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TURKESTAN
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an elevation of 19,000 to 20,000 ft. on the summit of the Tibetan plateau. The passes in them range generally at altitudes of 10,000 ft. to 18,300 ft. (e.g. Kyzyl-da van, 16,900 ft.; Sughet-davan, 17,825 ft.; a pass in the Arka-tagh 18,300 ft.). On the west East Turkestan is generally approached from India by the famous pass of Karakorum (18,300 ft.), from Ferghana and West (Russian) Turkestan by the passes of Kyzyl-art (14,015 ft.) and Terek (12,730 ft.), and the mountains on this side attain to altitudes of 25,780 ft. in the Muztagh-ata or Tagarma, of 23,000 ft. in the Kaufmann Peak, in the Trans-Alai range, and of 19,680 ft. in the Alai range. The Tian-shan Mountains skirt East Turkestan on the north-east, where the Kokshal-tau range rises to 16,000 to 18,000 ft. and is crossed by passes (e.g. Bedel and Jan-art) which reach 13,000 to 14,500 ft., and on the north, where the mountain knot of Khan-tengri has an altitude of 22,800 ft. and the Bogdo-ola and Karlyk ranges run up to 15,000 to 18,000 ft., while the passes (e.g. Muz-arton the north-east shoulder of Khan-tengri) climb up to 8000 to 12,000 ft. But here two natural gaps or gateways, those of Urumchi at 2790 ft. and Otun-koza at 2390 ft., facilitate communication between the basins of the Tarim and the Hi (Dzungaria). The Pe-shan swelling, with its flanking ranges of the Chol-tagh and Kuruk-tagh, which, by gradually approaching the Nan-shan section of the Kuen-lun in about 98° E., narrow the desert, are a good deal lower, namely 5000 to 9000 ft.

Within this mountain girdle lies the basin of the Tarim, extending over an area of 354,000 sq. m., but of this 51.2% consists of arid and almost impassable deserts, namely the Takla-makan (q.v.), the desert of Lop, the Ghashiun Gobi, and the desert of Kum-tagh, which are described under Gobi. The principal stream is, of course, the Tarim, about 1000 m. in length. It is virtually composed of the Yarkand-darya, the Kashgar-darya, and the Ak-su-darya, with constant augmentation from the Koncheh-darya, which drains Lake Bagrash-kul (at the south foot of the eastern Tian-shan), and intermittent augmentation from the Khotan-darya and the Cherchen-darya from the south. The basin of the Tarim contains, indeed, numerous other streams, most of them summer torrents seaming the flanks of the encircling mountains, but once no doubt affluents of the Tarim, though now all swallowed up in the desert soon after quitting the shelter of the mountains. The Tarim, which is on the whole a sluggish, shallow, winding stream, fringes the great desert of Takla-makan on the west, north and east, and, after being extensively drawn upon for irrigation purposes in the oases (Yarkand, Kashgar, Maral-bashi, Ak-su), through which it passes, it eventually dies away in the salt reed-grown lake or marsh of Lop-nor (Kara-koshun). Along the south foot of the Tian-shan, and in the high valleys which intervene between the constituent ranges of that system, there exist numerous flourishing oases, such as Uch-turfan, Ak-su, Kucha, Korla, Kara-shahr, Hami, Barkul, Turfan, Urumchi, Manas and Kulja. A similar string of oases exist all along the north foot of the Kuen-lun, e.g. Kargalik, Khotan, Keriya, Niya, Cherchen, Charkhlik, Sa-chou, and An-hsi-chou, but these settlements, some of them of very great antiquity, have to maintain a constant fight against the encroachments of the desert sand. In broad, general terms the Takla-makan may be described as a tumbled sea of sand, with waves (barkhans or sand-accumulations) as much as 300 ft. in height, diversified by occasional patches of hard clay, mostly elongated from north-east to south-west, between the ridges of the dunes. In the deserts that lie east of the Lop-nor the sand is not piled up to such great heights, nor is it generally of such a shifting character. There are ampler expanses of hard saliferous clay (shor) and on the north side of the desert of Lop the surface has been carved and sculptured by the wind into innumerable flat, table-topped masses (jardangs) with vertical or even overhanging sides, separated from one another by deep-cut, wind-swept gullies, running from north-east to south-west. During the later Tertiary period all these desert regions would appear to have been covered by an Asian Mediterranean or, at all events, by vast fresh-water lakes, a conclusion which seems to be well warranted by the existence of salt-stained depressions of a lacustrine character; by traces of former lacustrine shore-lines, more or less parallel and concentric; by discoveries of vast quantities of fresh-water mollusc shells (e.g. Limnaea and Planorbis); the existence of belts of dead poplars, patches of dead and moribund tamarisks, and vast expanses of withered reeds, all these crowning the tops of the jardangs, never found in the wind-scooped furrows; the presence of ripple-marks of aqueous origin on the leeward side of the clay terraces and in other wind-sheltered situations; and, in fact, by the general conformation, contour lines, and shapes of the deserts as a whole. From the statements of older travellers, like the Venetian Marco Polo (13th century) and the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan Tsang (7th century), as well as from other data, it is perfectly evident, not only that this country is suffering from a progressive desiccation, but that the sands have actually swallowed up cultivated areas within the historical period.

