"تقرير عسكري حول مناطق نوشكي-جاغي-سنجراني الغربية" [ظ‎‎٢‎٩] (٣٠٢/٦٣)

40
The following are tho figures of the maundage and the value
of the trade, as given by the Political Assistant, Chagai, during the
past four years
Year.
1897 98
1898 99
1899*00
1900- 01
1901- 02
1902- ' 3
19,966 6,89,929
.. 23,116 7,28,082
61,917 12,35,411
62,000 15,34,452
19,89,858
10,40,299
These figures up
to 1902 show a steady and progressive advance
made by the Nushki-Seistan trade route during the course of its
existence. When the railway has been carried from Quetta to
Nushki, it seems probable that a further increase of trade and traffic
will result.
Toe chief exports are wool and assafoetidaj and imports wheat,
dates and silk.
I he staple products of the country are wool in the rough, ghi
and assafcetida. The wool finds a ready sale and is of fairly good
fibre. It is in some demand now in the Karachi market for export
home. The ghi, especially that made round Chagai, has a good
reputation.
A \eiy large amount of assafoetida is collected during a good
larvest and exported to Hindustan and elsewhere where it fetches
a good price.
PeopJe come from great distances, Hari Pal and Babars from
the Takht i-Suhrnan, and men from Kabul and Kandahar, to collect
the plant during harvest time in April.
There are no manufactures of any importance, and the small
amount of cotton and numdah fabrics manufactured are for home
use entirely. The women-kind make a few carpets for their own
use, which are of good texture and pattern, and the dyes are fast.
I he indigenous camels are not to be compared in size and
% r , e f fS th , wlth camels bred in Sind and the Punjab, and three maunds
(-lU lbs ) are as much as they can be calculated to carry. The rid.
mg camels of the country are slow and of inferior staying powers.
Camels are used for agricultural purposes, and milch camels are
kept on account of their milk, from which also gU is manufactured.
JNusnki, Chagai, Dalbandm and Mirui are the best centres for pur
chasing camels. But the owners are easily intimidated and would,
on the slightest provocation, drive their animals across the border.
Some years a disease called commits great ravages
.amongst the camels. In the summer of 1898 many thousand
were said to have died of it. The first symptoms are mange, the
camel losing all its hair, the skin becoming very hard to the touch,
i Ti 13 f c ol '° we(1 extreme debility which generally ends in the
death of the animal. No native remedy seems to do any good.
his disease makes its appearance after a succession of dry seasons,
and is highly contagious. The natives say that it is due to the
accumu ation of sand and salt on the tagaz bushes, on which the
camels graze, during these dry years.
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