!['ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎368r] (742/798)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000912.0x0000db/IOR_L_PS_20_CA10_0742.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎368r] (742/798)")
'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [368r] (742/798)
The record is made up of 1 volume (395 folios). It was created in Dec 1869-Dec 1870. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
houses. The old town was destroyed some time ago by the Nya-
roongs, a lawless tribe on the north; they burnt down the town and
slaughtered a great many of the people. It is suspected they did this
at the instigation of the Umba and the Council of Lhassa, who were
alarmed at the spread of Christianity in Thibet, and the favour with
which the missionaries were received by the people. The mission
had a thriving colony at Bonga, within Thibet, but one of the mis
sionaries and many of the converts were murdered, their houses burnt
down, and the missionaries obliged to flee across the frontier.
They are now settled in the Chinese province of Schwychu-en,
and still suffer great persecutions. Sir Jung Bahadoor exerted himself
in their behalf, and wrote to the Council of Lhassa recommending
toleration. The Christian population of Thibet numbers many
thousands.
Waskoo is a well cultivated country, as is the whole of this part
of China. Not an inch of soil is left unused; even the tops of the
walls enclosing the houses are economized, by having seeds sown on a
layer of earth laid thereon.
The cultivation of opium, in the whole of the western district of
China, is now very large. After the drug is extracted, and the oil for
culinary purposes, the seeds are ground down into flour, and the stalks
used as fuel. The indigenous opium, though far inferior to the foreign,
is universally preferred, on account of the difference in price. The
people are afraid to touch the foreign drug, as, once habituated to it,
they would not be satisfied with their own. The rich alone use it to
strengthen the country stuff. Till recently the Thibetans used to
import the Bengal opium, the product of the Nipal Teraie, but this
has almost ceased, as the area under cultivation in China has increased
and is increasing, and the Thibetans draw their supplies from thence.
The Thibetans and Chinese use the opium for smoking.
The bridge over the Loo-thin-choo is reported to be one of the
largest in the whole empire ; it is 534 kha in length and 30 kha in
breadth, and consists of 13 immense chains stretched across, with a
flooiing of planks. Lach of these cables is manufactured in a separate
province, and the thirteen Choon-doo or Governors of the thirteen
provinces nearest to this river are obliged to see to the laying down
and security of this bridge, it being the only means of communication
between the country on either side. In August 1867, eleven of these
chains gave way, and a great number of people were precipitated into
the river and drowned.
In 1867, the districts of Lan-see, Nan-foy, and Chang-moo, along
the line of route between Lhassa aud Pekin, were in revolt, and com
munication between the two Courts was precarious and hazardous in
the extreme. The oppression of the people by the Governors is great,
and thousands are compelled to abandon the industry, the fruits of
which they are not permitted to enjoy. The Chinese troops in several
of the large towns in the south have been on half pay for the past
About this item
- Content
Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the year 1870. The letters are dated December 1869-December 1870. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:
- Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India
- Abstracts of Letters received from India
- Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
- Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Muscat
- Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
- Abstracts of Letters received from Muscat
- Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire [Bushehr]
- Abstracts of Letters received from Aden and Zanzibar
- Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
- Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Aden.
Each abstract contains summaries of one or more letters from the specified source, each with a title giving the subject of the letter. Letters from India are divided within each abstract by the branch or department of the Government of India they originated from. The correspondence covers issues including:
- Pay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
- Public works, including: railways, including a proposed railway from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; roads; canals; irrigation; docks; and river embankments
- Revenue, expenditure, and taxation
- Land issues, including: the cultivation of cotton, cinchona, and silk; forestry; and coal mining
- Education
- Banking
- Telegraphy, including international telegraphic links to India
- Affairs concerning Princely States, including internal administration, debts, allowances, issues of succession, investment in railways, and territorial claims
- Issues around emigration from India to British and French colonies
- Legislative and judicial affairs, including the question of jurisdiction over British subjects in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- Military affairs, including the organisation and supply of military units and a proposed naval force for the Indian seas and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- Frontier affairs: relations with tribes on the Northwest and Northeast Frontiers and frontier raids
- Affairs in Persia [Iran], including: Persian claims to sovereignty over Bahrein [Bahrain] and objection to British actions in Bahrein; frontier disputes around Khelat [Kalat], Mekran [Makran], and Seistan [Sistan] and proposed arbitration of the Persian-Afghan border; anticipated food shortages and subsequent disturbances involving British subjects exporting grain from Bushire
- Affairs in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, including: the consolidation of and challenges to the rule of Syud Azan [Azzān bin Qays Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; debates around British policy towards Syud Azan; confrontation between Muscat and the Wahabees [Waḥabī movement]; the issue of the Zanzibar subsidy; and Syud Azan’s claims to Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ‘Abbas], Gwadur [Gwadar], Charbar [Chabahar] and other territories on the Mekran Coast
- Affairs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , including: the campaign of Colonel Lewis Pelly in Bahrein and the installation of Esau bin Ali [‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfah] as Ruler; trade and shipping in the Gulf; the desire of the Shah of Persia for a naval presence in the Gulf; Dutch and Turkish [Ottoman] activity in the region; and tensions between Bahrein and the Wahabees, including Wahabee inroads in the Guttur peninsula [Qatar]
- Affairs in Affghanistan [Afghanistan], including relations with Bokhara [Emirate of Bukhara] and Russia
- Central Asian affairs, including the Russian advance in the region, trade and communication from India to Central Asia via Cashmere [Kashmir] and Ladak [Ladakh], and affairs in Eastern Turkestan [Xinjiang]
- Affairs in Zanzibar, including the slave trade, relations with Muscat, the death of Syud Majid [Mājid bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd], and the accession to the throne of Syud Burgash [Barghash bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd]
- Affairs in and around Aden Settlement, including: relations with neighbouring polities, including Lahej [Laḥij Sultanate], Houshebi [Ḥawshabī Sultanate], Fodtheli [Faḍlī Sultanate], and Kathiree [Kathīrī Sultanate]; the purchase of Little Aden; the defences of Aden; an attack on Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] from Aseer [‘Asir] and the threat to Lahej from the Zaidees [Zaidīs]
- Affairs in the Red Sea, including attempted French, Austrian, Turkish, and Egyptian inroads in the region
- Affairs in Burmah [Burma/Myanmar], Bhootan [Bhutan], and Nipal [Nepal].
The primary correspondents are:
- The Government of India
- The Viceroy and Governor-General of India
- The Resident at Aden
- The Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- The Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Muscat
- The Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Zanzibar.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (395 folios)
- Arrangement
The abstracts are arranged in roughly chronological order. A detailed index of subjects, places and people mentioned in the correspondence is included on folios 384-393.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 395; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [368r] (742/798), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA10, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100135113394.0x00008f> [accessed 6 August 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100135113394.0x00008f
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100135113394.0x00008f">'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎368r] (742/798)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100135113394.0x00008f"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000912.0x0000db/IOR_L_PS_20_CA10_0742.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000912.0x0000db/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/CA10
- Title
- 'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 1r:116v, 119r:395v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence