KASHMIR DOMINION, as at present formed, comprises the provinces of Jamu, Kashmir, Kisht war, Zanskar, Ladakh, and Balti, an area of 68,000 square miles. The territory is ruled by a Raj put sovereign of the Dogar clan ; but the people of the vale of Kashmir are of Aryan descent. The hills westward from Kashmir are inhabited by Kukka and Bumba, but towards the river are Afghan tribes. In the hills south of Kashmir and west of the Jhelum to Attock and Kalabagh on the Indus, are Gukkar, Gujar, Khatir, Awan, Junjooh, and others. Eastward of Kashmir are the Bhot race, Balti, and Ladakh. The races and broken tribes of t region will be found noticed under ' Kashmir ;' i will suffice here to mention that the more proms ent are, Kashmiri, Dogra, Brahman, the Bamba, fire Khatri, the Ch'hib, iat, Gukkar, \ Gaddi of Jamu, Dard, Dom, Megh, Batal.
Skardo or Iskardo.—Little Tibet is so called by the people. It was conquered in 1840 for the raja Gulab Singh, by his general Zorawar Singh, with his Dogra troops. Skardo is called by the Lamas of Ladakh, Skarma-m Do, meaning the en closed place or the starry place. Skardo is also designated Balti, Balti - yul, Balor, Palolo, and Nang Kao. Iskardo is a Muhammadan corruption of the Tibetan name Skardo, or Kardo, as it is very commonly pronounced. The Muhammadans of Asia, as a rule, are unable to pronounce two consonants together, but prefix a vowel, as Mr. i-Smith, Mr. i-Stewart.
rGylfo, the title of the ruler of Iskardo or Little Tibet, is derived from two Balti words, rGyl, powerful, and Po, a man. The queen is styled rGyl-mo. Mr. Vigne points to this as the original of the title of Guelph, belonging to the royal family of Great Britain, and of the term Gylfe koniger, still used to designate the old kings of Denmark.
The mountains which surround the Iskardo plain rise at once with great abruptness, and are very steep and bare. The houses of Iskardo are very much scattered over a large extent of surface, so that there is no appearance of a town. The people occupying Little Tibet are the Byltm of Ptolemy. They have on the east the Khor country, which is inhabited by a people supposed to be the Chaur ancei-Scythm of Ptolemy.
The Balti of Iskardo also dwell in the valley of the Indus, above the junction with the Gilgit river. Skardo is a Bhot tract, but the people are
Shiah Muhammadans. Their features indicate a Tibetan origin, and their language is decidedly so. They are a quiet people, and the Kashmir ruler has enlisted many of them. The people are strong and hardy ; they grow corn and cut water-courses like the people of Rongdo, irrigating the land and using manure. They are fond of out-of-door manly games.
Khor, a territory S.E. of Ladakh and eastward of the Byltu. Its people are supposed by A. Cunningham to be the Chaurancei- Scytine of Ptolemy.
Nubra, Pangong, and 1?odok districts, in the basin of the Shayok river and its affluents, lie on the S. flank of the Kouen Lun, from Balti to Nari, and have Ladakh as their southern boundary. With the exception of Nari, this is the most lofty and most sterile part of Tibet, the axis of the Konen Lun being probably upwards of 18,500 feet, the valleys 16,000 to 17,000 feet, and numerous peaks rise 20,000 to 23,000 feet. The Karakorum pass is 18,300; the salt Pangong lakes, 13,400 feet. The Changpa are a semi-nomade tribe near the Pangong Tso pass. They dwell, in their grazing grounds, under huts (galkol) made of the yak's hair. The people there call themselves Bhot.
Change are a tribe of Hungrung Tartars occupy ino. 378 square miles.
dwell on the northern plains, to the north of Ladakh, supposed to be the Chatie Scythie of Ptolemy.
The Dras district extends from Zojila to Chan nagund. Dras adjoins Kashmir, the intercommuni cation being by the Zoji pass, a remarkable depres sion of 11,300 feet, through which flow the moist winds of Kashmir, and Dras is the most humid and fertile province of Tibet. Dras, its capital, is 10,150 feet above the sea, and-consists of half a dozen hamlets dispersed over the inequalities of a spacious basin in the close-set hills.
Pa rang and Zanskar, Piti and Guge, are Tibetan districts ; and Hungrung are two valleys. That of the Piti river is entered from Kammer by the Ilungrung pass, elevated 14,800 feet ; the Parang pass is 18,500, and leads over the range dividing the Parang from the Piti rivers. All east of Piti is Tibetan.
Zunskar occupies the north slope of the main Himalayan chain, parallel with hishtwar on the south. Pathan, the capital, is 12,000 feet above the sea.