CASPIAN SHORELINES NEAR BAKU. 
29 
rate of lowering of the Aral in the past century- be taken, as it has been by 
Obnichef (1890, 253), as a basis for calculating the antiquity of the Aralo-Caspian 
Sea ; the fluctuations of the Caspian and the Aral in modern times, or of Great Salt 
Lake, are episodes of the existing climate, and should not be assumed to have been 
in continuous progress since the middle Quatemar\-. It should be noted, however, 
that a long-continued tendency toward increased aridity appears to characterize the 
Caspian region in the historic centuries. A detailed account of recorded changes 
of level in the Caspian is given in Briickner's excellent summary- (1890). The 
story, current in Baku, concerning an old road marked by wheel tracks that 
descend below water level on the island of Nargin, 8 miles from Baku, appears to 
be without valid foundation. We visited the island and walked all around its 
j 
T- 
^.jr>.i^ 
/ 
1 
1 
BAKU jf^fi^ 
1 
r / 
1 
1 
if 
/ > 
/ ■* 
/ J 
/ ■* 
: \ 
u 
1) 
1? 
'"knW E . B A T ; ^0 
: ; < 
^^^y^m . " y 
a 
s5 
1 1 
\ % 
' i % '% ^V Turkish 
s 
11 
1 1 
1 
P- 
'/ 
\| 
1 
j^^-^^ \ 
1 
y^ C 
"V 
V \ 
/ 
1 
/ ABOUT 3 MILES 
. 
/ 
Fig. 1 5. — Sketch Map of the District southwest of Baku. 
shores without finding the semblance of an old road, thus unconsciously repeating 
the negati\-e conclusion of Eichwald and Chan>kof (cited by Briickner, 64). It is 
worth noting that the chief water stipply for Baku, apart from certain springs that 
are unpalatable to the European residents, is derived from distillation of the brackish 
Caspian water with cheap petroleum fuel ; the latent heat given out in condensation 
of the steam is economically used in wanning the next intake of water from the 
sea. The water works (WW) and the water tower (WT) are indicated in fig. 15. 
The most notable feature of the elevated Caspian shorelines near Baku is their 
comparative faintness. They are not marked by strongh- cut cliffs or by continu- 
ous benches, but by rather discontinuous benches, much less pronoiniced than the 
shorelines of to-day. In spite of the large size of the Caspian, its abandoned shore- 
