surrounded; or, rather, is itself a vast sandy desert, interspersed with mountains and fruitful plains, well inhabited, and watered with rivers. Nature seems to have divided this region into three large parts, by the names of the countries of Karesm, Great Bucharia, and Little Bucharia.' Towards the north-west, enclosed between barren rocks and arid steppes, the basin of the Aral Sea-the Blue Sea of the Russians-occupies a space 360 miles in length from north to south, by 240 miles in extreme breadth from east to west : equivalent to an area of 86,400 square miles. On the east and north this expanse of brackish water is surrounded by clay plains ridged by hillocks of loose drifting sand, while on the west it is divided from the Caspian by the Ust Urt, a rocky, unculturable waste, 240 miles in length by 160 miles in breadth, and rising almost precipitously from the sea, but sloping gradually to the westward. It is, in fact, a continuation of the great steppe possessed by the Kirghiz Kuzzaks, and more particularly belongs to the Lesser Horde. At its south-eastern extremity it terminates abruptly in a bold escarpment some 500 feet in height, at the foot of which a level plain spreads out to an enormous distance. From this point the high land turns sharply to the west-north-west, and the angle thus formed is called by the Kirghiz, The Chink. The southern portion of the sea is extremely shallow, and swarms with small islands, whose inhabitants live chiefly upon fish, and are described as skilful boatmen venturing upon the use of sails, while the Kirghiz are content to ply the oar. The Aibugir Lake, or Gulf, at the south-western extremity of the Aral, was overgrown with canes when visited by M. Kühlewein in 1858, although it received the Laudan, an important branch of the Amou. This gulf is stated to be eighty miles long by twenty miles broad, and appears to have been dried up at the time of the late Russian expedition, through the diversion of the Laudan by the Khivese for purposes of irrigation. It is only near the mouth of the Amou that the water of the Aral is drinkable, being elsewhere exceedingly brackish. Carp and a small sturgeon are caught in considerable quantities. To the Arab geographers the Aral was only known as the Sea of Khwarezm, by which name and that of the Sea of Urghunj it is still called by the people of the Khanat. According to Generals Mouravief and Romanof, Aral Denghiz, the Kirghiz appellation, signifies the Sea of Islands, while others maintain that its proper signification is the Sea of Eagles. It was first surveyed by Admiral Alexis Boutakof, by whom also the first steamship that ever churned these waters was launched and navigated. Moved more by an abstract love of science than by patriotic considerations, the Royal Geographical Society, in 1867, presented their Founder's Medal to that gallant officer, whose extension of geographical knowledge has been since otherwise appreciated and utilized by his own government. Although on a level with the Euxine, the Aral, as already remarked, is more than one hundred feet above the surface of the Caspian, and the Toorkomans maintain that at Kara Goombuz the waters from the one sea may be heard flowing to the other, under-ground. If it be true that such sounds are at times audible, they are probably caused by subterranean drainage from the Amou, some portion of whose waters may follow underground their old course towards the Caspian. The Toorkomans who dwell on the shores of the Kara Bhugaz Bay account for the remarkable current into that gulf, by the theory that the overflow of the Caspian thence escapes by a covert channel communicating with the Aral, the comparative elevation of the two seas being a point quite beyond their comprehension. As a scientific fact it may be stated that there is no outlet for the redundant waters of either, and that the adjacent lands are saved from flooding by evaporation alone. Were it not for this powerful agent of nature, the depth of the Aral, if General Abbott's estimate may be credited, would be annually increased twenty-six inches by the influx of the Amou and the Syr, and to at least an equal extent through the snow and rain that fall on its surface or drain into it from the steppes. Although of considerable depth in the centre, the Aral is not above two or three feet deep near the southern and eastern shores, so that its waters become speedily heated under the fierce rays of the sun of Khiva. There is, besides, good reason to believe that the volume of the Amou has sensibly diminished within quite recent times, through the desiccation of many of its affluents. These again have gradually dried up through the decrease of the glaciers in the high mountains, observed by M. Semenof, and through the neglect of their channels due to the diminution of the agricultural population by incessant strife and bloodshed. It is in this manner that eminent geographer accounts for the drying up of the branch of the Amou which formerly turned off to the south-west and fell into the Caspian, for he holds to the opinion that even at that time the main channel of the river proceeded in a northerly direction to the Aral.* *The late Colonel Romanof who was on the personal staff of the Grand-Duke Nicholas Constantinovitch during the recent campaign, made some very pertinent remarks on this subject in one of his interesting letters headed 'On the way to Khiva!' 