The New Student's Reference Work/Aral, Sea of

Aral, Sea of, next to the Caspian Sea, the largest inland body of water in Asia. It is 265 miles long by 145 miles broad, and is situated in Asiatic Russia. It receives several rivers, but has no outlet. Its waters are salt. It is a remarkable fact that twice, first in the Greco-Roman period and afterward during the 13th and 14th centuries, the present bed of the Aral is known to have become dry, while its rivers flowed to the Caspian.