78 
EXPLORATIONS IN TURKESTAN. 
part of i,ooo feet to the north. Here one of the hind wheels of our wagon broke 
down, and we had leisure to look about while the postilion rode on for a new one. 
The branch range was composed of slates, with \-ertical clea\age striking abotit 
east-west. Its sunnnit was a broadly-rolling upland of gentle relief, while sharj)ly- 
cut ravines were gnawing into its steep northern slope. When we had ad\anced 
some miles across the broad plain north of the range, its upland was seen rising 
gradually eastward in a warped slope. Its northern face was finely carved in sharp 
spurs and ravines. Figure 47 is hardly more than a diagram of these features, verj- 
hastily sketched, yet it presents their essential character. Nothing but uplift and 
partial dissection of a peneplain can account for so remarkable a contrast of old and 
young fonns. The plain continued till nightfall, with small change of fonn. 
The fourth da)- opened on a broad, genth- rolling steppe, stretching from Ashi- 
bulak to Arganatinskaj-a. Occasional outcrops showed at first a crj-stalline rock, 
then a belt of slaty limestones, and finally a series of much disturbed slates. Gray 
loess-like silts, with angular rock scraps, occupied the shallow depressions. A lake 
a few miles long was seen to the east. The steppe, as a whole, was sometimes rather 
Fig. 47. — Rough Sketch of a Range near Abukumof Station, looking south. 
too uneven to be called a peneplain, although certain areas fully justified that term. 
The sky line was generally of moderate irregularity, and the galloping pace of our 
horses on a road that turned but little for mile after mile testified to the gentleness 
of the slopes. The low-arching hills seldom deser\'ed to be called monadnocks, except 
for a few knobs that rose over a broad swell in the belt of limestones and slates. 
Etj-mologists, who have not hesitated to give our language the word "antepenult," as 
well as "penult," might name a region in this stage of degradation an "antepeneplain"; 
but physiographers do not yet recognize the need of so elaborate a term. There 
was the appearance of a general and gradual rise northward, until we lost sight of 
the upland by descending a narrow and winding valley worn in the contorted and 
jointed slates by a north-flowing stream. When the valley had gained a depth of 
about a hundred feet it suddenly opened upon the broad plain that stretches east- 
ward of Lake Balkash. On looking back toward the upland we saw it descend to 
the plain by a low, regular, but somewhat dissected escarpment. A gentle slope of 
slaty gravel stretched a short distance forward from the escarpment to a claj- plain, 
varied with dust}- dunes and marshy swales overgrown with reeds. The road was 
ver}- bad here in sand or mire. Nothing that could be called an old shoreline of 
Balkash was noted. Toward evening we saw some low hills ; the plain became grav- 
elly, and low mounds of angular slate waste suggested that the rock was not far 
below the surface. The road at once improved, and in the night we had the best 
sleep of our posting trip. 
