would form dams; and, paradoxical as it may seem, lakes would be formed in drier epochs and drained in moister epochs.
From a study of the moraines and terraces of the mountains and valleys around Kashmir, it appears that during the so-called " Glacial " period this part of Asia underwent the same series of climatic changes as did Europe and America. There were at least five complete oscillations from the colder, moister climate of glacial epochs to the warmer, drier climate of inter-glacial epochs like the present. This does not mean, however, that the whole country was shrouded in ice. The glaciers in the mountains expanded somewhat, but the chief characteristic of the colder epochs was the great abundance of moisture manifested especially in the large size and constancy of the rivers. Hence the term " fluvial " is more fitting than " glacial," and I shall use it in referring to the period of great rivers and lakes which forms the Asiatic equivalent of the period of enormous glaciers in Europe. As I have elsewhere considered the fluvial period of Asia in detail, it will suffice here to show how the physiography of Kashmir confirms the legendary account of the country, and how the two are in complete harmony with the evidences of changes of climate which are found in other parts of Asia.' As has been already said, many facts in western and central Asia suggest that during the past two or three
1 For a full discussion of the fluvial period in Asia, and especially of the various theories advanced in explanation of terraces, see Explorations in Turkestan, Publication No. 26 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1905, pp. 201-208 and 253-272. For the application of the conclusions there reached to Kashmir, see the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, vol. xxxviii, 1906, pp. 670-676.
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