ii6 
EXPLORATIONS IN TURKESTAN. 
The occurrence of ruins beneath the lake waters was noted b)' Semenof in his 
journey in 1857. He was told of the remains of an old city under the lake, about 
half a verst from its northeast shore (1858, 360). Other travelers make similar 
reports, but nothing definite seems to be known. We were shown a square brick, 
about 10 inches on a side and 2 inches thick, that was said to have been dredged 
from these ruins. Mr. Hinitington was told, on the good authority of General 
Korolkof, at I'rzhevalsk, that the ruins can now be .seen on the lake ])ottom "in 
Fig. 80. — A Carved Stone on the plain at the east end of Issik Kul. looking south. 
water of considerable depth." There is no direct evidence to determine the date of 
the jjeriod of low water during which the houses now submerged were built; but 
Mr. Huntington points out that brick houses are presumably of more modem 
constniction than cobblestone walls, and hence that the submerged houses were 
probably built during a low-water stand, after the high-water stand recorded in the 
30-foot beach. The fact that the bricks can be seen on the lake bottom, not yet 
buried bj- silts, points to the same conclusion. The lake ought to be carefully 
sounded and dredged. 
