma.s.s of foliage is immense, and so thick that both sun and rain are practically excluded from any one sitting in its shade. Under the chenar trees in the Residency garden one can sit through a summer day without a hat, and through a summer shower without getting wet. All this ma.s.s of foliage turned purple, claret, red, and yellow in the autumn tinting, backed against a clear blue sky and overhanging the glittering, placid waters of the Dal Lake or the Jhelum River, forms a picture which can be seen in no other country than Kashmir.

The elm tree of Kashmir, though not so striking as the chenar, is still a very graceful object. One in the Lolab valley has been measured as 43 feet in girth, and in the Residency garden are some fine specimens.

The walnut is more common, and round the villages many handsome trees are often seen.

The poplar is now very common, and is planted alongside the road to what is now a quite distressing extent, for though these trees give shade they also cut out the view. The timber is used a good deal for building, though it is of poor quality.

The willow is a more really useful tree, and is much planted in moist places. Its leaves are used for fodder. Its shoots are to some extent, though not sufficiently, used for basket-making.

MINERAL PRODUCTS

The mineral products of the Kashmir valley are small. In other districts of the Kashmir State there are indications of a moderate amount of mineral wealth. In the Jammu province there is a considerable quant.i.ty of coal of a rather poor quality, and there is good iron and bauxite. Sapphires also are found there. And in Ladak, in the Indus and its tributaries, there are gold-washings. But in the Kashmir valley, with which we are at present dealing, only a small amount of iron has been worked so far, though it is believed that large quant.i.ties exist near Sopor and about Islamabad and Pampur; and copper has also been found near Aishmakam in the Liddar valley.

Peat is extracted from the low-lying lands on the Jhelum River, and can be used as a cheap fuel. Several strong sulphur springs are found in the valley, and limestone exists in many places, notably about Rampur, and on the Manasbal Lake.

ARTS AND MANUFACTURES

Of manufactures the shawl is the best known, but the production has sadly fallen off of late years. In accordance with the treaty between the Kashmir State and the British Government, six pairs of shawls of fine quality have to be yearly paid to the latter, and but for this the industry would almost disappear. Kashmir shawls in the middle of the last century used to be very fashionable in Europe, but the Franco-Prussian War seems to have sealed the fate of the industry.

After 1870 the fashion went out and has never revived; and the famine of 1877-79 carried off numbers of the weavers, so that now very few carry on the industry. According to M. Dauvergne, who was for many years connected with the shawl and carpet industry in Kashmir, the Kashmir shawl dates back to the times of the Emperor Baber. The first shawls which reached Europe were brought by Napoleon at the time of his campaign in Egypt as a present to the Empress Josephine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EVENING ON THE DAL LAKE]

The best shawls are made from the very fine wool, known as pashm, underlying the long hair of the Tibetan goat, which is woven into a delicate material called pashmina on which the shawl patterns are worked. Some of this pashm, and some of the best, is also imported from Chinese Turkestan from the neighbourhood of Ush Turfan. It so happens that I have been in this particular region, and I well remember the rolling gra.s.sy downs among the Tian Shan mountains on which the nomad Kirghiz kept immense flocks of sheep and goats. It was an ideal country for the growth of wool, and I believe much of this beautiful wool of which the finest shawls were made is now allowed to run to waste.

From 1862 to 1870 the export of shawls averaged 25 to 28 lakhs of rupees per annum, or over a quarter of a million sterling, and when the trade was at its zenith 25,000 to 28,000 persons were engaged in their manufacture.

Some of the best of the old shawls are preserved in the museum at Srinagar. They show much tasteful arrangement of colour and fineness of workmanship; but one does not wonder that they have gone out of fashion, and even at their best one misses that extreme delicacy of finish denoting strength and character in the worker which one sees in j.a.panese, and more still in Chinese workmanship.

Carpets have now surpa.s.sed shawls in order of importance, and two European firms, Messrs. Mitch.e.l.l and Co., and Mr. Hadow, have quite as much as they can do to keep pace with the orders they receive, of which a very large number come from America. Many of the old weavers have taken to carpet-making, and the pashm used formerly for shawls is now being increasingly used for the finer kind of carpets. The dyes are good in Kashmir, and as the finest wool is to be had the carpet industry ought to have a good future before it.

Silk is another most thriving industry with great future possibilities. The State have now in Srinagar the largest silk factory in the world, employing about 3300 men, and turning out 191,000 lbs.

of silk last year, and in the present year 230,939 lbs., most of which is sold as yarn in the European market at prices varying from 14s.

10d. to 18s. 2d. per lb., and bringing in a very handsome profit to the State. A small amount of silk weaving is also carried on in the same factory, and 212 handlooms have been set up, but at present the factory is only capable of turning out a comparatively light cloth in what is called the green state. For throwing, dyeing, and finishing, other machinery would be necessary, which the State will set up in time as funds become available. The rough cloth already made is admittedly superior to j.a.panese cloth of the same weight, and has sold in London at somewhat higher prices. When it can be turned out dyed and finished it should have a great sale in India, though the State are not likely to derive the same high profits from the woven cloth that they do from selling the yarn.

