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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
306 THE LAKES BESIDE THE LOWER TARIM.
(18) The lakes are of no great age, because the river itself has not long flowed through that region.
(I 9) On both sides of each lake, east as well as west, there is generally a narrow strip of vegetation, the former owing its existence to the protection it enjoys against the wind, the latter to the wide berth afforded in consequence of the drift-sand having been blown away by the wind so that it does not smother the vegetation. This vegetation has been brought to these regions, which formerly were absolutely sterile, by the waters of the Tarim.
The lakes are full of fish, and fishing is carried on in several of them, though, since the natives have devoted themselves to agriculture, not to the same extent as formerly.
The highest dune I measured in this region had an altitude of 89.5 m. and the greatest depth sounded amounted to 14.o m. (at Markat). Thus the greatest vertical difference of elevation is 103.5 m., in fact this was the greatest vertical difference of elevation I measured throughout the Lop country. It is of course possible there may be an even greater depth locally in one or other of the lakes, and that one or other of the dunes may stand a little higher, but the difference will in no case exceed a couple of meters or so above the 103 m.
As regards the future of these lakes, it may be taken for granted that they are doomed to perish, either through the advance of the dunes or the instability of the river. Their existence is in any case precarious, and represents merely a passing phase in the history of the development of the lower Tarim.
If through any cause they should disappear, it would result in an increase in the extent and volume of the Kara-koschun, Their enlargement, being a consequence of the raising of the river-bed, has resulted in a diminution of the area of the Kara-koschun during the period in which it has been subject to observation.
Finally, a few words ought to be added with regard to the nomenclature of these lakes. Simple as their names are, they are frequently very expressive, and in two or three words throw valuable light upon the origin of the lake, or upon the properties which are characteristic of it.
Several of the names tell us indeed nothing at all; this applies especially to those which are compounded of a personal name and the word köl = »lake», as Aghesi-köl. A name like Tana-baghladi-köl, if it tells us nothing else, does tell us at any rate that the lake was cut off or isolated by a man of the name of Tana. Talei Kullu-tschapghan may mean either the Canal of Talei Kullu or the Lake Dug by Talei Kullu; it is at least certain that a man of this name was once busy here with his spade.
Tajiri-kakmasi, which means the Fishing Bay of Tajir, has been applied to an entire lake. Kotschkatschi-köl is either Kotschkatsch's Lake, Kotschkatsch being a man's name, or the Swallow Lake. Some of the names have to do more or less directly with fish and fishing, as Gölme-käti, the Lake of the Lost Fishing-Net; Talaschtiköl, or the Disputed Lake, the lake in which the rights of fishing were in dispute; Begelik-köl, or the Beks' Lake, chieftains alone being allowed to put down their nets there; Baschtage-köl, a name which, like Basch-köl, admits of two meanings, either the Upper, as compared with some other lake situated »lower» down, or the
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