This is an essay taken from the book: Replenishing the Earth by Tom Woodhouse. Ladakh is in the northernmost part of India, lying north of the Himalayas, in the ranges bordering the Tibetan plateau. Despite its size (about forty thousand square miles), the population of Ladakh is only about one hundred and twenty thousand. Situated in the rainhsadow of Great Himalaya, it is a desert. Coupled with the high altitude, the result is an extremely harsh environment. From the beginning, therefore, the people have had to recognise that Nature has limits. In order to survive, they have developed traditions which enable them to live in harmony and balance with their natural environment - traditions which have maintained a stable population and prevented division of the land.