BALKASH, a lake of Asiatic Russia, in the Kazak, A.S.S.R., between the provinces of Semipalatinsk and Kurgai in to N. and 73° to 79° E., about i,000m. to the east of Lake Aral. It is also called in Kirghiz Ala-Tenghiz, and in Chinese, Se-hai. It has an area of nearly 7,2oosq.m., and lies at an altitude of 900 feet. It is a broad crescent about 44om. long from west-south west to east-north-east with concave side southwards; its width varies from 32 to 53 miles. On the north-west it is bordered by a dreary plateau, the Famine Steppe (Bakpak-dala). The south east shore, on the contrary, is low, and bears traces of having extended formerly as far as the Sasyk-kul and the Ala-kul. The Kirghiz in 1903 declared that its surface had been rising steadily during the preceding ten years, though prior to that, from it was dropping. The chief feeder of the lake is the Ili, from the Khantengri group of the Tian-shan mountains. The Karatal, the Asku and the Lepsa also enter from the south-east, and the Ayaguz from the north-east. The first three rivers make their way with difficulty through sands and reeds, which at a quite recent time were covered by the lake. Although it has no out let, its waters are fresh. It freezes generally from November to April. Its greatest depth is, as far as we know, not more than 36 feet. The fauna of the lake and of its tributaries, ex plored by Nikolsky, is more akin to the fauna of the rivers of the Tarim basin than to that of the Aral; it also does not contain the common frog. It seems therefore probable that Lake Balkash stood formerly in communication through lake Ebi-nor and lake Telli Nor with the lake that formerly filled the Lukchun depression (in 89° E. long. and 42° N. lat.) but researches show that a connection with Lake Aral—at least in recent times—was improbable. The lake has been investigated by L. S. Berg (see Petermann's Mitteilungen, 1903). See also Halbfass, Die Seen der Erde (1922).