Lakes 311 



in the Manytsch valley, 86 feet above the Black Sea. Were 

 the climate of the Caspian to change only very slightly for the 

 moister, its waters might easily rise the 196 feet which would 

 enable it to overflow towards the Mediterranean, while a relapse 

 towards dryness would be followed by the retreat of the waters, 

 which would be then confined as they are now to the basin of 

 the sea. It is important, therefore, to bear in mind that no 

 terrestrial dislocations are required to produce enormous 

 changes in the level of salt lakes; we require only changes of 

 climate, and these very slight. There can be little doubt that, 

 if the climate of the Black Sea extended across the isthmus to 

 the Caspian, the latter would now stand 200 feet higher, would 

 be fresh, and would overflow into the Sea of Azov. 



