120 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



Jenissei, and Lena, all overflow to a vast extent, as was 

 already remarked by Abulghazi ; and no doubt the deposits of 

 so many streams contribute largely to the extension of the 

 shores in the Arctic Circle; but the increase thus obtained 

 cannot be of sufficient extent to account for the rapid pro 

 of the land, even where the depth is inconsiderable, and little 

 current exists. It militates against the conclusions of the most 

 scientific travellers who have visited the localities ; among 

 whom Strahlenberg, Pallas, and Humboldt stand conspicuous; 

 and is an opinion, moreover, that every new research tends to 

 strengthen, and one in unison with the belief of all the barba- 

 rous tribes that wander over those inhospitable regions. 



CASPIAN BASIN, AN ASIATIC MEDITERRANEAN. 



A gradual upheaving of the Arctic shore, chiefly on the 

 north-west of Tahtary, and also to the west of the Oural chain, 

 can alone explain the general fact, which, in the north of 

 Europe, is now fully established ; and furnishes, also, the best 

 argument to account for the loss of that great inland sea which 

 once spread over the low bed where now the Obi and Irtish 

 flow united, covering the whole lower Ichim and Tobol, the 

 Barabintz, Lake Aksakal, and the innumerable pools, sea 

 sands, incrustations, and efflorescences of salt, and recent 

 shells. It reached by the Aral to the Caspian, was further 

 connected with the Black or Euxine Sea, at that period inun- 

 dating a considerable proportion of Southern Russia, and unit- 

 ing with the Baltic, had again open communication with the 

 White Sea and the Arctic Ocean, both by the Gulf of Bothnia 

 and by that of Finland.^ 



The Caspian Sea, by accurate measurements taken in 1S44, 

 is eighty-three and a half feet below the Mediterranean, or 

 about sixty-five feet lower than the Sea of Azoph; and Lake 



* See Addenda. 



