THE CRYSTALS OF THE SEA. 131 



speedily dry up, and all the salt contained in its water would 

 be precipitated in a vast bed of rock-salt. Then, should a 

 depression of the isthmus connecting this low salt formation 

 with the sea take place, there would be a new influx of the 

 sea. The sediments of its waters would be deposited upon the 

 bed of rock-salt ; and new precipitations of salt would occur. 

 The site of the Karaboghaz would then be a great salt-bear- 

 ing formation, like those formed in ancient times in various 

 ages of the world. 



On other portions of the Caspian shores, the process has 

 been brought nearly or quite to completion. On the penin- 

 sula Apsheron, on the west side nearly opposite the Kara- 

 boghaz, are ten salt lakes, in one of which, evaporation has 

 gone so far that ten thousand tons of salt are annually re- 

 moved from it. Again, in the neighborhood of Novo Pet- 

 rovsk, the deep indentation on the east shore was once a large 

 bay, which is now divided into a number of basins presenting 

 every degree of saline concentration. One of these still, occa- 

 sionally receives water from the sea, and has deposited on its 

 banks only a thin layer of salt. A second, still full of water, 

 has its bottom covered by a thick crust of rose-colored crys- 

 tals like a pavement of marble. A third exhibits a compact 

 mass of salt on which are pools of water, whose surface is 

 more than a yard below the level of the sea. A fourth has 

 lost all its water by evaporation, the stratum of salt left be- 

 hind being uncovered by sand. A similar concentration is 

 taking place in the Karasu, or long inlet setting southward 

 from the north-eastern extremity of the Caspian. 



The whole Caspian is greatly dwarfed from its ancient 

 dimensions by the process of evaporation, and it would be 

 naturally expected that the salinity of the water would be 

 intensified, as in the Dead Sea, instead of diminished. The 

 intensification has really taken place, but, under such circum- 

 stances that only marginal portions have increased in sal tn ess, 

 while the main body has been weakened by the influx of the 

 great rivers Volga, Ural, Kuma and Terek. 



This account of changes taking place on the borders of the 



