GARDOKH, Garo, Garoo, Gartop, Yoogar, or Gurtokh, is known by all these names. Rudokh is to the east by south of the Padgong lake, at ' about lat. 33° 25' N., and long. 72° 40' E., and Gardokh between the sources of the Indus and Sutlej at about lat. 31° 40' N., and long. 80° 25' E. Through both these towns from Leh there is a route to Lhassa, the more direct one by Gardokh being 1350 miles in distance, or 41 months' journey. By the route by Rudokh the Sok-po are said to have invaded Ladakh in 1826-27, and again 3000 Chang-pa in 1834, the latter rapidly retreating as the Kashmir troops approached. Shortly after both Rudokh and Gardokh fell under the dominion of Maharaja Gulab Singh ; but disasters attending his army in 1842, the old boundary between Ladakh and Chinese Tibet was once more re established. Another town, Shipki, is just without the Bassahir frontier, and 100 miles from the termination of the Hindustan and Tibet road at Serahun. From it there is communication with Simla, Rampur in Bassahir, and Kulu. The trade entering the Panjab from Gnari Khorsum is con siderable. Shawl-wool comes from Chanthan in the vicinity of Rudokh, a tract of country long celebrated for the fine fleeces of its herds of sheep and goats. The people of the north are active traders. They proceed to Leh for charras and to Gardokh for shawl-wool, giving in exchange money, cloths, and spices. The mountain paths
are scarcely practicable for laden mules, and merchandise is carried chiefly on the backs of sheep and goats. An annual fair is held in November at the capital of Rampur on the Sutlej. The town is of some importance, as the point where the commercial routes from Leh, Gardokh, and Simla meet, and also as a seat of the pash raina from Bassahir catches up the Hindustan and Tibet road at Serahun, and passes by Kotghur to Simla, and froin Rampur direct by Spiti to Leh or to Sultanpur in Kulu, and thence to the Panjab. Garo is the most famous mart for wool in Chinese Tartary, and there is a fair of 10,000 or 22,000 people in July, well attended by merchants from Karnaon, Kanawar, and Ladakh, and some times from Yarkand. Wool, borax, and salt are the principal exports, and these articles are exchanged for the produce of the plains of India. The pass over the range between Garo and the Sutlej is 19,200 feet above the sea. It is near the source of the Indus river. The Garo river is the Sing-ge-chu or Indus, also called there Gar-jung chu ; and there is no great eastern branch, as some suppose. At Garo, according to Moorcroft, it is a very insignificant stream.—Mooreroft's Travels; Capt. Gerard's Kunawar.