GEOLOGY. 
33 
i T 16 sou ^ ern P art of the jilga, particularly south-east of Jaitupa, is lowest, and here a 
aigc quantity of pure salt, in small cubical crystals, is collected. The fact that there is such 
aigc quantity of saline matter together with salt swamps in the southern part, seems to 
pio\e that this jilga at least, and probably most of the others, had been washed out by the sea> 
&U ^ ' la ^’ w hjle others had gradually, though only partially, drained off the saline matter, this 
one retained it, because it has at present no outlet. It is in fact a dried-up saline lake, which 
soine remote time was cut off from the sea, of which it was a fiord. 
‘it f tliird jilga is south of the Belauti pass and north-east of the UibuMlc pass. It is 
leadi ^ m ^ es hi breadth and the same in length. There are two large water-courses 
but Ul f ^ f rom the range. On the southern side it is enclosed by Artysh and gravel beds 
1 " lc tber an outlet exists is not known. A southerly outlet very likely exists. 
Hus ° mC httle information as to the geology of the Thian Shan may be gained from 
hit! Slan ^’ ave h er s, although, so far as lam aware, no general description of the range has been 
i? ■ a ^umpted by them ; nor, indeed, have the mountains been sufficiently explored to 
a geology to be thoroughly understood. 
in q- ^ tlie exce ption of publications in the llussian language, the only original papers 
and S 1 t,le S° ol °gy of the Thian Shan is treated, so far as I know, are those by Semenoff 
n n ertZ °ff ’ 1 Osten-Sacken’s interesting journey across the mountains, from Vernoye to the 
r<? l1j , 0Ul ‘ ll0 °d of Kashghar , 2 affording veiy httle geological information. A very good general 
has Um<50f tllesection across the Thian Shan is given by Professor Suess 3 in a work which 
^ recently appeared on the “ Origin of the Alps,” in which the geology of various mountain 
k discussed. The following translation will probably serve to give a better idea of the 
Qiateri ^ 011 ttlesC mountain ranges than any which I could compile from the same 
, ^ er describing Dr. Stoliczka’s discoveries, Professor Suess says, referring to the Eussian 
*piorers 3 
<c p 
Ratified ° m ^ 1GSe W01 ^ s ^ appears that these mountains are solely composed of old rocks, stratified and un- 
th e e G . S ran ite, syenite, and diorite succeed old slates, and then palaeozoic limestones, amongst which 
th e f, S e,Ke mouu -tain limestone is proved by fossils. The newest formation is Permian (Kothiegende) in 
uins • l ' 01 ° f re(1 san< lstone and conglomerate, locally containing salt and gypsum. A band of red porphyry 
“ v ^ le noi 'lhern foot of the most northerly of these chains, the Trans-Hi- Alatau . 1 
• 0 niesozoic or tertiary beds aro known to occur; consequently the suocession of strata is nearly the same 
ins 10 ^uenluen, and as, according to Richthofen, in a great portion of the Chinese empire. The moun- 
(frp com P ose d of great folds, the strike of which occasionally corresponds with that of the separate chains. 
s yenit ma ™ e ^ a * n °f the Thian Shan consists, according to Semenoff, of two parallel axes of granite and 
e ’ the southern of which forms the principal ridge of the mountains , 5 the northern the ridge of a 
as 
tain! 
fr oa p°7v° ff; Erfoisc hongsreise im Iunern Asiens im Jahre 1857, Pet. Mit., 1858, p 350: Narrative of an exploring expedition 
Se\> L ' nWyo to the western shore of Issik-kul Lake, Eastern Turkestan. — Jour. Roy. Geogl. Soc., 1869, p. 311. 
hom ^ , ' 0Urney t° the western part of the celestial range (Thian Shan), Jour. Roy. Geogl. Soc., 1870, p. 343 (translated 
a .* ‘ Uas >an). — Erforschung des Thian Schan Gebirgssystems, &c., Erganznngshefte No. 42, 43, Pet. Mit., 1875. 
3 Geogl - s oc., 1870. p. 250. 
, Tl| shellun 8 der Alpen, 1875, pp. 135, 142. 
sicoplig ,.]° ll:lIriCfi adopted for these various mountain chains by Russian and German geographers are cumbrous, and might be 
chain,, L a d'' , antage. The Trans- Ili-Alatau is the range just south of Port Vernoye, and is the more northern of two parallel 
« j° rth of Lake Issik (Issik-kul). 
range pe e f ma l 11 railge ' s considered to be that lying south of Lake Issik. The highest and best marked portion of this mam 
uit er to the eastward thau the meridian of the lake. 
