Antelope wool of Lahoul, called in Tibetan Tsodky-i-lena, or properly b-Rtsodky-i-lena, is very precious.
Ibex hair, or wool of the teringole or kin, the ibex, is the wool that makes the\farnous and rare ibex shawls.
Sheep's wool, black and white, of Lahoul, called luggi-bal, was selling in 1866 for 6 Cutchi seers per rupee ; it is exported to Kullu and Kanawar.
Yak's wool of Rupshu and Zatiskar, called Kullu, is the soft under-hair of the yak, used to make bags for sheep loads, aid the felt soles of shoes.
The Rampur chadr is a soft wool fabric Manu factured from the wool of the sheep of Rampur and Spiti, which are there the beasts of burden. The wool of the Dumba or large-failed sheep of Peshawur mid Kiibnl is called Kabuli pashm, and is manufactured into the chciga or sleeved cloaks worn by the Afghans.
Patti fabrics are made fro- in the pat wool of Kabul. ' The pashm of Changtan and TuKfan are of the irst class, and are monopolized by Kashmir.
The pashms of Rodakh, Ladakh, Spiti, Rampur, 3ashahir are a second-class wool, and form the taple export to the shawl manufacturing cities of ,he Panjab.
Pasture.—The nature of the soil on which the sheep and goats are fed, has most influence on .he texture and quality of their wool. There can • ae no doubt that the valleys of the Sutlej, Ravi, Dhandrabaga (or Chenab), and other tributaries af the Indus, supply grazing grounds not to be mrpassed in richness and suitableness in any part af the world. The population inhabiting them are thiefly pastoral, but, owing to sloth and ignorance, the wool they produce is but small in quantity, full of dirt, and ill cared for in every way. The Government of the Panjab have made efforts to improve the breed by the importation of 31erino rams, but hitherto with little success. However, a truss of Merino wool produced in the Hazara Hill district, to the north-west of the Panjab, and sent to England in 1860, was there valued at ls. 6d. per lb. Sheep whose pasture grows on cal careous poor soil have short, harsh wool, while those on rich loamy argillaceous soils have longer and softer hair. The same animal produces dif ferent kinds of wool. On a sheep the finest wool is on the spine from the neck to near the tail, including one-third of the breadth of the back. Rampur is a great mart for the reception and for warding of wool.
Pashm is the chief article of trade in Khotan and Ladakh. It is cut once a year ; the wool picked out is sent to Kashmir, but the hair is made into ropes, coarse sacks, and blankets. After the hair of the goat has been cut short with a knife in the direction of its growth, or from the head towards the tail, a sort of comb is passed in the reverse direction, and brings away the finer wool almost unmixed with the coarse hair.
If not shorn as •the smumer commences, the animals themselves rub off the wool.
The goats are found domesticated all over the mountainoms country of Western Tibet, particu larly in the provinces of Ladakh, Rodakh, and Garo. Changthan is the name given to the elevated plateaux where innumerable flocks are pastured. Merchants bring down large quanti ties from Ghar-garo or Gurdokh in Changthau, where a large commercial fair is held annually in August (Bhadon). The Lahoul traders bring Changthan wool through Ladakh. In Chang than, at the Arghils cattle- sheds and Yaitaaks pasture -grounds, the usual price of the raw article or coarse pam is about 2 vuttees 14 seers pucka, or 8 -lbs. (English) for Rs. 3, or about 6 annas the pound weight ; and tobacco is bartered for about double its weight of coarse Changthan pam. . So also green and red dyed goat-skins of Panjab manufacture, with shoes and boots of the same article (the latter made in Turki fashion) are bartered at Yarkand, Aksu, Ilchi, Turfan, etc., for treble and quadruple their weight of raw pam. In the same manner, not many years since, the glass beads and buttons of Birmingham were wont to be bartered for. an equal weight of gold-dust or reg - i zar tlirOughout the entire country of Gilgit, Yarkand, Mazihuji, Chitral, and along the south base of the Mustagh and Kara-korum; The mountain paths between Rampur and Spiti are so precipitous, that sheep, more surefooted than larger beasts, are commonly used to carry burdens of from 16 to 20 lbs. The sheep aro driven from village to village with tho wool on, and as tho required quantity is cut from their backs, they aro laden with the grain which is received in exchange, and which, when tho fleece is all disposed of, is carried into Chinese Tartary, , and sold at a profitable rate. It is the custom for tbe shepherds of Chumurti to give an order, while the crops are yet green and on the ground, for any amount of gmin they may require, which, when the crop is ripe, is stored up by tho culti vator until the summer of the ensuing year. When the shepherd arrives with his flock, he gives the wool in exchange, and receives his grain, which he puts into small bag,s, and drives back his flock thus laden. About 2000 maunds of wool are annually brought to Rampur, and about half that quantity of pashm. The price of the wool averages about 4 lbs. for the rupee, and pri.shm, Rs. 2 to 4 for 2 lbs.