above sea level. At such a height
cultivation must be very difficult, but a little beardless Tibetan
barley is raised. The scanty population consists mainly of nomad
shepherds. In Ladakh the people are divided into shepherds or
_champas_, who roam over the Alpine pastures, and Ladakhis, who till
laboriously every available patch of culturable land in the river
valleys. Though both are Buddhists they rarely intermarry. Zanskar to
the N.W. of Rupshu is drained by the river of the same name, which flows
northwards to join the Indus below Leh. It forms part of the Kargil
_tahsil_. Zanskar is a bleak inaccessible region where the people and
cattle remain indoors for six months of the year. Its breed of ponies is
famous. In Ladakh proper cultivation ranges from 9000 to 15,000 feet.
The sandy soil must be manured and irrigated, and is often refreshed by
top-dressings of fresh earth from the hill sides. The crops are wheat
and barley, rape, lucerne, peas and beans, in spring, and buckwheat,
millets, and turnips, in autumn. There is a great lack of wood for
building and for fuel, and the deficiency in the latter case has to be
supplied by cow-dung cakes. Notwithstanding their hard life the people
are cheerful and fairly well off, for polyandry has prevented
overcrowding.

[Illustration: Fig. 141. Ladakh Hills.]

(_b_) _Baltistan._ In Baltistan, which lies to the N.W. of Ladakh, they
are Muhammadans and there is much more pressure on the soil. They are a
cheery race and very fond of polo. To support their families the men
have to work as carriers on the roads to Leh and Gilgit. They tend the
cattle in the pastures, keep the irrigation channels and the walls of
the terraced fields in repair, and do the ploughing. The rest of the
work of cultivation is left to the women. The climate is very severe and
most of the rivers are frozen in winter. On the other hand near the
Indus on the Skardo plain (7250 feet) and in the Rondu gorge further
west, the heat is intense in July and August. The dreary treeless stony
Deosai Plains on the road to Kashmir have an elevation of 13,000 feet.
The cultivation and crops are much the same as in Ladakh. Excellent
fruit is grown, and there is a considerable export of apricots. Gold
washing is carried on with profit.

Ladakh and Baltistan together form the Ladakh _wazarat_, divided into
the three _tahsils_ of Ladakh, Kargil, and Skardo.

(_c_) _Astor and Gilgit._--Where the Gilgit road from Kashmir d