in a high state of development, and often characterized by an artistic beauty which seems to be the one flower of this barren environment.  They are naturally based upon the local raw materials of the mountains, such as wood, metals, clays, and especially the wool of sheep and goats.  Moreover, their products are articles of small bulk and large value, adapted to costly mountain transportation.  Those of Kashmir are typical-carved wood, artistic metal work in silver and copper, puttoo cloth, carpets and the famous Kashmir shawls.[1321] The stark life of Tibet shows in its industries an unexpected richness and beauty.  The men spin and weave wool into puttoo cloth of all grades; some of it is extraordinarily fine in texture and color, and is exported by caravan in considerable quantity to northern China and Mongolia.  Pastil sticks, made of aromatic wood and impregnated with musk and gold-dust, are a conspicuous commodity in the trade with Peking.  Tibet is rich in metals, especially silver and gold.  Even the nomad shepherds of the tablelands know how to purify gold-dust over a fire of argols; hence it is not surprising that the settlements in the irrigated mountain valleys should develop real artists in metallurgy.[1322] The province of Derge, which excels in metal work, produces swords, guns, teapots, bells and seals of extremely artistic design and perfect finish.[1323] The jewelry of Tibet suggests Byzantine work.  It includes ear-rings and charm boxes of gold and carved turquoise, and is marked by the same delicate finish.  But whether the Tibetan is working in wood, gold, brass, or wool, he uses native designs of real merit, and shows the expert craftsman’s hand.[1324] His activities recall the metal work of the Caucasus and the famous rugs of Daghestan.

Turning to Europe we find watch and clock making in the Black Forest and the Jura, wood-carving in the Swiss and Norwegian mountains, bobbin lace in the Erz range and in Alpine Appenzell, and the far more beautiful Italian product of the rugged Abruzzi and the Frioulian Alps.  The Slovaks of highland Hungary are expert in wire-drawing,[1325] and the peasant of the central Apennines makes from the gut of his goats the finest violin strings in the world, the so-called Roman strings.[1326] The low Thuringian and Franconian Forests, which harbor denser populations, have by a minute subdivision of labor turned their local resources to the making of dolls, which they supply to the markets of the world.  Here too the manufacture of glass articles, porcelains, majolica and terra-cotta flourishes.[1327] Most of these mountain industries merely supplement the scant agricultural resources; they represent the efforts of industrious but hard pressed people to eke out their meager subsistence.

[Sidenote:  Overpopulation and emigration.]