ABSTRACT
Bashahr had close diplomatic contacts with Gartok, the political centre of Western Tibet, and in Kumaon, which was under direct British rule, the Tibetans, as of old, continued to collect taxes from merchants engaged in the transfrontier trade, sending collectors on to British soil for the purpose. The authorities in Gartok, despite their great distance from the capital, were as powerless to receive diplomatic overtures, and as opposed to the entry of Europeans as Tibetan officials elsewhere. Trade between Ladakh and Gartok was closely connected with the political relations existing between Ladakh and Tibet. The Lapchak and the Chapba were the most important manifestations of the close relationship existing between Ladakh and Tibet which also gave rise to a number of lesser missions. A problem to be solved in any attempt to open relations with Tibetan officials was how to ensure that letters from the British Government should reach their destination.