Electric power has now been supplied to the silk factory from the great electric installation on the Jhelum River, and is used for heating the water in the basins in which the coc.o.o.ns are immersed for reeling. It will also be used for turning some of the reeling machinery, and possibly also for electrocuting the grubs in the coc.o.o.ns.

Papier-mache is a favourite artistic product of Kashmir, and some very handsome candlesticks, bowls, and vases, well adapted for English country houses, may be purchased. The old designs are especially beautiful. But nowadays very little is made from real pulp of paper, and most of what is sold as papier-mache is made of smooth wood.

The silver work is poor, as it lacks finish, and the modern designs are not especially beautiful. But the Kashmiri workmen used to be able to produce a peculiar sheen on the silver work which gave it a striking and unusual appearance.

Some handsome copper work is also produced in Srinagar, and some pretty enamel work.

But at present the fashion rather turns to wood-carving, which has certainly much improved since I first knew it. Very handsome screens, tables, panels, boxes, etc., are made, and the Kashmiri carpenter is getting to finish his work much better. Whether the work is worth the prices asked is, I think, doubtful. Better wood-carving can be had in Europe for the same price.

Turning from art industries to more practical manufactures the first to notice is basket-work. Most villages have their artisan who makes baskets for agricultural purposes, for carrying loads and for rough village work. Willow trees are plentiful and might be much more extensively grown; and Raja Sir Amar Singh has always been keenly interested in establishing a really important basket industry in Kashmir, and supplying the needs not merely of Kashmir villagers, but of India generally.

Puttoo cloth and blankets are well-known manufactures of Kashmir.

Since the _Swadeshi_ movement has extended in India, and the demand for goods made in India has increased, there has been a regular run on the rough woollen "puttoo" of Kashmir, and the price has gone up.

Formerly a sportsman could get a good shikar suit for eight rupees.

Now he has to pay ten or twelve. It is excellent wearing material, but is too loosely woven and liable to get out of shape. Proposals are on foot for establishing woollen factories in Kashmir, and with suitable machinery and proper supervision, good useful cloth should be made from the excellent wool with which the country abounds.

Cotton cloth is also manufactured in the villages, of a rough, homely description. But whether this manufacture will ever increase to a great extent is doubtful. A French gentleman who has lived for many years in Bokhara, and who visited Kashmir, told me that he considered that as cotton was grown so successfully in Bokhara and Russian Turkestan, it ought to grow equally well in Kashmir. This may be so, and the State is making experiments in cotton growing to find a variety suitable to the country. But so far the future of cotton manufacture cannot be considered so a.s.sured as that of silk and wool.

Finally, among the industries of Kashmir must be mentioned boat-building, which is indeed one of the most important in the country. The Kashmiri is an intelligent and clever carpenter, though in accordance with his character he lacks accuracy and finish. His boats are of all sizes, from the great grain barges, carrying cargoes of thirty tons, to State "parindas" or fliers propelled by forty or fifty rowers, and to light skiffs for a couple of paddlers.

House-boats of quite elaborate design are also made. And if properly supervised and instructed, the Kashmiri should be capable of constructing any kind of craft.

There is little iron-work in Kashmir, for iron is not plentiful. But the Kashmiri has such natural skill that he can turn out quite good guns and rifles, and will make all the ordinary surgical instruments required in the hospital.

TRADE

Of these products and manufactures considerable quant.i.ties are exported to India, and will help to make the proposed railway pay, while this railway on its part will help to increase the exports, for much that cannot be taken out of the country, now that everything has to be carried 196 miles by road, would be exported if railway carriage were available. Apples and pears to the extent of 90,000 maunds, or 3210 tons, are exported annually, besides from 10,000 to 20,000 maunds of other fruit. Rice and maize exports vary greatly according to the demand in the Punjab. The present year was one of scarcity in the adjoining British province, and, consequently, the export of grain was quite unusual--amounting to 100,000 maunds, or more than three thousand tons; but ordinarily it does not exceed more than about a thousand tons. The export of ghi or clarified b.u.t.ter amounts to 720 tons. Potatoes are an increasingly important export, and the demand for them is certain to rise. Last year 750 tons were exported. Hides and skins to the amount of some 350 tons are annually exported.

Linseed was in special demand last year owing to the failure of crops in the Punjab, and in consequence 1740 tons, to the value of Rs.

2,61,000, were exported; but the usual amount is only about one-fifth of this. Silk to the value of Rs. 18,44,205 was exported last year, and this may be taken as the normal amount. And wool and woollen goods, to the value of about two lakhs of rupees, are also exported, besides a few miscellaneous articles, and some 4000 live animals, mostly sheep and goats. In addition, from ten to twelve lakhs of rupees worth of timber are floated down the river.

Altogether the exports from the Kashmir valley, including timber, during the last two years have amounted to--

8,83,141 maunds = 31,540 tons 9,77,305 maunds = 34,957 tons

and their value has been--

Rs. 55,18,508 = 367,900 Rs. 49,64,800 = 330,986