86 THE CASPIAN AREA 



Aralo-Caspian Sea. Along the shore of the Sea of Aral the yellow sand is of such 

 compactness that the feet of the numerous camels leave scarcely an impression 

 The depth of this sea is inconsiderable, and its water contains so much salt as to 

 be drinkable only at the mouths of the rivers, and in a few patches of fresh 

 water far out from the shore. A south-west storm drives the water into the bays 

 and floods the sandy banks, but in the warm season the sand is driven into the 

 water, thus continually changing the outline of the coast, filling the bays, forming 

 isthmuses, islands, and sand-bars, and cutting off strips of water into salt-lagoons 

 which dry up in summer. On following the course of the Syr-Darya upwards, 

 it will be found that the ground is as flat as a table, and the country forms a 

 typical desert for vast distances, only interrupted here and there by saxaul 

 bushes. On approaching the Russian Fort Perovsk, a district showing traces of 

 recent floods, and closely covered with tall reeds, is entered. Between Perovsk 

 and Chumenarik the traveller will be surprised by coming on a rich vegetation, 

 which in its masses of reeds, saxaul, and thorny plants, affords good covert for the 

 tiger, and forms the favourite haunts of wild boars and gazelles, besides containing 

 innumerable flocks of geese, wild ducks, and, above all, pheasants. Farther east 

 the country becomes mountainous, till at length the tall poplars in the gardens of 

 the city of Turkestan stand out clear against the sky. 



The Caspian area is bordered by the Siberian province of the Holarctic region 

 on the north, by the Pontic or Black Sea province in the north-west, and by the 

 Mediterranean region on the south-west and south. Being a comparatively small 

 tract, surrounded by land, it shares many animal forms with the adjoining 

 countries. Wherever climate, soil, and vegetation are suitable, the northern 

 Asiatic, European, and south-western Asiatic fauna is to be met with ; while, on 

 the other hand, there are many Caspian animal types either absent from the 

 adjoining provinces or merely intruding on their confines, save in the case of the 

 Chinese province, which in climate and soil closely resembles the Caspian area. 



Where the climate of the Caspian area is like that of the wooded zone of the 

 northern temperate latitudes, the animals are of similar or closely allied forms. 

 This is the case with the eastern red deer or maral (Cervus elaphus maral), which 

 inhabits north-eastern Persia, the Caucasus, and Circassia, and is a large local 

 variety of the red deer of eastern Europe, with which it probably intergrades 

 in the Carpathians. 



A portion of the Caucasus must be regarded as belonging to the 

 Caspian area. In addition to the bison and the chamois, the goats 

 are the most remarkable hollow-horned ruminants of these districts. Two of 

 these, known by the name of tur, one of which presents some approximation to the 

 bharal of the Himalaya, are highly characteristic of this part of the area. Of 

 the two kinds, Pallas's tur (Capra cylindricornis) occurs to the west of the 

 Kasbeg Mountains whence it ranges over Daghestan. It has a shoulder-height of 

 about 36 inches, and long, black, smooth, almost cylindrical horns, which wind in a 

 spiral outwardly and backwards, the points turning towards each other about a foot 

 apart. The west Caucasian tur (C. caucasica), which inhabits the whole of the 

 western Caucasus, is of the same size but more stoutly built, with long black horns 

 curving upwards and backwards in a more ibex-like manner, their tips far apart 



