Miscellaneous Intelligence. 135 
Yar Mahomed Khan, who was chief of Herat during the period of the 
Afghan war about twenty-five years ago. is person had sent to him 
importance, as they recorded a physical phenomenon, namely, the desic- 
cation of the Aral, which he believed had never up to the present time 
§ 
of his standard. work to the discussion of this subject. In describing the 
lakes of Asia the writer came in regular order to the Aral, which was 
called the Lake of Kharesm, and he said, “In all the ancient books 
but at the present date, which is a. #. 820 (a. p. 1417), the lake no lon- 
the River Jyhtin (or Oxus) flows on and disembogues into the sea of 
Kharesm ; but at He —_ day this sea no longer exists, the river hav- 
Akricheh, From Kharesm to the point where the river falls into the Cas- 
Plan the greater part of the country is desert.” 
+8 f 
the Caspi eh : 
at that time, a. p. 1417, the Jaxartes below Otrar branched off from its 
t bed to the left hand along a line now marked by reeds and 
Pons (see Meyendorf’s map), and joined the Oxus between Kungrad 
and Khiva, the two rivers from that point flowing on to the Caspian in 
he same bed. This statement was of the more importance as 
Wa8 sometimes eva rated in the desert. ee sien 
Such is the Seaet or the Oxus and Jaxartes up to about the year 1500. 
From that time a second change began to take place. The.siews woe 
