THE KUNTSCHEKISCH-TARIM AND ITS CONNECTIONS
WITH THE KONTSCHE-DARJA.
The 3oth April was spent in making a reconnaissance up the lowest course of the Bos-ilek, my object being to obtain some idea of its bed in that part, for in 1896 I had already travelled a little way along its banks. These are now masked by impenetrable kamisch and thickets, interspersed at intervals with groves of luxuriant toghraks, cumbered with a tangle of climbing plants and fallen and broken branches. Just inside (east of) this vegetation runs the track I followed in 1896. During this part of its course the Bos-ilek is joined by five small, narrow kok-alas from the Tschivilik-köl, none of them carrying much water. The river flowed sluggishly, but the water was bright and clear, transparent to a depth of 6.12 m. No doubt it would be transparent to a greater depth if only greater depths existed, and were it not that the bottom is dark owing to the shade of the vegetation on its banks. In this part the river is never fordable at any time of the year, except on certain shallow transverse ridges or thresholds above the district of Talaschti. Tigers, wild boar, antelopes, foxes, and hares abound in this locality.
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