Aral Sea

Aral Sea, or Lake, The, lies 150 miles east of the Caspian Sea in Western Asia, being separated from the latter by the plateau of Ust-Ust. Its length from north to south is 205 miles, and its greatest breadth 145 miles. The Syr-Daria (Jaxartes) and the Amu-Daria (Oxus) flow into it, but there is no visible outlet, and it is supposed that evaporation keeps the water, which is brackish, at its mean level, or even slightly diminishes its volume. The depth is 37 fathoms to the west, but only 15 fathoms in the centre. Winds from the N.E. make navigation dangerous, and in winter the northern portion is ice-bound. There are many islands on its surface, and at one of the largest of them to the south the Russians keep a small flotilla. It is known to Persian geographers as the Sea of Khuwenizm, and tradition asserts that it has twice been dry land owing to the diversion of the Jaxartes and Oxus to the Caspian Sea, which is 117 ft. lower in level.