300 THE ARYAN QUESTION vi 



They lie for the most part between the parallels 

 of 40 and 50 N. and are separated by wide 

 stretches of barren and salt-laden wastes. The 

 surface of Balkash is 514 feet, that of the Aral 

 158 feet above the Mediterranean, that of the 

 Caspian eighty-five feet below it. The Black Sea 

 is in free communication with the Mediterranean 

 by the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles ; but the 

 others, in historical times, have been, at most, 

 temporarily connected with it and with one 

 another, by relatively insignificant channels. This 

 state of things, however, is comparatively modern. 

 At no very distant period, the land of Asia Minor 

 was continuous with that of Europe, across the 

 present site of the Bosphorus, forming a barrier 

 several hundred feet high, which dammed up the 

 waters of the Black Sea. A vast extent of eastern 

 Europe and of western central Asia thus became a 

 huge reservoir, the lowest part of the lip of which 

 was probably situated somewhat more than 200 feet 

 above the sea level, along the present southern 

 watershed of the Obi, which flows into the Arctic 

 Ocean. Into this basin, the largest rivers of 

 Europe, such as the Danube and the Volga, and 

 what were then great rivers of Asia, the Oxus and 

 Jaxartes, with all the intermediate affluents, 

 poured their waters. In addition, it received the 

 overflow of Lake Balkash, then much larger; and, 

 probably, that of the inland sea of Mongolia. At 

 that time, the level of the Sea of Aral stood at 



