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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.1 |
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| Tschong-tarim at Arghan, June 4th. |
Citation Information
194. THE TARIM RIVER.
The three streams which mingle their more or less muddy currents at Ajagharghan are thenceforward known as Baba-tarim, or the Father River — a name bestowed upon it by the inhabitants of Korla — or Tschong-tarim, or the Big River — the name given by the natives on its banks. If now we add together the volumes of these three streams, we get a total of 55.24 cub.m., or about two and a half times as large a mass of water as we found in the arm which is on the point of dying away and drying up. Beyond Ajagh-arghan, the hydrographic relations become much simpler, in that we have only one powerful stream to study and take note of, instead of the intricate network of anastomosing arms which we have recently groped a passage through all the way from Kepek-uj. In considering this complicated reticulation of waterways, I have thought it expedient, on the ground of clearness, to follow the main river right through without interruption or deviation, leaving till later the descriptions of the several arms which are shed off from it and for the most part rejoin it again at Ajagh-arghan. These were indeed examined and studied separately, each on a special excursion. Yet, as we shall soon see, they do not all re-enter the main river at Ajagh-arghan; two or three of them issue from the chain of lakes which I discovered farther to the east in 1896, and join the principal stream lower down.
Fig. 16o. Right. 0.63 0.9: 1.02 1.13 I.:8 3.00 4.05 5.00 4.35 = depth. Left.
55 78 78 75 77 79 81 75 85
41 65 7o 81 87 84 75 99 94
69 82 82 70 85 87 115 velocity.
85 74 71 89
54 75 109 79
66 104 79
Breadth = 45.35 m. Tschong-tarim at Arghan, June 4th. Scale I : 400.
With the view of obtaining a check upon the accuracy of the three measurements which I have last cited, I decided to measure also the volume of the main stream after the fusion of its three constituent branches. But in this I failed altogether through having chosen an inappropriate place for the experiment. Under the left bank the depth was as much as 5 m., and the current so strong that it was impossible to keep the pole of the velocity instrument steady, as also to perceive in which direction its vane was pointing. The result shows unambiguously, that there was a counter-current, or else an eddy with suction; and this inference is rendered all the more certain by the fact that the velocity at the bottom amounted to I m. in the second, while at the surface it was not more than 0.79 m. in the second. Still, I adduce the measurements taken: they were — breadth, 45.35 m.; mean depth, 2.127 m.; mean velocity, 0.7576 m. (this is the datum, the mean of 36 measurements at different points, which is faulty, for at several of these points the
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