Climate.—The climate is characterized by great extremes and a wide range of temperature, not only between summer and winter, but sometimes also in the course of twenty-four hours. In the desert of Gobi the thermometer descends as low as -19.3° F. in January, and in the desert of Cherchen as low as -26° in the same month, and snow falls in winter even in the heart of the latter desert. At Yanghi-kol (40° 52′ N. and 86° 51′ E.), beside the lower Tarim, the January mean is -1.3° F., the June mean 88°, and the lowest minimum recorded -14° (February). In both the desert of Gobi and in the desert of Lop a diurnal range of 44° has been observed. The lower Tarim begins to freeze early in November. As regards the summer temperature, as early as the 12th of March a reading of 70.5° has been obtained in the desert of Lop, and as high as 90° at Charkhlik early in May. In June beside the lower Tarim the thermometer has registered 104° before a buran, 77° during its continuance, and 48.7° at night. At Kashgar (alt. 4275 ft.) the mean temperature for the year is 55.4°, the January mean 21.2°, and the July mean 81.5°; at Yarkand (alt. 4165 ft.) the annual mean is 54.0°, the January mean 20.3°, and the July mean 81.4°. In the Lukchun depression (55 ft. below sea-level), which is situated at approximately the centre of the Asiatic continent (42° 42′ N. and 89° 42′ E.), the climate is fairly typical of Central Asia, the mean for the year being 55.5°. for January 16.7° and for July 89.6°; in other words, while the summer is as hot as in the Sahara, the winter is as cold as at St Petersburg. Minimal observations of -4.0° and -4.5° have been taken at Yarkand and Lukchun respectively, and maximal observations of 103.2° and 109.5° at the same two places. The atmosphere in the desert regions is remarkably dry, and though a little rain falls occasionally on the lower slopes of the mountains, scarcely any falls in the desert, at the most a smart shower at intervals of several years. At Kashgar the annual rainfall amounts to less than 18 in. During a large part of the year, and more especially in spring, the atmosphere is heavily charged with sand, and blinding sandstorms (burans) are of frequent occurrence.

Fauna.—In the more arid regions animal life is naturally not abundant. The tiger and wild boar haunt the thickets beside the Tarim, wild duck and wild geese throng its waters, and more especially the waters of its marginal and deltaic lakes. There also the wild swan is found. Antelopes, hares and occasionally the lynx, fox, deer, rats, vultures, crows, ravens, hawks, with lizards are other denizens of the borders of the deserts. The wild camel frequents the scattered oases along the margins of the desert and roams into the desert itself. Gadflies and mosquitoes are a veritable plague around the lakes of the lowlands in the hot weather. In the higher mountainous parts animal life is more abundant, the typical forms being the wild yak, the kulan or wild ass, the arkhari or wild sheep, the orongo and other antelopes, the marmot, wolf, hare partridge and bear. Fish are plentiful in the lower Tarim and in its lakes.

Vegetable Products.—In the desert regions vegetation is, of course, extremely scanty, being restricted almost entirely to the tamarisk, Elaeagnus, tussock grass, and a few Salsolaceae. Poplars and in some places willows grow along the river-sides, and dense reed brakes, of ten 6 to 10 ft. high, fill the lakes and dot the quieter reaches of the river beds. But as the slopes of the mountains are ascended the rainfall becomes more copious and grass makes its appearance, together with a few species of arboreal vegetation, such as the juniper. What cultivation there is, is confined to the oases which nestle at the foot of the mountains all round the Tarim basin. The soil in them is of great fertility wherever it is irrigated, and despite the supineness of the Chinese authorities, irrigation is very extensively practised in nearly all the oases. Excellent crops of wheat, barley, maize, sesame, millet, cotton, opium, tobacco and rice are grown, and several of the oases, e.g. Khotan, Kashgar, Korla, Turfan and Hami, are famous for their orchards, in which cucumbers, the mulberry, apple, pear, apricot, peach, melon, grape, pomegranate and walnut ripen to perfection.

Population.—The people who inhabit the plains and mountain slopes of East Turkestan consist partly of Aryans and partly of races of Ural-Altaic stock, and are partly of mixed blood. In Dzungaria they are Dzungans or Dungans, a Turko-Tatar tribe who nominally profess Mahommedanism, and in Kulja they are Kirghiz, Tatars, Mongols, Dungans and others. The agricultural population of the oases are principally of Turkish stock, powerfully influenced by Aryan blood. The townsmen are more distinctly Turkish, i.e. Sarts and Uzbegs. The language universally spoken is Jagatai Turkish. Kirghiz graze the slopes of the Tian-shan. The trade is mostly in the hands of the Chinese, natives of West Turkestan (known as Andijanis from the town of Andijan) and Hindus. The total population, excluding Kulja and Dzungaria, is estimated by A. N. Kuropatkin at 1,200,000, by M. V. Pyevtsov at 2,000,000, and by Sven Hedin at 1,800,000 to 2,000,000. The last named distributes it thus—1,500,000 rural, 200,000 urban, and 100,000 shepherds. The principal towns and their populations are Yarkand, 100,000; Khotan, 40,000; Kashgar, 33,000; Ak-su, 15,000; Keriya, 12,000; and Kulja, 20,000. The population of Dzungaria is estimated at 600,000 and of Kulja at 150,000. The prevailing religion all over East Turkestan is Mahommedanism. The country belongs politically to China, and Chinese fill all the higher administrative positions and form