A RAL-DENGIS, LAKE. (For derivation see below.) A lake east of the Caspian Sea, within the limits of Russian Central Asia, between latitude 43° 43' and 46° 45' N., and traversed by the meridian of 60° E. longitude (Slap: Asia, E. 4). It lies in the Aralo-Caspian lowlands, is bounded by the steppes and deserts of Khiva, by the land of the Kirghis, and by the plateau of Ust-Urt. separat ing it from the Caspian Sea. Its greatest length is about 230 miles; its greatest width is 182 miles; and its area, according to Strelbitski, is 25,050 square miles; this does not include its four large islands, occupying about 1000 square miles. After the Daspian Sca, it is the largest lake in the Eurasiatic continent, and, next to Lake Superior and the Victoria Nyanza, it is the fourth lam-gest in the world. It lies at a height of 163 feet above the level of I the ocean, and about 250 feet above that of the r Caspian. Its numerous islands gave rise to its •name of Aral-Dengis (Kirghiz. Turk. aral, island + dengis, sea, lake). The bluish tinge of its water suggested to the Russians the name of Blue Sea. In ancient times it was called the Lake of Oxiana, and during the :Middle Ages the Sea of Khovaresm, or Khuarism. It is fed by the Syr-Darya (the ancient Jaxartes) on the east side and the Amu-Darya (or ancient Oxus) on the south. It is shallow, its average depth hardly reaching fifty feet. There are unmis takable signs of its drying up, especially in its southern part. The Aral is a salt-water lake,
hut it contains less salt than the ocean. It freezes at a considerable distance from the shore. It is very rich in fish, which are caught here in great quantities. It is remarkable that, of all the varieties of fish in the Aral, there is not a single salt-water variety. In the affluents I of the Aral the Scaphirhynehus species of fish has recently been discovered, a variety not found anywhere else in the world at present, but which was abundant in the Tertiary period. Owing to the shallowness of its waters, navigation is difficult; but Russian steamers have been launched upon it, and took part in the operations against Khiva in June, 1873. The history of the Sea of Aral is very remarkable. Sir Henry Rawlinson and Colonel Yule collected refer ences made to it in Greek, Latin. Arabic, and Persian writers, and tried to establish the fact that the area it now occupies has been dry land twice within historical times—the .Jaxartes and the Oxus then running south of the Sea of Aral to the Caspian. It is very remarkable that the Amu has changed its bed very considerably within one decade, as is proven by a comparison of the maps carefully prepared in 1859 and 1870. See Proceedings of Royal Geographical Society, Vol. XI., Vol. XVI., and Vol. 1. (new series. 1879) ; also The Shores of Lake Aral, by Major Wood (London, 1876).