SECTION FROM THE SEA OF AZOF TO THE ARAL. 
of the steppe limestone (even if they do not exceed 
700 or 800 feet, the ascertained heights of theUst- 
Urt above the sea) must be referred to unequal 
elevation of the bottom of an ancient Caspian, and 
not to its depression. 
To give to the reader a clear view of these great 
oscillations of land, we here subjoin a general sec- 
tion, from the hills of Aralo-Caspian limestone 
above Taganrog upon the Sea of Azof, to the Aral 
Sea. In this diagram, which is founded on the 
Russian determinations of the relative altitude of 
the different tracts of land and inland seas, the 
dotted line represents the level of the Sea of Azof 
and the Ocean ; a glance, therefore, will show how 
the Aralo-Caspian deposits have been heaved up to ' 
different heights in the hills of the Don Cossacks, | j I 
on the eastern shores of the Caspian, and in the § f § 
O W >■ 
Ust-Urt. Again, whilst it has been demonstrated, I | 8. 
that these inland seas were once united, the Caspian, 
and with it large portions of the adjacent lower % 
n 
steppe, to which we shall hereafter advert, are seen 
to be depressed beneath, whilst the Aral Sea is 
above the level of the ocean. 
In the opposite woodcut no very great precision 
must be looked for, an observance of which is ob- 
viously impracticable, where the horizontal line 
extends over near 900 miles of country. Again, if 
in giving the height of the Ust-Urt above the Cas- 
pian, the same proportions were followed, as in the 
height of the Ocean or Sea of Azof above the Cas- 
pian, that plateau would appear extravagantly moun- 
tainous. The sole object of the section is to con- 
vey a general approximate idea of the relations of 
the masses of land and water. (For the level of 
the Caspian, see note, p. 321.) 
P Taganrog. 311 
Sea of Azof. 
Egorlich River. 
Kalaus River. 
Sources of the Manitch, 
| 
| Prom. Tiik Karagan. 
I! 
i 
2 s 2 
47 . 
