=The Commerce of Pāli.=—Commerce, in these regions, is the basis of liberty: even despotism is [701] compelled to leave it unrestrained. Pali, like Bhilwara, Jhalrapatan, Rani, and other marts, enjoys the right of electing its own magistrates, both for its municipal regulations, and the arbitration of all matters connected with commercial pursuits. It was commerce which freed Europe from the bondage of feudality; and the towns above cited only require the same happy geographical position, to play the part of the Hanse towns of Europe. Like Bhilwara, Pali has its own currency, which, amidst universal deterioration, it has retained undebased. From remote times, Pali has been the connecting link between the sea-coast and northern India. Commercial houses established at Muskat-Mandavi, Surat, and Navanagar transmit the products of Persia, Arabia, Africa, and Europe, receiving those of India and Thibet. To enumerate all the articles, it would be necessary to name the various products of each: from the coast, elephants’ teeth, rhinoceros’ hides, copper, tin, pewter, dates dried and moist,[4.26.43] of which there is an immense consumption in these regions; gum-arabic, borax, coco-nuts, broad-cloths, striped silks, called _patang_; various dyes, particularly the _kermes_ or crimson; drugs, especially the oxides of arsenic and quicksilver; spices, sandal-wood, camphor, tea, _momiai_ or mummy,[4.26.44] which is much sought after in medicine, and green glass (_kanch_). From Bahawalpur, soda (_sajji_),[4.26.45] the dyes called _al_[4.26.46] and _majith_,[4.26.47] matchlocks, dried fruits, asafoetida, Multan chintzes, and wood for household furniture. From Kotah and Malwa, opium and chintzes. From Jaipur, various cloths and sugars. From Bhuj, swords and horses. [Illustration: JĀT PEASANT OF MĀRWĀR.] [Illustration: RĀJPUT FOOT-SOLDIER OF MĀRWĀR.] _To face page 812._ The exports of home production are the two staple articles of salt and woollens; to which we may add coarse cotton cloths, and paper made in the town of Pali. The _lois_, or blankets, are disseminated throughout India, and may be had at from four to sixty rupees per pair; scarfs and turbans are made of the same material, but not for exportation. But salt is the chief article of export, and the duties arising therefrom equal half the land revenue of the country. Of the _agars_, or ‘salt lakes,’ Pachbhadra, Phalodi, and Didwana are the principal, the first being several miles in circuit [702]. The commercial duties of Pali yielded 75,000 rupees annually, a large sum in a poor country like Marwar.