A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



Only men of substance, too, visit the country for trading 

 purposes. There is practically, therefore, no serious crime 

 in the country. The Ladakhis are peace-loving and law- 

 abiding, and no proletariat exists in the town. The 

 Battery and Infantry Regiment of Kashmir troops which 

 are quartered in the fort below the town of Leh, would be 

 more than sufficient to overawe any mob that could collect 

 in the wide bazaar, which is the principal market-place. 



The system of road administration is curiously patriarchal. 

 The trade route is maintained entirely at the expense of 

 the Kashmir State, which under the treaty I have alluded 

 to before, pays some few thousand rupees yearly to the 

 Joint Commissioners for the upkeep of the road. The 

 distance from the Zojila to the Karakoram is over three 

 hundred miles. The distance from Leh to the Ladakh- 

 Lahoul frontier is over a hundred. The total length of 

 mountain road under the charge of the Joint Com- 

 missioners is not less than four hundred and fifty miles. 

 The sum of a few hundred pounds would be manifestly 

 inadequate for the maintenance of such a road over some 

 of the highest passes in the world were it not for the 

 assistance rendered to the Commissioners by the people of 

 the country. On a call by the British Joint Commissioner 

 the Ladakhis, who are practically dependent for their liveli- 

 hood on the traffic and carrying trade of the country, will 

 assemble immediately and work night and day to repair a 

 broken bridge or road provided the British Joint Com- 

 missioner is present. At the conclusion of the work they 

 willingly accept whatever remuneration the Commissioners 

 may be able to vote to them out of the limited means 

 placed at their disposal, and there is an end of the matter. 



The problem of the further development of this trade 

 centre is an interesting one. Russian competition may or 

 may not drive British commerce out of Chinese Turkistan, 

 as it has done in Asia Minor, in the north of Persia, in 

 Central Asia, and threatens to do in the northern provinces 



258 



