Immediately to the south of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir's territory of Ladakh, or Little Tibet, as English writers used to call it, a narrow tongue of British India runs eastward to meet independent Western Tibet. The end of this tongue comprises the cantons of Spiti and Lahul both of which tracts politically belong to the Kangra District of the Punjab.1 South of Spiti lies the native state of Bashahr. After the first Sikh War in I846 the British Government retained this strip of country, barely 120 miles wide north to south and mostly consisting of sparsely populated and barren mountain wastes, in order to secure a route under its own control between the wool districts of Tibet and the Punjab plains. This was thought necessary, as in those days traders were subjected to innumerable delays and imposts, both authorized and unauthorized, in the hill states through which they had to pass. Now that roads are improved and vexatious obstacles to trade have been removed, a considerable volume of trade from Tibet passes through Kashmir; but still a fair amount reaches the Punjab through Lahul and Kulu. This is largely owing to the enterprise of the Lahul people, keen traders who, speaking the Tibetan language and being used to Tibetan conditions, do not find it difficult to negotiate with the pastoral nomads of the high steppes. THE SOURCE OF THE WOOL