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0354 Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.1
Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.1 / Page 354 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000216
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252   THE LAKES BESIDE THE LOWER TARIM.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE TOGHRAKLIK-KÖL AND THE KARAUNELIK-KOL.
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF LAKES AND DUNES.

Immediately south-east of Emin Achune-uktusu lies, on the right bank of the Tarim, the lake of Toghraklik-köl, or the Poplar Lake, with its canal. It is a small and insignificant sheet of water, divided into two basins. Of these the south-eastern one alone is surrounded by dunes; the northern basin has dunes on its southern shore only, its north-western shore being a reedy marsh. The form and situation of the lake suggest that it is shallow and, relatively speaking, must soon disappear. South-east of this lake there is an unusually broad and massive accumulation of sand, stretching right away to the western shore of the Karaunelik-köl, or Black Goose Lake.

On 2oth May 1900 I made a little excursion to the last-named, and thereby in some respects enlarged my experience of this strange land, where water, sand, and wind are engaged in a desperate and mutually hostile warfare. Our ferry-boat was at that time anchored to the left bank of the Tarim, directly opposite to the entrance of the canal, 600 meters long, that feeds the lake. The Karaunelik-köl is elongated, and stretches from north-north-east to south-south-west, its greatest length being 5.2 km. Of this distance 2 km. measure the length of the northern basin, the width of which is 0.95 km., while the southern basin is 3.2 km. long and 2.o km. broad. The sound (bolto) which connects these two basins in the middle is 30o m. across. Although this lake is thus totally unlike the Gölme-käti in respect of shape, there are nevertheless several points or features in which they resemble one another. Gölme-käti does indeed show a tendency to become likewise divided into two by a couple of sandy headlands which jut out to meet one another; still the sound which parts them is much broader than that in the Karaunelik-köl. The contours here are of course determined by the shape and disposition of the adjacent dunes, and as the different dune elevations are built up and impelled forward by the same wind, it is not surprising to find that a certain degree of parallelism prevails amongst the lakes also, and extends to the contours of their shores. In the case of both these lakes the median contraction is caused by a projecting segment of the dunes. The sand which forms the slope of the eastern shore of the sound appears to have