The Men Of The
Villages Always Sat By Our Camp-Fires At Night, Friendly And Jolly,
But Never Obtrusive, Telling
Stories, discussing local news and the
oppressions exercised by the Kashmiri officials, the designs of
Russia, the advance of the
Central Asian Railway, and what they
consider as the weakness of the Indian Government in not annexing the
provinces of the northern frontier. Many of their ideas and feelings
are akin to ours, and a mutual understanding is not only possible,
but inevitable. {1}
Industry in Nubra is the condition of existence, and both sexes work
hard enough to give a great zest to the holidays on religious
festival days. Whether in the house or journeying the men are never
seen without the distaff. They weave also, and make the clothes of
the women and children! The people are all cultivators, and make
money also by undertaking the transit of the goods of the Yarkand
traders over the lofty passes. The men plough with the zho, or
hybrid yak, and the women break the clods and share in all other
agricultural operations. The soil, destitute of manure, which is
dried and hoarded for fuel, rarely produces more than tenfold. The
'three acres and a cow' is with them four acres of alluvial soil to a
family on an average, with 'runs' for yaks and sheep on the
mountains. The farms, planted with apricot and other fruit trees, a
prolific loose-grained barley, wheat, peas, and lucerne, are oases in
the surrounding deserts.
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