Having stated the view of Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, which is endorsed by the high authority of the _Athenæeum_, and which bears, moreover, conviction upon its face, it is but fair to give the vital portion of Colonel Prjevalsky's own description. The _Geographical Magazine_, for May, 1878 Contains _in extenso_ the report, and the sentences here quoted are from that translation. "At a distance of fifteen versts from the smaller lake, Kara Buran, the party diverged southward to the village of Charchalyk, built about thirty years ago by outlaws from Khotan, of which there are at present 114 engaged in tilling fields for the state.... Where Charchalyk now stands, and also at the distance of two days' journey from it, are the ruins of two towns, called Ottogush-Shari (from Ottogush, a former ruler) and Gas-Shari respectively. Close to Lob-Nor (Kara Koshun) are the ruins of a third and pretty extensive town called Kune-Shari. From inquires, Prejevalsky ascertained that about 1861 or 1862 a colony of Russians numbering about 160 or 170 people, including women and children, with their pack-horses and armed with flint-lock muskets, settled on the Lower Tarim and at Charchalyk, but that they made no long stay, and soon returned to Urumchi, via Turfan.... Turning to the Lob-Nor Lake (Kara Koshun), which the travellers reached in the early days of February, it should be observed that the Tarim discharges itself first into a smaller lake (from thirty to thirty-five versts in length, and between ten and twelve versts in breadth) called Kara Buran (_i.e._ black storms) into which the Cherchendaria flows as well. A great part of the Kara Buran, as of Lob-Nor, is overgrow with reeds, the river flowing in its bed in the centre. The name Lob-Nor is applied by the natives to the whole lower course of the Tarim, the larger lake being called Chok-kul or Kara Koshun. This lake, or rather morass, is in the shape of an irregular ellipse running south-west and north-east. "Its major axis is about 90 or 100 versts in length, its minor axis not more than twenty versts. This information is derived from the natives, as Prejevalsky himself explored only the southern and western end, and proceeded by boat down the river for about half the length of the lake, further progress being rendered impossible by the increasing shallowness of the water and the masses of reeds in every direction. The water itself is clear and sweet, though there are salt marshes all round the lake, and beyond them a strip of ground parallel with the present borders of the lake and overgrown with tamarisks. It is probable that this strip was formerly the periphery of the lake, and this conclusion is corroborated by the natives, who say that thirty years ago the lake was deeper."