There the Volga, the Ural, the Syr-darya and the Amu-darya discharge their waters without reaching the ocean, but they bring life to the rapidly desiccating Transcaspian steppes, and link together the most remote parts of Russia.
Whereas both the mountains and valleys of the Astintagh and of the Akato-tagh (the next large range to the Astin-tagh on the south) are arid and desolate in the extreme, smitten as it were with the desiccating breath of the desert, those of the Arka-tagh and beyond are supersaturated with moisture, so that, at any rate in summer, the surface is in many parts little better than a quaking quagmire.
The time taken in seasoning wood by this desiccating process is not more than one-tenth of that occupied in the natural or open-air method.
The anhydrous salt is very hygroscopic, and hence finds application as a desiccating agent.
During the dry season, when the climate is very much like that of the West Indies, there occur terrible tornadoes and long periods of the harmattan - a north-east wind, dry and desiccating, and carrying with it from the Sahara clouds of fine dust, which sailors designate "smokes."
