ABSTRACT
The Lower Nubra valley is wilder and narrower than the Upper, its apricot orchards more luxuriant, its wolf-haunted hippophae and tamarisk thickets more dense. Its villages are always close to ravines, the mouths of which are filled with chod-tens, manis, prayer-wheels, and religious buildings. The close connection with Lhassa, especially in the case of the yellow lamas, gives Nubra Buddhism a singular interest. Buddhism is indeed the most salient feature of Nubra. There are processions of red and yellow lamas; every act in trade, agriculture, and social life needs the sanction of sacerdotalism. Family life presents some curious features. In the disposal in marriage of a girl, her eldest brother has more ‘say’ than the parents. 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.
