The air of the Indus valley is pure and clear, and the rays of the sun are very hot, and burn the face and hands in spite of the altitude, but indoors, where the sun does not penetrate, the temperature remains very low. The crests of the Himalayas to the south deprive Ladak of all the moisture from the monsoons, and the valley of the Indus in places recalls that of the Chu in Semirechie. The bungalow at Nurla stands over the cliff of a deep cleft, in which the greenish-blue waters of the Indus boil and rage. The difference between the charming valley of the Nubra and the sterile, harsh valley of the Indus is immense. There, the level floor of the valley, with the stream flowing quietly through, everything fenced off from the outside world by the vertical walls of the most lofty mountains, crowned with snow and ice.