318 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



by the latter gentleman in the Journal of the Royal Geogr. Soc. 

 vol. X. p. 402. 



The form of the Lake is an irregular parallelogram, giving oif a 

 spur to the N.E. Its greatest length from Tad van, on the S.W., to 

 Amis, on the N.E., is seventy miles ; and its greatest width is 

 twenty-eight miles, measuring from Vastan on the S. to Arin on 

 the N. The water is salt and bitter, but without the intense saltness 

 of the ocean. The only important streams which enter the Lake 

 are two near Ardish on the N., the Bend i Mahi Su on the N.E., 

 and the Angel Su on the S. These are all fordable, except the Bend 

 i Mahi Su in some parts. 



According to the statement of the natives on its shores, the water 

 of the Lake, owing to some unaccountable cause, began gradually to 

 increase in the year 1838 or 1839. For some time it fluctuated a 

 good deal, but at the end of twelve months it had gained considerably 

 upon the land wherever there was a shelving shore, the depth being 

 increased nearly two yards. During the second and third years the 

 rise continued, until the increased depth had reached ten or twelve 

 feet. ]\Liny towns and villages upon the Lake were surrounded, 

 destroyed, or deserted, and the eifects are still apparent on the 

 north shore, where it is less rocky than elsewhere. Having in three 

 years attained its standard height at twelve feet, it so remained, 

 slightly rising and falling until 1850, from which time the natives 

 say there has been a considerable and gradual subsidence of the 

 water. 



The effects of this phsenomenon are best seen at Ardish, a town 

 formerly containing 5000 inhabitants, with a castle, two mosques, a 

 Christian church, and several caravanserais. [See the original 

 drawings Nos. VII. and VIII. accompanying the Memoir.] 



In August 1838, Messrs. Brant and Glascott pitched their tents 

 upon a flat piece of ground extending from the south side of the 

 town some distance into the Lake ; the town being then connected 

 with the mainland by a broad piece of flat cultivated ground. In 

 1841 the whole town was completely surrounded, partially under 

 water, and entirely deserted by its inhabitants. In September 1852, 

 when the water had considerably subsided, Ardish was connected to 

 the north shore by a narrow strip of mud *, about a tenth of a mile 

 in length, across the most elevated part of which my horse plunged 

 with the mud up to his knees. On both sides, the isthmus had 

 every appearance of having been recently overflowed. Every one 

 assured me that it had not only been covered, but that it had been 

 a yard under water periodically every year since 1841. The most 

 intelligent persons with whom I conversed attributed the periodical 

 overflow to the rise of the two streams which here empty themselves 

 into the Lake, one on the east, and the other on the west of Ardish, 

 and which swell considerably on the melting of the snows in spring. 

 For about four months the isthmus is impassable ; but, as the streams 

 subside and assume their summer level, the water gradually retires 

 from it. All accounts, however, agreed as to the rapid encroachment 

 * As represented at (a), Drawing VII. 



