Burnes, Alexander: Travels into Bokhara: containing the narrative of a voyage on the Indus from the sea to Lahore, ... and an account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia ; performed by order of the supreme government of India, in the years 1831, 32, and 33 (Band 3) (London, 1835)

CHAP. IV. ROUTES OF COMMERCE.

359

Britain, for it brings her goods into those parts of
Persia which are most stored with those that are
brought from Russia, and gives an opportunity for
a fair competition with them, since it is equally
inconvenient for the Russians to send their goods
south of Isfahan, as it was for the English to carry
them beyond that city. The trade by Trebizond
places the rival powers on a more equal footing;
and it will be remarkable if the experience of a
very few years does not bear testimony to the
greater consumption of British goods in Persia.
This route, too, has great advantages over those
from the Levant by Aleppo or Damascus ; for both
the Euphrates and Tigris traverse inhospitable
countries; and there is no safe road into Persia
from these cities but by way of Bagdad. At
present, the goods which are sent beyond that city
are of trifling value, for there is a loss in pushing
on the greater and more common articles. The
eastern provinces of Persia, about Herat and
Meshid, are partly supplied from Candahar, in the
kingdom of Cabool, which is a better line of com-
merce than would generally be believed. A boat
may reach the coast of Mekran in ten days from
Bombay; and Candahar is but eighteen easy
marches from the sea. It is therefore a most
valuable position, as the Indian exports which reach
it branch eastward into Cabool, and westward into
Persia. In this direction, too, there is noncompeti-
tion from any other nation.

With the command of position acquired by the
English from their possessions in India, it is matter

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