;o 



NA TURE 



\Nov. 12, 1874 



year after year, the river bed is filled with islands. The 

 deep-water channel is generally found on the right bank, 

 but of course circumstances occasionally cause it to pass 

 between two islands. Figs. 3 and 4 are two rough cross 

 sections of the river. 



In the latter case the river has a breadth between its 

 banks, sometimes from 5,000 ft. to 8,000 ft., especially 

 opposite New Urgens and Shah Abbas Wall. The state 

 of matters described has the effect of turning the river 

 into a series of large pools, connected by short portions 

 of stream ; and this again probably has the effect of 

 causing irregular floods in the river ; for as the quantity 

 of water decreases and the velocity also decreases, sih is 

 deposited and a quasi natural dam (Fig. 5) is formed, until 



X 



such time as sufficient water has been dammed up to burst 

 through and sweep away this silt dam. Of the 140,000 

 cubic feet of flood-discharge, it is probable that the irri- 

 gation canals take, at most, 30,000 cubic feet per second ; 

 so that at Khodjeili, the head of the delta, say of a high 

 flood, 1 10,000 cubic feet arrive. Of this quantity, 30,000 

 cubic feet flow by Kuwar Jerma, 30,000 by Chertambye, 

 20,000 by the ne.xt two branches, and the balance by 

 Taldik. But of the whole quantity not more probably 

 than 60,000 cubic feet at the most reaches Aral. The 

 remainder floods the delta and Abougir.* Of the 

 winter discharge, I should suppose not more than 40,000 

 cubic feet passes Khodjeili. I cannot account for the 

 difference, unless it is ponded up in the upper reaches 

 of the river. 'ihe irrigation canals are closed in 



winter. About 12,000 pass along Kuwar Jerma, and 

 the same quantity along Chertambye. The rest passes 

 mostly along Taldik ; not more than i,ooo cubic 

 feet a second passes along Ulkun Darya from Kungrat. 

 In winter there is ice to a thickness of 15" on the 



river, but certainly not everywhere ; there is a thaw 

 generally about the end of January, then a second 

 severe winter in February. In the sketch (Fig. 6), 

 1, 2, 3, 4 are old branches of the river which flowed into 

 the Caspian * at different times ; 5 is an old bed which met 

 a branch from Syr, on the east of Aral. These combined 

 waters probably formed the delta Herodotus speaks of ; 

 but I am going to take a look at this during my ride 

 across the steppe to Fort Peroffsky. The river, I believe, 



Fig. 3. — Ordinary Section — no irrigation canals. 



will naturally flow to the Caspian if it is allowed to do 

 so ; but the questions concerned are too large to be 

 more than alluded to here. The Russian idea, fol- 

 lowing Humboldt, is that the whole country east of 

 the Caspian has been upheaved, and that this has 



Fig. 4. — Ordinary Section, with irrigation canals. 



changed the course of the river. M. Barbot de Morny 

 has recently examined the Usturt plateau, and, as far as I 

 can gather, confidently asserts that Usturt has never been 

 upheaved at all, but that it formerly formed an island in 

 the united Caspian and Aral. As regards the eminences 

 in the delta, and the ridge of Bish'yabye, which is a con- 

 tinuation of Shaikjaili to the north, along the right bank 

 of the river, he also says that there is not the least trace 

 of any geological action having taken place in recent or 

 historic times, so that it seems probable that here is an 

 additional laurel for Lyell, plucked from the brow of 

 Humboldt. If, therefore, the river will flow naturally to 

 the Caspian, what Russia must do is to take, say, two- 

 thirds of the Arnii water for a canal to the Caspian, 



* And is used in irrigation near Kungrat. In my opinion the level of the 



running west from Toyu-boyin, for irrigating the country 

 as well as for forming a line of water communication. 

 The remaining third she must project along the old bed 

 No. 5, or somewhere in that direction, to meet a branch 

 from Peroffsky on the Syr. The water for this branch 

 from Perotfsky must beobtained byreclaiming the swampy 

 district of Karaouzak. This swamp was formed by the 

 river breaking into an irrigation canal taken from the 

 right bank. The water feeding the swamp is that which 

 formerly fed the Djani Darya flowing south-west from 

 Peroffsky towards the point where I suppose the old delta 

 mentioned by Herodotus to have been. 



I can tell you nothing about Shaikjaili, as I could 



* There is an old bed running due west to the Caspian from a point a little 

 north of Tchardjui. A Russian officer, who spent many years between the 

 Caspian and that place, is my informant. The river must have flowed ia it 

 brfore Arrian's d.iy. 