'The station of Katty Kul,' he says, 'was founded near a sweet-water lake, which is now completely dried up, and the supply of water is obtained from a well eight versts from the station. The transformation of sweet water into salt, and the desiccation of the latter, are very remarkable and constantly recurring phenomena in all the steppes of Central Asia. Within the memory of many the water in the rivers Irghiz, Turgai, Sarysu, and others was fresh, but now it has a bitter salt taste. The site for the recently-constructed fort of Lower Emba was chosen on Lake Masshe, chiefly because its water was fresh. When the fortress was built the lake became salt, so that now the garrison have to procure their supply of water from wells in which the water is brackish. The gradual, but very perceptible, diminution of the lakes and other waterbasins of Central Asia, arising from the excessive dryness of the climate, is the Laudan by the Khivese for purposes of irrigation. It is only near the mouth of the Amou that the water of the Aral is drinkable, being elsewhere exceedingly brackish. Carp and a small sturgeon are caught in considerable quantities. To the Arab geographers the Aral was only known as the Sea of Khwarezm, by which name and that of the Sea of Urghunj it is still called by the people of the Khanat. According to Generals Mouravief and Romanof, Aral Denghiz, the Kirghiz appellation, signifies the Sea of Islands, while others maintain that its proper signification is the Sea of Eagles. It was first surveyed by Admiral Alexis Boutakof, by whom also the first steamship that ever churned these waters was launched and navigated. Moved more by an abstract love of science than by patriotic considerations, the Royal Geographical Society, in 1867, presented their Founder's Medal to that gallant officer, whose extension of geographical knowledge has been since otherwise appreciated and utilized by his own government. Although on a level with the Euxine, the Aral, as already remarked, is more than one hundred feet above the surface of the Caspian, and the Toorkomans maintain that at Kara Goombuz the waters from the one sea may be heard flowing to the other, under-ground. If it be true that such sounds are at times audible, they are probably caused by subterranean drainage from the Amou, some portion of whose waters may follow underground their old course towards the Caspian. The Toorkomans who dwell on the shores of the Kara Bhugaz Bay account for the remarkable current into that gulf, by the theory that the overflow of the Caspian thence escapes by a covert channel communicating with the Aral, the comparative elevation of the two seas being a point quite beyond their comprehension. As a scientific fact it may be stated that there is no outlet for the redundant waters of either, and that the adjacent lands are saved from flooding by evaporation alone. Were it not for Although of above two or this powerful agent of nature, the depth of the Aral, if General Abbott's estimate may be credited, would be annually increased twenty-six inches by the influx of the Amou and the Syr, and to at least an equal extent through the snow and rain that fall on its surface or drain into it from the steppes. considerable depth in the centre, the Aral is not three feet deep near the southern and eastern shores, so that its waters become speedily heated under the fierce rays of the sun of Khiva. There is, besides, good reason to believe that the volume of the Amou has sensibly diminished within quite recent times, through the desiccation of many of its affluents. These again have gradually dried up through the decrease of the glaciers in the high mountains, observed by M. Semenof, and through the neglect of their channels due to the diminution of the agricultural population by incessant strife and bloodshed. It is in this manner that eminent geographer accounts for the drying up of the branch of the Amou which formerly turned off to the south-west and fell into the Caspian, for he holds to the opinion that even at that time the main channel of the river proceeded in a northerly direction to the Aral.* *The late Colonel Romanof who was on the personal staff of the Grand-Duke Nicholas Constantinovitch during the recent campaign, made some very pertinent remarks on this subject in one of his interesting letters headed ‘On the way to Khiva!' 'The station of Katty Kul,' he says, ' was founded near a sweet-water lake, which is now completely dried up, and the supply of water is obtained from a well eight versts from the station. The transformation of sweet water into salt, and the desiccation of the latter, are very remarkable and constantly recurring phenomena in all the steppes of Central Asia. Within the memory of many the water in the rivers Irghiz, Turgai, Sarysu, and others was fresh, but now it has a bitter salt taste. The site for the recently-constructed fort of Lower Emba was chosen on Lake Masshe, chiefly because its water was fresh. When the fortress was built the lake became salt, so that now the garrison have to procure their supply of water from wells in which the water is brackish. The gradual, but very perceptible, diminution of the lakes and other waterbasins of Central Asia, arising from the excessive dryness of the climate, is |