Leh

Leh, the capital of Ladakh, India, situated 4 m. from the right bank of the upper Indus 11,500 ft. above the sea, 243 m. from Srinagar and 482 m. from Yarkand. It is the great emporium of the trade which passes between India, Chinese Turkestan and Tibet. Here meet the routes leading from the central Asian khanates, Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan and Lhasa. The two chief roads from Leh to India pass via Srinagar and through the Kulu valley respectively. Under a commercial treaty with the maharaja of Kashmir, a British officer is deputed to Leh to regulate and control the traders and the traffic, conjointly with the governor appointed by the Kashmir state. Lying upon the western border of Tibet, Leh has formed the starting-point of many an adventurous journey into that country, the best-known route being that called the Janglam, the great trade route to Lhasa and China, passing by the Manasarowar lakes and the Mariam La pass into the valley of the Tsanpo. Pop. (1901) 2079. A Moravian mission has long been established here, with an efficient little hospital. There is also a meteorological observatory, the most elevated in Asia, where the average mean temperature ranges from 19.3° in January to 64.4° in July. The annual rainfall is only 3 in.