THE WATERS TO THE NORTH OF THE KARA-KOSCHUN. I27
the masses of water have here spread themselves out towards the north. In consequence of this the timber which has recently died, and therefore will float, is set adrift and carried by the waves uniformly towards the south-west. Were the lake old, this drift-wood would have disappeared underneath the dust, the shore-ramparts, and the kamisch. Living tamarisks are pretty numerous on the tongue of land between the lakes; they existed of course before the new lake-basin was formed.
We pulled up at an island, separated from the shore by a narrow sound, and having a little pool in its middle. From that spot we were able to see how the lake divided in the east: for while the main body of the water lay towards the S. 85° E., a large bay stretched north-north-east. I should have investigated the extent and range of distribution of these sheets of water, had it not been that we were short of provisions, as well as reduced generally to a low ebb, and the fact that the season was advanced. In the following year however I made in precisely • this same locality the wholly unexpected discovery, that the lake in penetrating up this north-north-east trench at such a rapid rate was in reality travelling bodily towards the north and north-east.
It had taken us 4o minutes to reach the island; from the island it took us 2 z/4 hours more to drift back to camp, and yet the distance was barely 3 km.! But the lake ran high, and out in the middle its water was not quite clear, nor quite fresh either. It was evident, the wind had driven thither from the east water which had been lying stagnant, and so become salt; for, as I subsequently ascertained, the water of the Kara-koschun grows increasingly salter in proportion to its distance from the mouth of the Tarim. Large masses of water are driven south-west by the long-continued wind; of this we had indeed a direct proof in the fact that during the course of the day the water rose i I/2 dm. at our camp; and on the evening of the 4th April its level had risen 33 cm. in the last 48 hours. Indeed the water at camp was so salt that we regretted the empty condition of the goat-skins in which we had brought water with us from Altmisch-bulak, but which had come to an end a couple of days previously.
The lake swarmed with wild-duck ; but wild-swans, gulls, and wild-geese were in fewer numbers. South-west of the island the lake was at first shallow; then the depth gradually increased to 2 m. ; and after that we obtained soundings of 2.55, 2.o, I .8o, 2.2o, 2.35i 3.22, 3.oi, 3.6z, 3.70, 3.2o, 2.x5i 3.35, 2.22, 2.62, 2.2o, 1.75, I.5o, I.30, I.o2, 0.90 m., and then the lake once more shallowed. Thus the maximum depth in this new basin was 3.70 m. ; consequently it cannot compare in this respect with the Kara-koschun. At the same time, there may be greater depths in other parts of the lake, though the want of a boat prevented us from pursuing our soundings farther.
The storm continued all the following day, and the waves broke upon the shore with such violence that our tent was quite wet with their spray. The reflections on the sky showed that the lake extended towards the east-north-east, its colour in that direction being a muddy steel-grey, though at both sides of that it was a dark fiery yellow, pointing to the presence of drift-sand and dust below it.
On the 5th April the atmosphere was heavily charged with dust, so that our view was to a considerable extent restricted. We followed the lake south-west as far as it extended. Except for the scanty reeds at the water's edge, the shore was
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