CHARACTEEISTICS AND DISTRIBUTION OF LAKES 535 
long and 17 miles broad, and lies 837 feet above sea-level. A 
smaller lake to the west, separated from the larger by a marsh, is also 
known as Ala-kul. 
Issik-kul lies to the south of Lake Balkash, at an altitude of 
5165 feet, and is 100 miles long by 30 or 40 miles wide, covering 
an area of about 2300 square miles. In the deepest portion of the 
lake, 33 miles from the southern shore, its depth is 1400 feet ; in the 
middle portion a uniform depth of 840 feet prevails. The River 
Chu, after having approached very near the lake and discharged some 
of its waters into it by the short river Kutamaldi, suddenly turns 
northward and pierces a lofty mountain range. Davis ^ is of opinion 
that the low salinity of the lake waters is an indication that the Chu 
served once both as an inlet and an outlet to the lake. 
KyzyLlak, in Akmolinsk, is 10 miles long by 8 miles broad, and 
is very salt. Ignatof,'^ who examined the salt lakes of Akmolinsk in 
1898, found that the temperature varied from 70° to 84° Fahr. 
(21°-1 to 28° -9 C), and at the bottom it was nearly 12° higher than 
at the surface. According to the natives of the region, the Kirghiz, 
it never freezes in winter. The colour of the water appears bright 
red, owing, Ignatof believes, to the large number of Crustacea it 
contains. 
In the neighbourhood are several fresh- water lakes, some of them 
several miles in diameter. How they came to be fresh is a mystery, 
unless, as Ignatof suggests, the shore-reeds have extracted all the 
salt from the water ; but the explanation given by Rerg for Lake 
Balkash seems more applicable. 
Lake Selety-denghis is 40 miles long by 16h broad, and is sHghtly 
salt. The temperature conditions are similar to those of Kyzyl-lak. 
The bottom is covered with decaying organic remains, and sulphuretted 
hydrogen is given off. The fauna consists of Crustacea. 
Lake Teke is 73 miles long by 10 broad, and is saturated with 
salt, and yet it contains several species of Crustacea ; no signs of 
drying up are perceptible as in the case of the other lakes, especially 
Kyzyl-lak. 
Lob-Nor (or Lop-Nor), a lake of Central Asia, in the Gobi Desert, Gobi Desert, 
between the ranges of Altyn-Tagh on the south and of Kurruk-Tagh 
on the north, lies at an altitude of about 2200 feet above sea-level, 
and is fed by the River Tarim, which has its source in the Thian Shan 
Mountains. A chain of numberless lakes accompanies the right bank 
of the Tarim throughout its course, lying in depressions in the sand, 
called by the natives " bajir.'' The prevailing winds blow from the east, 
and heap up the sand in ridges like gigantic waves, or pile it up in 
1 Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc, vol. xxxvi. p. 225, 1904. 
2 CMiis, Bd. Ixxv. p. 66, 1898. 
