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0106 The Pulse of Asia : vol.1
アジアの鼓動 : vol.1
The Pulse of Asia : vol.1 / 106 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000233
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numerous than boys, as I was told by Dr. Shawe, an Eng-
lish physician, who has lived for years in Leh as a mis-
sionary. He knew of no cause, such as female infanticide,
which could account for the anomaly.

Geographically, the institution of polyandry is most in-
teresting as a unique response to straitened physical con-
ditions. In Ladakh the means of supporting life are scanty,
and there is no opportunity to increase the amount of cul-
tivated land, or the number of flocks. In most such lands
the population increases until the pinch of want is felt,
whereupon emigration ensues. In Ladakh the growth of
population has been limited by the two peculiar institu-
tions of polyandry and monasticism. Hence in a region
where we should expect frequent movement of part of the
inhabitants, there is the opposite condition of great fix-
ity. Objectionable as both polyandry and monasticism
are to modern western ideas, some method of limiting
population seems to be a necessity in a land where oppor-
tunities are so restricted, and migration to unoccupied
lands is so difficult. In Baltistan, just west of Ladakh,
where physical conditions are similar, these institutions
were overthrown some centuries ago by the introduction
of Mohammedanism. Hence the people are constantly
becoming too numerous, and the poorer ones are com-
pelled to migrate to the most unproductive, and therefore
heretofore unoccupied, corners of the regions round about
them.

The dress and houses of the Ladakhis, their manner of
life, and their more obvious habits have been often de-
scribed. The connection of all these things with physical