Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/117

98 comparatively larger than on Lob-nor. At the point where the Tarim flows into Kara-buran, another small stream, the Cherchen-daria, to which we have referred earlier, joins it from the west.

On issuing from Kara-buran the Tarim again appears as a river of some importance, but it soon rapidly diminishes, owing to the numerous canals by means of which the inhabitants draw off the water for fishing purposes. On the opposite bank the neighbouring desert continually encroaches upon the land capable of cultivation, scorching with its fiery breath every spare drop of moisture, and finally arresting the further progress of the river eastward. The struggle is over, the desert has gained the mastery over the river, life is swallowed up in death. But before finally disappearing, the Tarim forms by the overflow of its last waters an extensive reedy marsh known from ancient times as Lob-nor. The name Lob-nor as applied to the lake is unknown to the natives by whom the whole lower course of the Tarim receives this appellation, whilst the lake itself goes by the general name of Chon-kul (i. e. great lake) or more often Kara-kurchin, denoting the whole administrative district. In order to avoid confusion, I will continue to use the ancient name of Lob-nor.

This lake, or more strictly speaking this marsh, is in shape an irregular ellipse elongated from