CHAPTER XIV. 



IRKUTSK. 



IRKUTSK is the capital of Eastern Siberia, and also of 

 the province of the same name. It was founded in 

 1680, and in 1879 had a population of 33,000. Geographi- 

 cally it is in latitude 52 deg. 40 min. north, and it is about 

 1,300 feet above the level of the sea. Although a cold place 

 in winter, the climate is generally well spoken of ; high 

 winds and storms are less prevalent than in St. Petersburg 

 and Moscow, and the fall of snow is not large. Earthquakes 

 are not infrequent. 



Much has been written in praise of Irkutsk by travelers 

 coming from China or traveling eastward, and they have 

 found it a cheerful restingplace after the fatigues of a long 

 overland journey. In summer the city is approached from 

 the west over a road lying near the cold and swiftly-flowing 

 Angara, and the plains around are stocked with cattle. The 

 town is built on a tongue of land formed by the confluence 

 of the Angara and Uska-Kofka, and with its numerous 

 churches, domes, and spires, looks extremely inviting. 

 Handsome villas, nestling among the trees on the hills 

 around, add not a little to the picturesqueness of the scene ; 

 and both in summer and winter the panorama of the city 

 and its suburbs is one of much beauty. 



Forty miles to the eastward of Irkutsk is the celebrated 

 Lake Baikal, over 400 miles long, about 35 miles broad, and 

 the largest body of fresh water in the world. It has nearly 

 200 tributaries, large and small, and only one outlet, the 

 Angara, which discharges about one-tenth of the water that 

 flows into the lake. No one knows what becomes of the 

 remainder, but the natives believe there is an underground 



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