ZIRKNITZ tsirk'nits or ZIRKNITZER ZEE. or CZIRKNITZER SEE. Austria, a phenomenal periodical lake in Carniola, 30 miles east-northeast of Trieste, in a deep valley sur rounded by mountains, the principal of which are Javornik, Succhi, Slivinza and Sternitz. The lake takes its name from 7.irknitz, situ ated at an elevation of 3,500 feet, and one of many villages in the neighborhood. Receiving the waters of six streams, and surrounded by mountains with no the characteristic fea ture of the lake is its internal drainage. The bottom of the lake partakes of the limestone formation of the district, which fissures readily, and has numerous subter ranean caves and channels. Some of these caverns arc of great depth, and in the dry season absorb the waters of the lake, leav ing it sometimes completely dry, with only a few pools, in which the fish take refuge. A luxuriant natural vegetation covers the surface of the deserted lake, and when the drought is protracted grass, millet, or buck wheat is sawn on it and the harvest reaped fore the return of the water. In June the lake is frequented by wild ducks, which afford abundant sport, and when the water is de creasing fish are caught in great number,. The lake i< from six to seven miles long, nearly three broad and of an average depth of 11 feet, but there is no stated limit to its basin. It receives the drainage of a consider
able country, and even when no rain falls in the immediate neighborhood its reservoirs are filled from the rainfall of more distant hills. In dry seasons the lake takes about JO days to empty When rain has been aintndatit and all its subterranean sources are in simultaneous ac tisit.. it reaches the average height in 72 hours, and when the rain has extended to all the tributary region it reaches its extreme level, which is about two feet above the average, in 1% hours. The natural outlets then no longer suffice to carry away the water, and it overflows the country, damaging or destroying the surrounding villages. The emptying and flooding of the lake depends upon the drought or moisture of the season, and is not strictly periodic. It has been known to empty and fill three times in one year. From 1707-14 it was only once dry, and from January 1834 to February 1835, it remained entirely without water, the longest drought on record. This lake was known to the ancients for the same phenomena, the Romans calling it LOCUS Lugens or Lugea Palus ; and it has been picturesquely described by Tasso in his tSette Giornatc del Mondo.'