“ Baltistan was originally an independent principality, until conquered in 1835 and finally incorporated with Kashmir. The inhabitants of Baltistan, estimated at about 60,000, are of Mongolian origin and profess Mohammedanism. They speak a Tibetan dialect, and are otherwise akin to the peoples of that stock. They are doubtless a somewhat mixed race physically, an Aryan (Hindu) element having been added to the original Mongolian, with some strain of Dravidian blood. The Baltis are an interesting mountain people. ”