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0048 The Pulse of Asia : vol.1
アジアの鼓動 : vol.1
The Pulse of Asia : vol.1 / 48 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000233
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when the main features of one have been comprehended,
but little need be added as to the others. The last basin,
the so-called Aralo-Caspian depression, possesses many of
the characteristics of its more arid neighbors, but its great
size and the absence of mountains to the north give it a
diversity of climate unknown to the others. I shall not con-
sider it except in relation to the problem stated in the next
paragraph.

In the study of the five basins along the lines of the
definition of geography given by Professor Davis, I dis-
covered a number of facts which lead to a new application
of the geographic principle of cause and effect. In order
to understand the present condition, that is the geography,
of Central Asia, we must look upon it not as the result of
the long-continued action of *fixed* physical conditions, but
as the result of *changing* conditions. During the recorded
occupation of the country by man there appear to have
been widespread changes of climate. It has long been sur-
mised by historians that certain parts of Asia have been
growing more arid, but the surmise has lacked scientific
confirmation. Indeed, meteorological data seem to stand
directly opposed to it, for they show that there is no evi-
dence of any appreciable change since records have been
kept instrumentally. The oldest records, however, date back
little more than a hundred years, and hence cannot be con-
sidered as proving anything in regard to antiquity. The
data which I obtained in Central Asia, on the other hand,
confirm the surmise of the historians. There is strong rea-
son to believe that during the last two thousand years there
has been a widespread and pronounced tendency toward