Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Ili

ILI, one of the principal rivers of Central Asia, in what is now the Russian province of Semiryetchensk. The head-stream, called the Tekes (French form, Tekesse), rises at a height of 11,600 feet in the Ulabas mountains, which lie to the E. of Lake Issyk-kul, about 79° 50′ E. long. and 42° 40′ N. lat. At first it flows eastward and north-eastward through a mountainous gorge which gradually widens into a valley of considerable breadth between the Tian-Shan range on the south and the Kara-Tau and the Temur-lik or Nan-Shan on the north. Meeting the Kunges (French form, Koungesse) from the east, the river takes a westerly direction; and under the name of Ili it continues to hold westward for about 300 miles, to the neighbourhood of the military post of Ili or Ilijsk in 77° 5′ E. long. The valley between 79° 30′ and 82° E. long. is about 50 miles wide, and the portion above the town of Kuldja (Old Kuldja) is fertile and populous, Tarantchi villages following each other in rapid succession, and the pastures being well stocked with sheep and cattle and horses. At Ilijsk the river turns north-west, and at length, after traversing a district of desert and marsh, it falls by at least seven mouths into the Balkhash Lake, the first bifurcation of the delta taking place about 115 miles up the river. From Old Kuldja to New Kuldja, according to Captain Fischer (1871), the Ili is navigable for only two and a half months at most, and even then considerable difficulty is occasioned by the shoals and banks. From New Kuldja to Ilijsk (280 miles) navigation is easy when the water is high, and practicable even at its lowest condition. The section from Ilijsk to Lake Balkhash (about 240 miles) was explored in 1856 at the instance of Mr Kutznezoff, who had a boat built on the lake and towed up stream; he found a passable channel all the way, but no practical use has since been made of it. Except in the deltaic portion, the river has a rapid current and the water is turbid. At Ilijsk there is a ferry on the road from Kopal to Vyernoe. The principal tributaries of the Ili are the Kash, the Belluluko, and the Kur-Tcharyn. A vast number of streams flow towards it from the mountains on both sides, but the great proportion of them are used up by the irrigation canals, and never reach their natural goal. The wealth of coal in the valley is said to be great, and the Chinese worked gold and silver with profit. Fort Ili or Ilijsk, a modern Russian establishment, must not be confounded with Ili, the old capital of the Chinese province of the same name. The latter, otherwise known as Hoi-yuan-tchen, New Kuldja (Gulja), or Mantchu Kuldja, was formerly a city of 70,000 inhabitants, but now lies completely deserted. Old Kuldja, Tatar Kuldja, or Nin Yuan is now the principal town of the district. See Kuldja.