ABSTRACT
In the Nubra valley, where the Bhot flourishes, sings, and laughs through life and maintains thirty per cent of the population doing nothing but pray, a Russian mujik would die of hunger. The valley of the Nubra itself is not fertile. Its bottom is covered with gravel, sand, or shingle, the flanks are vertical walls of granite. In winter, when there is little water in it, it freezes, so one can ride along it, thus avoiding the pass over Sasser-la, Karaul Davan, and the valley of the Nubra. If some poet wanted to sing of a land of such ideal virtues, or an artist to illustrate a story of a good fairy and her poor but hard-working people, he could not do better than pay a visit to the valley of the Nubra, where he would find his model in real life.
