Leh

“ Leh is certainly picturesque, but further than that I can say nothing at present in its favour: but imagine it to be a dirty, insignificant place, the fitting capital of a miserable country, and a low degraded population. We shall see.
By the way, I must not omit that, in the narrow ravine on this side Mimah, whose sandy depths caused us so much exertion to traverse, we overtook a party of villagers proceeding with asses laden with firewood to Leh. This being distant some fourteen miles was pretty strong testimony to the nakedness of the environs of Leh. ”

“ The few native Christians in Leh assembled in the gay garden plot of the lowly mission-house to shake hands and wish me a good journey, and not a few who were not Christians, some of them walking for the first hour beside our horses. The road from Leh descends to a rude wooden bridge over the Indus, a mighty stream even there, over blazing slopes of gravel dignified by colossal manis and chod-tens in long lines, built by the former kings of Ladak. On the other side of the river gravel slopes ascend towards red mountains 20,000 feet in height. ”

“ Leh is the last place of any importance on the way to Tibet. Here our equipment must be finally completed. Nothing could be omitted; if we forgot anything we could not obtain it afterwards. Here the silver stream of rupees flowed away without intermission, but I consoled myself with the thought that we should soon be in a country where, with the best will in the world, we could not spend a farthing. A large caravan sucks up money, as a vampire blood, as long as it remains in inhabited cultivated lands; but when all contact with human civilization is cut off, it must live on its own resources ”

“ With the exception of the comparatively small extent of irrigated fields, all around is bare and desolate. Looking from Leh across the Indus, is seen a tract of cultivation of considerable extent, running up into a valley, clusters of houses here and there giving it a cheerful, prosperous aspect. This, I am told, is the village of the rightful owner of Ladâk, where he resides in humble obscurity. ”

“ The merits and demerits of the Tilail district and Baltistan came up for review, and then we almost decided to go to Leh until we reflected that the return journey over a bare and open country—arid and hot as an Egyptian desert—in the month of August might not be unmixed joy, and the Smithsons were assured that they would find no sport whatever en route, but would have to go several marches beyond Leh to obtain the chance of an Ovis Ammon or Thibetan antelope. ”

“ Every one places unlimited confidence in his integrity and truthfulness, and his religious sincerity has been attested by many sacrifices. He is a Ladaki, and the family property was at Stok, a few miles from Leh. He was baptized in Lahul at twenty-three, his father having been a Christian. He learned Urdu, and was for ten years mission schoolmaster in Kylang, but returned to Leh a few years ago as postmaster. His 'ancestral dwelling' at Stok was destroyed by order of the wazir, and his property confiscated, after many unsuccessful efforts had been made to win him back to Buddhism. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Leh, the capital of Ladak, is a little town of 5,000 inhabitants, who live in white, two-story houses, upon two or three streets, principally. In its centre is the square of the bazaar, where the merchants of India, China, Turkestan, Kachmyr and Thibet, come to exchange their products for the Thibetan gold. Here the natives provide themselves with cloths for themselves and their monks, and various objects of real necessity.
An old uninhabited palace rises upon a hill which dominates the town. ”

“ Fatigue and a short night's rest disinclined the men for another early start, although the march from this place is perhaps the finest and most pleasant of any. The road follows a winding stream running merrily between grand massive cliffs and rocks, till at Khalsi it crosses the River Indus, where a small native guard is maintained, thence through Nurla on to Saspul. From here I had resolved to reach Leh in one day, so instructed my factotum, Shukr Ali, to urge on the ponies as fast as possible. ”

“ Two days were occupied in making preparations, but afterwards I spent a fortnight in my tent at Leh, a city by no means to be passed over without remark, for, though it and the region of which it is the capital are very remote from the thoughts of most readers, it is one of the centres of Central Asian commerce. There all traders from India, Kashmir, and Afghanistan must halt for animals and supplies on their way to Yarkand and Khotan, and there also merchants from the mysterious city of Lhassa do a great business in brick tea and in Lhassa wares, chiefly ecclesiastical. ”

“ The mourners for some time wear wretched clothes, and neither dress their hair nor wash their faces. Every year the lamas sell by auction the clothing and ornaments, which are their perquisites at funerals. {2}
The Moravian missionaries have opened a school in Leh, and the wazir, finding that the Leh people are the worst educated in the country, ordered that one child at least in each family should be sent to it. This awakened grave suspicions, and the people hunted for reasons for it. 'The boys are to be trained as porters, and made to carry burdens over the mountains,' said some. ”

“ Heyde went to the council and obtained his release. His house in Leh has been more than once burned by incendiaries. But he pursues a quiet, even course, brings up his family after the best Christian traditions, refuses Buddhist suitors for his daughters, unobtrusively but capably helps the Moravian missionaries, supports his family by steady industry, although of noble birth, and asks nothing of any one. His 'good morning' and 'good night,' as he daily passed my tent with clockwork regularity, were full of cheery friendliness ”

“ The attainment of merit, as his creed leads him to understand it, is his one aim in life. He loves the seclusion of Stok, and rarely visits the palace in Leh, except at the time of the winter games, when the whole population assembles in cheery, orderly crowds, to witness races, polo and archery matches, and a species of hockey. He interests himself in the prosperity of Stok, plants poplars, willows, and fruit trees, and keeps the castle manis and chod-tens in admirable repair. ”

“ His first route was to Leh, in the neighbourhood of which he arrived in September, 1820; and, after some hesitation and explanations, was admitted into the town. His design was to penetrate thence, through Chinese Thibet, by way of Yarkund, (which, he was given to understand, is the seat of a great fair, resorted to by merchants from all parts of Central Asia,) to Bokhara ”

