Semi-weekly herald. [volume] (Durango, Colo.) 1907-1917, 1910-08-08

low steppe or prairie, with a depres-
sion which was undoubtedly once fill
ed with water. Indeed. Strabo and
other ancient geographers described
such communication between the Cas-
plan basin and the northern ocean in
distinct and unmistakable terms.
The Caspian mean level is now
eighty-four feet below that of the
Black sea, the Mediterranean and the
Atlantic. Although 1t varies with the
winter floods and summer droughts,
1t is gradually subsiding. so gradually,
years or more to exhaust the water.
The northern portion is extremely shall.
low and is being filled up with silt
brought down from the interior of
kuma, three great muddy streams
which traverse the steppes for thou.
sands of miles and deposit alluviaI
which has already converted the low
prairies north of the Caspian into
salt marsh. and is encroaching upon
the sea itself every year.
The distance in a straight line be.
tween the extremes of north and south
OF the Caspian is 74O miles The aver.
age width is 210 miles, but at one spot
the distance is 300 miles across At
one time the Caspian was more than
300 miles longer than at present and
4 ba bnr ,.tfd
There are several spots on both coasts
where the signs of the subsistence APP
pear very plainly; indeed, biologists
say that the biography of no body of
written in language so clear as that
of the Caspian.
There is no outlet and the drainage
area is one of the largest of any body
in northern Russia, alone drains an
area of more than half million square
miles. These two rivers bring down
more water than the Danube and the
and on the west coast are five great
streams, the Kuma, Kur, and the Ter
| elk, which drain the Caucasus Noun
tains, the AraX-the AraXes of scrip
ture-and the Attruk, which drains
the mountains of Armenia, pour en-
ormous volumes of fresh water into
original salt water to such an extent
| that its specific gravity is now only
la litfla than 1 This
makes the Caspian the freshest body
OF salt water in the world For quite
| a distance around the mouths of the
rivers | have named the water is only
slightly brackish, but on the eastern
coast. which is a hopeless desert lined
with bleak and barren mountains, with
out living thing, the salt deposits are
enormous and the water is very dense.
You can imagine the rapidity of evap
Grafton when | tell you that all the
water poured into the Caspian every
year is sucked up by the sun. Year
after year the average level does not
very much, but is lowered as | have
already suggested, in a slight degree
IWltn every passing season.
! The summer heat is intense and fire.
quently rises to 1l0degrees in the
shade, while during the winter a tenn
perature of 30 degrees below zero is
not considered remarkable, making
total range of 40 degrees Fahrenheit
The shallow portions of the sea. in
Guiding about one-third of its area,
4 are always frozen over from Novem-
Der TO March, and the ice sometimes
extends to the middle basin. The
southern part, which is much deeper,
and where the water is more dense,
never freezes.
The Caspian is stormy sea, partic-
ularly between October and March
and between July and September
when the gales rage with such yio
lence that navigation has to be entire.
ly suspended for days. and the water
is usually rough at all times.
| There are no regular tides, but
changes of level occur frequently. be.
cause of the atmosphere pressure be,
| 'hS SiSatei III bilt part imam III alOtner
the inquality of evaporation and the
floods of frozen water from the In.
flowing rivers.
| The most mysterious phenomena is
current, always perceptible, running
at an average rate of three miles an
hour. The current is about one hund
red and fifty yards broad and its limits
are as distinctly marked as those of
| the gulf stream II is more rapid in
he summer than in the winter sea.
son. In periods of extreme heat 1t
mas been known to exceed five miles
an hour, and in very cold winters it
has been known to run at the rate of
mile and half an hour. The native
boatmen believe that this current is
due TO subterranean abyss through
which the waters flow either into the
Persian Gulf or the Black sea. a hypo.
thesis for which there is not the slight.
est justification as long as water will
not flow up hill the mean lavai of ,ho