Untitled

the village of Abdalli, close to its mouth in Lob-nor,
LOB-NOR. 63
it is little more than 2 feet
per second, and the discharge may here be estimated at about 2,700 cubic feet. At
Abdalli the Tarim emerges from the reedy swamps of Lake Kara-buran, or " Black
Storm," which belongs to the Lob-nor system. But here it is again divided into a
number of natural and artificial canals, beyond which it disappears in a forest of
reeds even more dense and taller than those of the Kara-burun, rising to a height
of over 20 feet above the surface, and partly concealing from view the Chok-kul
(Great Lake), or Kara-kurchin, which jointly with the Kara-buran forms the great
reservoir commonly known as the Lob-nor. The eastern section covers an area of
perhaps 800 square miles ; but it is little mostly more than a lagoon or flooded
morass, with a mean depth of scarcely more than 7 feet along its southern or more
elevated bank. Even in the centre a few fishing villages lie hidden amid the
Fig.
23. LAKE KAUASUAK.
Scale 1 : 1,230,000.
L of G. 8630 87" 30'
, 30
Miles.
dense reeds overgrowing a strip of land which here rises above the surface. These
villages are thus protected from the fierce gales from the east and north-east,
which sweep the lake and open plains, especially in spring, and which cause the
water to flood the flat shores of the Kara-buran for a space of 10 or 12 miles;
hence its expressive name, the " Black Storm."
Lake Lob is evidently a mere remnant of the ancient " Mediterranean " men-
tioned in legend and historic records, and traces of which are clearly detected
throughout the whole Tarim depression eastwards to the Mongolian plateaux. The
researches of Richthofon enable us accurately to define the contours of what was
once the Si-hai, or " Western Sen," and what is now the " Ilan-hai," or " Dried-up
Sea," of the Chinese. This ancient sea, running parallel
with the Tian-shan and
Kuon-lun, is now known to have covered an area of over 800,000 square miles,
with a depth of at least 3,000 feet in its lowest depression ; that is, where the