The Part Played by Water Bodies.—In the land of the Khirghiz there are salt lakes such as Balkash in the desert lowland, and fresh water lakes of rare beauty, such as Issik Kul among the mountains. These, however, have little effect on the lives of the nomads, except that certain dry lake bottoms furnish salt. Far more important are the rivers; for they serve as drinking places for cattle and because they have carved the valleys up which the Khirghiz climbs to the Mountains. Such rivers are very hard to cross when the snow is melting in the spring. Sometimes a Khirghiz horseman tries to cross when the water is too high; his horse stumbles amid the boulders; and horse and rider are swept down several hundred' yards in the icy water, and are fortunate if they can finally scramble ashore. Some times the streams cannot be crossed, and thus the trails are forced high up the mountain sides.
The most noticeable habit of the rivers is the suddenness with which they rise. By night in summer the mountains are cold and no snow melts, so that in the morning the rivers are low. By day there is much melting, and the streams swell rapidly. In some rivers the flood comes down at a regular hour each day, and the Khirghiz urge their horses to a gallop in order to reach the ford before the thick muddy tide of melted snow comes pouring down.
The most important of all water bodies to the Khirghiz are the springs beside which they camp. Among the mountains these are numerous, but in the dry lowlands, far from the rivers, they are so rare as to be very precious. In summer large stretches are unin habitable because no drinking water is obtainable.
Why Soil and Minerals Have Little Influence.—Neither soil nor minerals have much effect on the Khirghiz. The soil is excellent, but its use is limited to grass since the climate prevents the growth of crops. The mineral wealth thus far discovered shows that some day it may be important, but isolation has kept the Khirghiz so backward that they have not yet learned to use the minerals of their mountains.
The Nature of the Climate.—The Khirghiz live so remote from the ocean that the winds have largely lost their moisture before they penetrate so far inland. Hence the lowlands are barren steppes. Fortunately what precipitation they get comes in summer rather than in winter, but it is never enough to support agriculture. The contrast of the seasons is great, for the summers are steadily hot, while the winters are long and bitterly cold with occasional fierce wild gales.
Among the mountains the fall of snow and rain is much greater than in the plains. In winter the mountains are so cold and snowy that no one can live there. In summer they are cool and wet, but
not unpleasant. Frosts may occur at night on the plateau even in July, and showers are fairly common, but the bright clear days during much of the summer are delightful.
How the Climate Determines the Vegetation.—The plants that flourish in a climate such as that of the Khirghiz are limited. In the dry lowland plains there is a fairly good growth of short grass during the summer, but it is the thin grass of the steppes and not the rich verdure of the prairies. Where water is available for irrigation excellent crops can be grown, but such places are too rare to support any great number of people. As one passes from the treeless grassy steppes into the mountains a fringe of willow trees is often seen beside the streams, but are no real forests until a height of perhaps 6000 feet is reached, where the rainfall is sufficient for tree that for about 2000 feet are clothed with pine forests;but the total area of these is insignificant, for the heights soon become too cold for trees. Above the tree line grass again predominates. This Eine it is thicker, and more turfy than that of the lowlands. It is the beautiful, flower-studded grass of the Alpine heights for which the cool wet summer is ideal. In some places it grows a foot or more tall and is full of daisies, red peonies, and other bright flowers. Else where it is shorter and spangled with thousands of wild pansies. Finally, near the grass gives place to lichens and moss. Grass is the dominant vegetation of the home of the Khirghiz.
The Wild Animal Life.—In the steppes of southern Siberia and the plateau of Tian Shan where the Khirghiz have their home there are thousands of insects, birds, and mammals, but only a few which influence the life of man. The wild animals that he chiefly notices in the lowlands are antelopes, quail, and wolves. Herds of antelope browse on the dry grass. The quail feed on seeds and are themselves a great delicacy. The wolves not only sometimes stampede the horses that are turned loose at night to feed around the Khirghiz tents, but also kill many. lambs. On the plateau the most important wild animals are two that live on the rich grass. One is the mountain sheep with its enormous curved horns six or more inches in diameter at the base. The other is the marmot, a small animal like a wood chuck. So abundant is the marmot that one can sometimes count a hundred in fifteen minutes, all browsing near their burrows or sitting up attentively on their hind legs beside their holes and ready to dive at the approach of danger.