THE INFLUENCE OF THE HIMALAYAS 49
There are other equally marked differences between the two sides of the mountains. The Kashmiri's food consists chiefly of rice, with some bread and many vegetables ; while the Ladakhi eats bread or parched flour of wheat or barley, with much butter, sour milk, and dried apricots. The Kashmiris wear clothes of woven cotton, or rarely of wool; but the Ladakhis, in a colder climate with greater extremes, need something warmer, which they find in the skins of their many flocks. Men, women, and children wear sheepskins, which take the form of coats with the men, and of circular capes, carefully arranged, with the women. Again, in Kashmir, the abundant precipitation and consequent forests have led the people to build their houses largely of wood, with sloping roofs to shed the rain ; beyond the mountains, on the other hand, the rarity of rain and consequently of timber has induced another type of architecture —one or two story houses of rough stones plastered with mud, and covered with flat roofs of mud, supported on beams and bushes.
At Matayan, the second village east of Zoji La, a friendly villager invited me to dive down from the crust which covered eight or ten feet of snow into a one-story house like that shown opposite page 48. We were still at an elevation of 10,500 feet, and had not wholly passed beyond the influence of the abundant precipitation of the Kashmir side of the mountains. Although it was the 11th of April, the snow, even on a level, was higher than the tops of the houses. Where it had been shoveled off the flat roofs, it formed high banks protecting them from wind, and making them the favorite sitting-room at that season, and even in winter;
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