66 THE TARIM RIVER.
was emptied when Jussup Bek's dam was made, and has been empty ever since, except that occasionally a little water trickles into it from the Tschirik-atlandi-östäng, starts between the Kulluk-tagh and the Tömän-tagh, and, flowing east, unites with the other branches at Tschighan-tschöl. West of the great dam lie the two lakes of Tömän-tagh-köli, which are together no bigger than the Sorun-köl; they begin 6 km. north of Kuruk-asti, and stretch another 6 km. northwards. The water in them is limpid and supports kamisch and marsh-plants.
After shedding off these several branches, the Kodaj-darja flows, first west, then north, of the Tömän-tagh, and bending east enters the Kaschgar-darja at Bischköbrük, or the »Five Bridges». The name is derived from five actual arms into which the river is split at the confluence, and each arm carries a bridge on the road coming from Tschighan-tschöl. Of these five branches the one lying farthest south flows eastwards into the Tschighan-tschöl, its water being diverted thither by a dam, a continuation of Jussup Bek's, which obstructs its course just below the bridge that crosses it. Indeed, were it not for this diversion, the Tschighan-tschöl, Tumschuk, Tschadir-köl, Pitschak-sindi, Jaka-kuduk and Suget would all dry up. All these oases are absolutely dependent upon the water which they in this way receive; hence it is easy to understand the importance of the great dam which the people were about to construct at Kuruk-asti, its object being to force the water into the Kodajdarja, whence it would be distributed by the network of waterways I have described to all the oases in that region. The branch of the Kodaj-darja which traverses the Ukarlik-köl, already mentioned, joins the Kara-jilgha-darja not far from the Tschighantschöl. Just below the lake a small arik is led off from the stream to turn a mill. Sägislik, a place situated i '/2 km. north of Tschighan-tschöl, likewise derives its water from the same stream.
From Maral-baschi the Kaschgar-darja flows to Kum-tschakil and Kuruk-täräk, where the country on both sides of it is well cultivated; thence, passing between two inconsiderable heights, the Tschelijä-tagh on the south and the Tschadir-tagh on the north, it continues eastwards past Tschahr-bagh and Okur-tagh (with the tomb Dschajkum-masarim) to Küjük-köbrük, where it is crossed by the great Ak-su highway. East of the bridge a portion of the stream makes its way, by means of a miniature channel choked with kamisch, southwards into the lake of Süsük-köl, situated some I '/2 km. to the west of the Tömän-tagh. But it does not remain there; leaving the lake on the opposite side, it proceeds to discharge itself into the Kodaj-darja just above Bisch-köl, and so helps to augment the five arms spoken of above. Of these arms the first flows, as already stated, to Tschighan-tschöl, the second to Suget, the third to Pitschak-sindi, the fourth to Jaka-kuduk, and the fifth to Tumschuk. From Küjük-köbrük another arm goes east, and, leaving the Okur-tagh on the left
r These two villages, Tschighan-tschöl and Sägislik were visited by Pjevtsoff in 1889; but accurate and instructive though his account of his journey is, it throws no fresh light upon the hydrographical relations of this locality. All he says about it is, »This day [no date given] the expedition travelled along the south-east shores of the marsh [i. e. Lalmoj], along the margin of the virgin forest, passing on the way the small villages of Sigislik and Tschigan-tschon (sic), and halted for the night on the bank of an arik which issued from a small lake. Here the marsh of Lalmoj shrunk to a width of 5 versts and contained a great number of tiny lakelets, those to the extreme south-east reaching outside the reed-belts into the open. Life was imparted to the otherwise monotonous depression by the presence of a vast quantity of Natatores and waders» (Trudij, etc., p. 67).
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