Southwards from the last-named, however, at the foot of the mountains and at the entrance to the valleys, there are rich areas of fertile land, which are being rapidly colonized by Russian immigrants, who have also penetrated into the Tian-shan, to the east of Lake Issyk-kul.
Lake Balkash, or Denghiz, Lake Ala-kul (which was connected with Balkash in the post-Pliocene period, but now stands some hundred feet higher, and is connected by a chain of smaller lakes with Sissyk-kul), Lake Issyk-kul and the alpine lakes of Son-kul and Chatyr-kul are the principal sheets of water.
It forms the barrier between the Issyk-kul and Balkash lakes, the elevation of which is about 5000 ft.
After great suffering Hsiian Tsang reached Igu, the seat of a Turkish principality, and pursued his way along the southern foot of the T'ian-shan, which he crossed by a glacier pass (vividly described) in the longitude of Lake Issyk-kul.
In September 1888 he started on a fifth expedition, intending 4 to reach Lhasa, but on the 1st of November he died at Karakol on Lake Issyk-kul.
