248 Scientific Intelligence. 



lacustrine or a marine plain, for the reason that coincidence could 

 hardly be expected between the slope that might be given to 

 such a plain when it is laid bare and the slope that is satisfactory 

 to the graded rivers that run across it. It is not, however, as has 

 already been pointed out, always the case that fluviatile plains 

 have no valleys eroded beneath their general level. The river- 

 made plains of northern India are now commonly somewhat 

 trenched by their rivers. Our Great Plains, piedmont to the 

 Rocky Mountains, are likewise in process of dissection by their 

 rivers. The plains of Turkestan are therefore somewhat excep- 

 tional in this respect. As a result we had unfortunately no 

 opportunity of seeing sections of the plains in which the struc- 

 ture of the deposits could be examined. A well on the Czar's 

 estate at Bairam Ali, a modern village near Old Merv, where we 

 were most agreeably entertained by the superintendent. Mr. 

 Dubassof, was said to have shown nothing but ' sand and loess.' 

 The desert and river deposits found by borings beneath the Amu 

 River beds at Charjui have already been noted. The inspection 

 of these vast plains of silt was very suggestive in connection 

 with the problematic origin of the fresh-water Tertiary forma- 

 tions of the western United States. Certainly no one who sees 

 the river-made area of the plains of Turkestan can doubt the 

 capacity of rivers to lay down extensive fine-textured deposits." 



In regard to the Tian Shan mountains Professor Davis states 

 that " A number of the mountain ranges that we saw were of 

 vigorous form, with sharp peaks and deep-carved valleys, in 

 which it was impossible to recognize any trace of the original 

 unsculptured mass ; but certain observations made in the central 

 and northern ranges, near Lakes Son Kul and Ist&Jt Kul, and on 

 the steppes that border the mountains on the north, led to the 

 belief that the region had been very generally worn down to 

 moderate or small relief since the time of greater deformation, 

 which probably occurred in the Mesozoic age ; that large areas of 

 subdued or extinguished mountain structures are still to be seen 

 in the low ranges and in the steppes north of the Hi River ; and 

 that the present relief of many of the higher Tian Shan ranges 

 is the result of a somewhat disorderly uplift and of a more or 

 less complete dissection of dislocated parts of the worn-down 

 region. Mr. Huntington's report shows the application of these 

 conclusions to a large part of the central and southern Tian 

 Shan." The space devoted to a notice of so wide ranging a 

 report forbids further detailed mention of the numerous observa- 

 tions of the author upon river and glacial phenomena of the 

 valleys of the Tian Shan. 



In the article by Mr. Pumpelly, an account is given of the 

 Kara Kul, a lake of bitter salt water, and its desert shores, 

 and also a good description of the moraines in the mountains. 

 Indications of two long-separated ice advances were noted 

 and signs of a feeble third. Variations of lake level and ice 

 advance are attributed to climatic control. Evidei ie is discussed 



