The Ili, rising inside Sinkiang, drains into Lake Balkhash in Soviet Kazakhstan, nearly a thousand miles to the west. Not far inside the USSR, to the south of the Ili on the Turkestan-Siberian Railway, sits Alma-Ata, the capital of the Kazakh SSR. Founded by the Russians a century ago, it contains over 456,000 inhabitants, mainly Russian. From its position, the city is able to command the western approach to the upper Ili. The largest city on the Chinese Ili is Kuldja, a fortress town, with a population well over 110,000.