“ Marc constantly felt surprised that such an admirable woman as Rachel, one of so rare a beauty, should have sprung in such a horrid den from needy parents, weighed down by a long heredity of anxious penury. Lehmann, her father, was, at five and fifty, a Jew of the classic type, short and insignificant, with a large nose, blinking eyes, and a thick grey beard which hid his mouth. ”

“ III. That Lehi, Ishmael, and Zoram, the progenitors of both Nephites and Lamanites, were undoubtedly Israelites, Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh while Ishmael was an Ephraimite, and that the colony came direct from Jerusalem, in Asia.
IV. That the existing Indian tribes are all direct descendants [293] of Lehi and his company, and that therefore they have sprung from men all of whom were of the house of Israel. ”

“ LEHI, THE SON OF HELAMAN. Were we to attempt to sketch the life of Lehi, we should simply have to repeat the most striking features of that of his elder brother, Nephi. In their labors, journeyings, ministrations, etc., they seem to have always been together. Like Samuel of old, in their childhood they "began to grow up unto the Lord," and in riper years they lived to His glory. In speaking of the exalted character of Nephi, the historian adds, "And behold, Lehi, his brother, was not a whit behind him as to things pertaining to righteousness. ”

“ When, on account of the persecution of the Jews, Lehi was commanded by the Lord to leave Jerusalem, Nephi gladly seconded all his efforts, and became a help and a stay to his father during the many troubles and perplexities of the toilsome journey through the Arabian wilderness. Early in that journey they rested for a time in a little valley bordering on the Red Sea to which Lehi gave the name of Laman. Twice while they tarried there the sons of Lehi were commanded to return to Jerusalem. ”

“ The future of Lehi's descendants was pictured as a dwindling in unbelief through iniquity; in consequence of which the Gentiles would grow to be a mighty people on the western continent, even though that land had been given as an ultimate inheritance to the house of Israel. ”

“ Lehi told his children, that if those whom the Lord should bring out of the land of Jerusalem should keep His commandments, they should not only prosper here, but they should be kept from all other nations and have the land to themselves; there should be none to molest them, nor to take the land away from them; but they should dwell safely for ever. It was the failure of the ancestors of the Indians, or Lamanites, to do this, that brought upon them and their children evils under which they at present suffer. ”

“ Their voyage carried them eastward across the Indian Ocean, then over the south Pacific Ocean to the western coast of South America, whereon they landed (590 B. C.) * * * The people established themselves on what to them was the land of promise; many children were born, and in the course of a few generations a numerous posterity held possession of the land. After the death of Lehi, a division occurred, some of the people accepting as their leader Nephi, who had been duly appointed to the prophetic office; while the rest proclaimed Laman, the eldest of Lehi's sons, as their chief. ”

“ We are told by Alma the prophet that "there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship." It was prepared by the Lord to show unto Lehi and his company the course which they should travel in the wilderness. ”

“ Beit Hillel says: A lehi or a beam. Rabbi Eliezer says: two lehis. In the name of Rabbi Yishmael, said one student before Rabbi Akiva: Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel did not argue on a mavoy that is lower than 4 amot, for it is kosher with a lehi or a korah. About what do they disagree? On the width (of a mavoy) that is greater than 4 amot until 10 amot; Beit Shammai says it needs a lehi and a beam, and Beit Hillel says either a lehi or a beam. ”

“ Lehne (2.) , feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German liene, with the remarkable variant liehe, feminine, ‘wild sow’; its further connection are difficult to determine; the similarity in sound with the equivalent French laie and Middle Latin lêfa (for lêha?) must not be overlooked. It is doubtful whether Lehne is of Teutonic origin. ”

“ He has no right to be listening,” but another said, “Do not beat him, he cooks our food.” When the four brothers were tired talking Lelha set supper before them, and having supped, they lay down to sleep.
Next morning Lelha cooked the breakfast as usual, and his brothers having partaken of it, mounted their horses, and rode off to the bazaar. After they had left Lelha put everything [78] out of sight, as usual. Then he desired the Indarpuri Kuri to give him a horse, and having mounted, he followed his brothers, and on coming near saluted them as before, but again they failed to recognize him. ”

“ Lelha went to the bazaar and purchased rice and dal, and his mother when she saw him bringing them home with him, [74] said, “What is wrong? You are completely out of breath.” Lelha replied, “My brothers have gone to search for hiras and manis, and I also am busy preparing to follow them.” She tried to dissuade him saying, “Although the mean fellows beat you, still you will not keep away from them.” Lelha quickly replied, “What help is there for it, mother? Let my brothers beat me or not, what is that to me? ”

“ Will you believe, Captain Nielsen, that she went out upon the bowsprit, and cut adrift or loosed the staysail there when your barque was on her beam-ends in the trough of the sea?'
He nodded with emphasis, and said, 'That is nothing. Helga has been to sea with me now for six years running. It is her delight to dress herself in boy's clothes—ay, and to go aloft and do the work of a seaman. It has hardened and spoilt her hands, but it has left her face fair to see. She is a good girl; she loves her poor father; she is motherless, Mr. Tregarthen. Were my dear wife alive, Helga would not be here. ”

“ To this question she answered, “A well-known proverb says, ‘There is nothing so bad that it is not better to have it on your side than against you;’ so, as I do not know who you are who ask me this question, I would rather that you were with me than against me.”
And hearing nothing further and seeing no one, Helga continued her way till she reached the cave. Here she found everything the same as her sisters had done. The cauldron was on the fire, and the dough was ready for baking, but, instead of thinking only of herself, Helga looked after the meat, and saw that it was nicely cooked ”