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0238 The Pulse of Asia : vol.1
The Pulse of Asia : vol.1 / Page 238 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000233
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arisk branches, and narrow passages; at the top, one looked
out upon what seemed to be a thick growth of bushy vege-
tation perched upon hills and fading away in the near dis-
tance in a dense haze of dust. The scenery was most mono-
tonous and gloomy. No sun broke through the haze; no
landmarks appeared; there was nothing to guide us save
the compass. Even with that I found it most difficult to
make our countless minute zigzags balance one another,
and thus to preserve a straight course.
The tamarisk mound is highly significant as an indicator
of changes of climate. One finds it in every stage of devel-
opment, from one foot high with a vigorous growth of slen-
der flourish ng bushes, to sixty feet high with nothing but
huge, gnarled trunks, dead for hundreds of years. During
seven years in Asia, so far as I remember, I have never seen
young tamarisk bushes growing anywhere except upon the
flood-plains of streams, or in other places where the ground
was thoroughly saturated with water. On flood-plains from
which the water has been diverted by man for four or five
years, half or more of the tamarisks are usually dead or
dying. In later stages still more die, and only those with
very deep roots persist. Then the wind begins to dissect the
dry plain, carrying away the finer materials from the parts
where the plants have died, and heaping up the coarser
grains of sand in the protected spots where living bushes
check its force. Thus mounds are formed, and their height
is increased by æolian erosion at the base and by æolian de-
position at the top. The depth to which erosion can pro-
ceed is limited by the level of underground water, and the
amount of deposition is limited by the amount of sand avail-