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country lying on both sides of the river Indus, and there is very 

 Httle of a plateau about it. Tibet proper was for a long time 

 supposed to be a vast plateau but it is also a series of mountain 

 ridges with troughs between that have not as a rule been cut 

 down by streams. There are some plains that are probably the 

 beds of extinct lakes but none are very extensive. 



The ranges in Ladak are, as a whole, from 17,000 to 19,000 ft. 

 while peaks in all of them go higher. The rainfall is very slight, 

 averaging between three and four inches a year. When there 

 is any precipitation in the summer time, it comes as a slight 

 blanket of snow and only a few drops fall in the valleys. It is 

 so light that in some places the snow line is as high as 20,000 ft. 

 As a result of this aridity cultivation is absolutely impossible 

 without irrigation, and what little there is is found on the alluvial 

 fans built up by lateral tributaries to the Indus and its main 

 feeders. These fans are selected because it is possible to divert 

 the water from the stream bed above the fan and by great toil 

 and ingenuity lead it out on the tiny fields which are most care- 

 fully terraced. Sometimes the very soil is brought in baskets to 

 make the little fields. Frequently the ditches are a mile in length 

 and they are conspicuous landmarks because of the tiny band 

 of green which grows up at the sides of the ditch. Desert plants 

 will be found three feet from gentians. 



A poor New England farmer would expect to starve on the 

 amount of land a whole Ladaki village has for cultivation. 

 Wheat, barley, buckwheat and legumes are the principal crops, 

 and cultivation extends higher than in any other part of the 

 world. There are villages up to 14,000 ft. and cereals will ripen 

 at that altitude, although the growing season is very short. 

 Above this live Tartar nomads that depend on their yaks, 

 sheep and goats for their food. 



Water is all the soil needs, for the finest potato tops I ever 

 remember seeing were in the garden of a missionary doctor. 

 He raised nearly all our common vegetables from German seed, 

 although he lived 11,500 ft. above the sea. He had an experi- 

 mental plot where he was testing the value of rye for introduc- 

 tion among the native farmers. 



