Yaks and cataracts: Medical mission at the top of the world

In 1913 Ada Moore rode her pony along the ancient trade route from Srinagar to Leh, in Ladakh, to join the Moravian Mission there. This was the end of a journey which began in a laundry in Scarborough ten years before and the beginning of an extraordinary thirteen years living and working amongst the Tibetan people of this remote part of India.
Ada’s daughter, Monica, was born near the Tibetan border. Her book describes living high in the Himalayas in the first half of the 20th century. It gives a rare insight into the domestic and professional life of the missionaries who, from running a school to giving medical help in the most primitive conditions, were involved with the lives of the local people, and who worked to build a connection between different cultures. It tells what they learnt of local customs and beliefs and recounts their hair-raising adventures while travelling by yak and pony amongst some of the most beautiful and dramatic scenery in the world.