GENERAL CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE KARA-KOSCHUN. 2 I I
all these lakes of the Tokus-tarim will soon be filled with sediment, and the river • will then flow on without interruption. Hence it is probable that in the future the Tokus-tarim will become a left-hand tributary of the Big Tarim, the two streams uniting very close to the point where the last-named empties into the northern lakes. But before that event comes to pass, it may also happen that the Tarim will shift over into the bed of the Tokus-tarim; in that case the Tschertschen-darja would be the only tributary joining the main stream from the right.
In the course of our day's march on 2nd April, we observed that various changes had taken place in the distribution of land and water; but we were quite unprepared to find that the sections of the lake which lay in that quarter had shrunk and retired from the route we followed the year before. Probably the cause of this is the general lowering of the Kara-koschun by the new lakes, which set up a process of »suction» from west to east. This would explain how an advance of the shore-line southwards in the western part of the Kara-koschun can synchronise with an advance of the shore-line northwards in its eastern part. But probably other causes cooperate to produce this apparent anomaly. Of the flowing Tarim water a large portion travels along the northern shore of the lake, but a still greater portion keeps close to its southern shore; and between these two currents there does not appear at the present time to be any moving water. Accordingly the active currents that do exist transport the greater part of the fluviatile sediment to the shores of the westernmost division of the lake. The drift-sand also contributes to fill up the lake under its northern shore, although to a smaller degree owing to the south-west to north-east trend of the shore-line. A distinct change was also noticeable in the grouping of the dune-sand ; for the dunes were then considerably smaller than they were the year before. Most of them indeed were rudimentary, and leaned upon tamarisk-mounds, frequently of unusual height, which, now that the sand was being blown farther west, were coming out into stronger relief and standing more and more free. The reason of the sand having decreased in quantity was that this part of the desert was now surrounded on all sides by water. But the sand on the big island no longer receives any increment from the north-east and east-north-east; but notwithstanding that it still continues its onward movement, so that by far the greater part of it settles in the lower Tarim, where it still further contributes to elevate the bed of the river.
The different parts of the Kara-koschun which we passed on our way from Camp No. CLXXV bear the following names—Kirtschinlik-köl, Sägislik-köl, Äschäk-kormatsch-köl, Jegrenlik-kir, Ajsu Niasne-köli, Kakmak-tschantschdi, Alim Chodschane-köli, and Ajs Ullugh-tschapghan. Leaving some distance to the south Kum-tschapghan and its tamarisk-mound, visible a long way off, we directed our march to the eastern shore of the lake of Ak-köl, which lies north of the very lowest stretch of the Tarim, and was formed six years ago, but in 1901 had swollen to such an extent that it was expected it would reach as far north as the district of Jangi-jer. This lake, Ak-köl, which is in great part overgrown with reeds, we crossed by canoe. Then followed the lakes of Kongurtschaktik-köl and Jangi-köl, while the vast open expanses of the Turkomaktik-köl stretched away to the right. Finally we passed from the Örtäng-köl through a breach in the narrow dividing
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