198 LAD-LAD
are usually two-storied, with flat roofs and balconies to the south or west, the doors and shutters striped red and white.
The numerous monasteries are built (as the houses used to be, for defence) in lofty and picturesque situations, and would be strategically strong but for the absence of water. They are supported partly by their own lands, but chiefly by liberal gifts from the peasantry, with whose interests the lamas identify themselves. The latter are hospitable, and their superiors often refined, intelligent, and genial.
The religion is Buddhist, chiefly of the Dukpa or Red sect, but traces of an older faith linger, to which the masked dances of the monks may possibly be referred. Mohammedanism, previously on the increase, is discouraged by the Kashmir Government, its Hindu influence tending, as Hinduism has clone in Nepal, to introduce caste ideas.
Polyandry is general, except among the rich.
The home trade is worth little over £4000; the chief exports are wool, dried fruits, salt, and small quantities of gold, borax, and sulphur; the chief imports, provisions, hardware, and tea; but the transit trade is relatively very important, the chief routes from the Punjab, Afghanistan, and Kashmir into Eastern Turkestan and Chinese Tibet all passing through Lé.[1] It is carried by coolies, or on ponies, sheep, or yaks, over difficult passes often 18,000 feet high, and is further hampered by the exclusive policy of China and Russia. The mechanical and political obstacles have long engaged the attention of the Indian Government.
History. – The earliest notice of Ladák is by the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hian, 400 A.D., who, travelling in search of a purer faith, found Buddhism flourishing there, the only novelty to him being the prayer-cylinder, the efficacy of which he declares is incredible. Ladák formed part of the Tibetan empire until its disruption in the 10th century, and since then has continued ecclesiastically subject, and sometimes tributary, to Lhasa. Its inaccessibility saved it from any Mussulman invasion until 1531, when Sultan Said of Kashgar marched an army across the Karakorum, one division fighting its way into Kashmir and wintering there. Next year they invaded eastern Tibet, where nearly all perished from the effects of the climate.
Early in the 17th century Ladák was invaded by its Mohammedan neighbours of Balti, who plundered and destroyed the temples and monasteries; and again, in 1685-88, by the Sokpa or Calmucks, who were expelled only by the aid of the lieutenant of Aurangzeb in Kashmir, Ladák thereafter becoming tributary. The gyalpo or king then made a nominal profession of Islam, and allowed a mosque to be founded at Lé, and the Kashmiris have ever since addressed his successors by a Mohammedan title. When the Sikhs took Kashmir, Ladák, dreading their approach, offered allegiance to Great Britain. It was, however, conquered and annexed in 1834-41 by Ghulab Singh of Jamu – the unwarlike Ladákis, even with nature fighting on their side, and against indifferent generalship, being no match for the Dogra troops. These next turned their arms successfully against the Baltis (who in the 18th century were subject to the Mogul), and were then tempted to revive the claims of Ladák to the Chinese provinces of Rudók and Ngari. This, however, brought down an army from Lhasa, and after a three days' fight the Indian force was almost annihilated – chiefly indeed by frostbite and other sufferings, for the battle was fought in mid-winter, 15,000 feet above the sea. The Chinese then marched on Lé, but were soon driven out again, and peace was finally made on the basis of the old frontier. The widespread prestige of China is curiously illustrated by the fact that tribute, though disguised as a present, is paid to her, for Ladák, by the maharaja of Kashmir.
The adjoining territory of Balti – possibly the Byltæ of Ptolemy – forms the west extremity of the vast region known as Tibet, whose natural limits here are the Indus from its abrupt southward bend in 74 45 E. long., and the mountains to the north and west, separating a com paratively peaceful Tibetan population from the fiercer
Aryan tribes beyond. Mohammedan writers about the 16th century speak of Balti as "Little Tibet," and of Ladák as "Great Tibet," thus ignoring the really Great Tibet altogether. The Balti people call Gilghit "a Tibet," and Dr Leitner says that the Chilasi, a Dard people west of the Indus, call themselves Boté, or Tibetans;[2] but, although these districts may have been, like Kashmir, overrun by the Tibetans, or have received rulers of that race, the ethnological frontier coincides with the geographical one here given. Balti is a mass of lofty mountains, the prevailing formation being gneiss. In the north is the Baltoro glacier, the largest out of the arctic regions, 35 miles long, contained between two ridges whose highest peaks to the south are 25,000 and to the north 28,265 feet. The Indus, as in Lower Ladák, runs in a narrow gorge, widening for nearly 20 miles after receiving the Shayok. The capital, Skardo, a scattered collection of houses, stands here, perched on a rock 7740 feet above the sea. The house roofs are flat, occupied only in part by a second story, the remaining space being devoted to drying apricots, the chief staple of the main valley, which supports little cultivation. But the rapid slope westwards is seen generally in the vegetation. Birch, plane, spruce, and Pinus excelsa appear; the fruits are finer, including pomegranate, pear, peach, vine, and melon, and where irrigation is available, as in the North Shigar, and at the deltas of the tributary valleys, the crops are more luxuriant and varied.
Population. – The Ladákis, numbering about 21,000, are Tibetan, with a slight Caucasian admixture, and there are numerous Baltis and Dards (the latter superficially Buddhist) in the western districts. The Changpa, i.e., "mountaineers," in the east are also Tibetan. They are singularly hardy, good-humoured, not stupid though simple and clumsy, dirty (washing, it is said, once a year, but not regularly), fond of social gatherings. The national drink, chang, is a sort of beer made from barley. The Balti type contains a much larger Aryan element, the isolated Dard (or Shin) communities being probably relics of an early Aryan population, subsequently overlaid by a Tibetan. The cross is a good one, the Baltis being more intelligent, if less genial, than the Ladákis, and equally industrious. They are taller, less beardless, and their noses less flat. They eschew pigtails. Polo is played more generally, and with more spirit, than in Ladák. The two languages are mutually intelligible. Like many Tajik and other mountain tribes westwards, the Baltis are Shiah Mohammedans. The women are thus more secluded than in Ladák, where they are particularly independent. They have abandoned polyandry, and (possibly in consequence) their numbers – some 58,000 in Balti and western Ladák – are larger than the country can support. Many emigrate to Kashmir and to British territory, where they do well. In the west the Dards are numerous, and a Dard element is especially observable in the families of the chiefs, some of whom, as in Ladák, were semi-independent before the annexation.
The principal works consulted have been Mr F. Drew s excellent book on The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories; a valuable paper by General H. Strachey "On the Physical Geography of Western Tibet," in the Roy. Geog. Soc. Journ., vol. xxiii.; Cunningham's Ladak; The Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh, by Major J. Biddulph; the travels of Vigne, and of Moorcroft and Trebeck; papers by B. Lydekker, in Records of the Geological Survey of India, vols. xiii. and xiv., and by Dr F. Stolicza, in Report of Sir T. D. Forsyth's mission to Yarkand. (C. T.)
LA DIXMERIE, NICOLAS Bricaire de (1730-1791), French man of letters, was a native of Champagne, and was born about 173Q. While still young he removed to Paris, where the rest of his life was spent in considerable
- ↑ The trade registered at Lé, chiefly between India and Eastern Turkestan, averages £134,000, the principal exports from India being cotton goods, value £29,200; silk ditto, £6000; skins, £3600; and tea, £3500; and from Eastern Turkestan – raw silk, £14,100; silver, £29,700; gold, £7000; charas, £6400; horses, £3200.
- ↑ This, however, it has been said, is only taken from the name of a former ruling family.
