. The earth and its inhabitants ... Geography. 372 RUSSIA IN EUEOPE. The actual level of the Caspian, which seems to have varied little throughout the present geological period, is about 85 feet below that of the Euxine. During its subsidence the water has left in the middle of the steppes a number of saline marshes, such as Lake Yelton ; but most of the land formerly submerged, including even certain depressions lower than the Caspian, has been completely dried up" by evaporation. The general inclination of the plains stretching north of the Caspian is almost imperceptibly continued belo
. The earth and its inhabitants ... Geography. 372 RUSSIA IN EUEOPE. The actual level of the Caspian, which seems to have varied little throughout the present geological period, is about 85 feet below that of the Euxine. During its subsidence the water has left in the middle of the steppes a number of saline marshes, such as Lake Yelton ; but most of the land formerly submerged, including even certain depressions lower than the Caspian, has been completely dried up" by evaporation. The general inclination of the plains stretching north of the Caspian is almost imperceptibly continued below the surface, so that one must wade for miles from the shore before reaching deep water. Off the Volga delta large steamers are obliged to anchor in the so-called " Nine Fort " roads, Fig. 197.—West Manîch River. Scale 1 : 2,140, 24 Miles. almost out of sight of land, and the whole of this northern section of the basin may be regarded as a flooded steppe, which a slight upheaval would convert into plains similar to those of Astrakhan. North of the Terek mouths and Manghishlak peninsula the depth scarcely exceeds 8 fathoms, and the navigation is here much impeded by numerous sand-banks. This part of the sea, comprising about one-third of its entire area, is so low that during the prevalence of the northern gales the waters retreat at times some 20 miles southwards, and when this occurs in winter the ice gets broken up, causing the destruction of myriads of fish. Owing to its deficiency of salt, the Caspian is poor in shell-fish, but extremely rich in other fishes, a circumstance due to the abundance of vegetable food in the. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Reclus, Elisée, 1830-1905; Ravenstein, Ernest George, 1834-1913; Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry), 1833-1912. New York, D.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectgeography, bookyear1883
