831 BAIKAL. 



more broken into bays and capes ; and besides, there are two large 

 openings and one narrow opening in them. By the latter, the Bargu- 

 Kin River enters the lake north of 64 N. Ut, after a course of about 

 300 miles. The Upper Angara, which after a course of nearly 450 

 miles discharges ita waters into the north-eastern extremity of the 

 lake, enters it by an opening which on the shores enlarges to about ten 

 miles and upwards, and drains a country which perhaps is not less 

 than Scotland south of the Forth and Clyde. But by far the greatest 

 volume of water is brought down by the Selinga, which terminates ita 

 long course of about 700 miles, nearly in the middle of the south-eastern 

 side of the lake, between 62 and 63 N. lat At ita mouth the moun- 

 tains skirting the shores of the lake are about 20 miles distant from one 

 another, and the Selinga with ita tributaries drains a country larger 

 than Great Britain, extending 5 degrees north and south, and nearly 

 10 degrees from east to west Thus the basin of the lake extends to 

 a considerable distance from ita shores on the east and south. At the 

 source of the Upper Angara ita boundary is distant upwards of 250 

 miles direct distance, and along the course of the Bargusin, nearly 

 100 miles ; the farthest tributaries of the Selinga, as the Orkhon and 

 Karao, rise at a distance of at least 350 miles. On the north-western 

 side of the lake ita basin does not extend more than 20 miles. The 

 rivers which besides the three larger ones already mentioned empty 

 themselves into the lake, are small, but very numerous. A modern 

 traveller asserts that they amount to 177 ; and on a chart published by 

 the Russian government some years ago, 160 are inserted. The water 

 carried off from the lake by the Lower Angara, ita only outlet, though 

 it is an extremely rapid stream, is not one-tenth pf the mass brought 

 down by these numerous rivers. 



The surface of the lake is 1793 feet above the sea. In the basin of 

 the lake the summer is very short, and the night* are cold and often 

 frosty ; sometimes it begins to snow in August, and always in Septem- 

 ber. In the bogs and morasses ice is always found, even during 

 summer heat A thick cold fog for many days together covers the 

 surface of the lake even in the months of July and August. The lake 

 is never covered with ice before the middle of December ; often only 

 in the beginning of January, which must be ascribed to ita great depth 

 and ita troubled surface. It may be traversed on sledges up to the 

 end of April. No traces of the approach of spring are discovered 

 before the middle of April. 



The southern districts of ita basin are subject to the Chinese empire, 

 and the northern to Russia, It is probable that the whole population 

 of the basin of the lake does not much exceed 60,000, and certainly 

 falls short of 100,000. This scarcity of population however is not to 

 be attributed entirely to the want of productive powers in the country 

 itself, but to the late period in which agriculture was introduced, and 

 the slow progress of that art in cold countries. In the beginning of 

 the 18th century the culture of the soil was introduced by the Russians ; 

 yet there are in many place* undoubted signs that at a remote period 

 this country was cultivated with care by some unknown nation, which 

 also worked the iron and copper mines, and probably was destroyed, 

 or obliged to leave the borders of the lake. The progress of agricul- 

 ture has been slow along the banks of the Bargusin and Upper Angara. 

 Oeorgi found only a few fields cultivated on the banks of the Bargusin, 

 and still less on those of the Upper Angara; but on the delta of 

 the Selinga about 1000 families are occupied in cultivating the ground. 

 On the Selinga alone a small quantity of wheat is raised ; besides this, 

 winter-rye, barley, oats, hemp, and tobacco, likewise the most common 

 vegetables, as cabbages, potatoes, beans, and peas ; but the peas are 

 alwayi destroyed by the frost on the banks of the Bargusin and Upper 

 Angara, and sometimes even the barley. 



Not one-fourth of the present population, small as it is, can be 

 maintained by the scanty produce of ita agriculture ; but the lake 

 supplies them with food in abundance. Contrary to what is generally 

 observed of mountain-lakes, the lake Baikal abounds in fish, and from 

 this source nearly all the inhabitants of ita shores derive subsistence and 

 even a competency. The Urgent fish of the Baikal is the sturgeon, 

 which also ascend* the Selingn, Bargusin, and Upjwr Angara, but not 

 the other rivers. It attains a great sice, and sometimes weighs 190 Ibs. 

 During the whole summer this fish is caught and salted, and caviar 

 and isinglass are prepared from ita roe and bladder. The salmon in 

 the month of August leaves the lake and ascends the larger rivers and 

 some of their tributaries in incredible numbers ; and thus affords sub- 

 sistence to all who inhabit their banks. A considerable quantity nf 

 salmon in a frnsen state is sent to the adjacent countries. This fish 

 is sometimes two feet in length, but it commonly varies from 14 to 16 

 inches. The seals also afford some profit to the fishermen. These 

 animals are found in all parts of the lake, but especially to the north 

 of the month of the Bargusin ; they are of the same species as those 

 of the Baltic and German seas. From 1200 to 2000 seals are annually 

 killed : the skins of the younger ones are much sought after by the 

 Chinese, who dye them and use them to ornament their state-dress**. 

 The train-oil obtained from the seaU is partly cx|>ortod to China, and 

 partly consumed in the preparation of leather in Siberia. 



The existence of the salmon, of the seal, and of a kind of sponge in 

 the fresh-water of the Baikal, has given rise to many speculations 

 among naturalists. Pallas and Georgi are unable to explain this phe- 

 nomenon otherwise than on the supposition that the lake of Baikal at 

 some remote period formed a part of the Northern Ocean, though 



BAIKAL. 



- 



between it and the lake the mountains rise to at least 8000 feet above 

 the level of the sea ; or, on another supposition, that these animals 

 were transported into the lake by some excessive inundation of the 

 Lena Rirer, whose sources are not far from ita western borders ; but 

 here too the mountains rise at least to 3000 feet. The salmon is also 

 found in another lake of Siberia, that of Madshar, which is embedded 

 in the mountains of Salanak. 



A singular fish of the Baikal has been noticed by Pallas, and was 

 called by him Callyonymoi Bmtalauu. Ita length varies from 4 to 6 

 inches, and except the head, a very thin back-bone, the skin, and the 

 fins, it consists only of a piece of fat, which soon dissolves over the fire 

 into very fine train-oil. What rendered this fish most remarkable was 

 the circumstance that it had only been known by the fmhermcn of the 

 Baikal for the first time five years before the arrival of 1'allan, and that 

 in 1770 and 1771 it made its appearance in such immense numbers 

 that the dead fish in some places, and particularly noar the mouth of 

 the Bargusin, covered the shores to the depth of several feet. In 1772 

 it had again become so rare that Pallas and Georgi had some difficulty 

 in procuring a few specimens. The train-oil made of this fish found a 

 ready sale among the Chinese. 



Agriculture is exclusively exercised by the Russians settled on the 

 shores of the lake ; but in the fisheries the native*, especially the 

 Tunguses, have some part. The Tungusee however occupy themselves 

 chiefly with the hunting of the wild beasts which inhabit the woods 

 and mountains. Wolves, bears, foxes, lynxes, wild cats, and gluttons 

 are numerous in the woods and on the steppes ; and otters abound in 

 the rivers. Beaver* are only found in the upper part of the l'pp*r 

 Angara, but the elk and the musk-gnat nearly in every district bordering 

 on the lake. Deer and stags abound everywhere, but the rein-deer is 

 only met with in a wild state in the northern mountains. The com- 

 mon hare, the mountain hare, and the Daurian hare are found in great 

 numbers on the steppes. The sable too, as well a* the hermeline, 

 abound in many districts. The squirrel exists in this region in incre- 

 dible numbers. Sometimes they unite in companies and travel through 

 the woods and steppes, swimming over rivers, and traversing the sum- 

 mit* of the mountains. The colour of the skin is reddish in summer 

 and gray in winter. A larger species, which inhabits the northern and 

 eastern shores of the lake, assumes in winter a silver-gray colour. An 

 immense number of squirrel-skins is sent to Siberia, Russia, and China. 



The Burates, a Mongol tribe, the neighbours of the Tunguses, are 

 chiefly employed in rearing cattle. They keep horses, sheep, black- 

 cattle, goats, and camels. The camels are numerous in some steppes, 

 and many of them are white as snow. They pass the winter there, and 

 live on dry grass and saline plants. Their flesh and milk are eaten ; 

 they are used in the mail-coaches like horses on the road to Nert- 

 shiiiHk. The Burates possess numerous herds, principally on the 

 eastern side of the lake, where a rich man has sometime* 1000 camels, 

 4000 horses, 8000 sheep, from 2000 to 3000 head of black-cattle, 

 together with a small number of goats. The Tungusea generally 

 have only herds of white rein-deer, but those which live in the woods 

 in a wild state are always of an ash-gray colour. 



The commerce which the Russians carry on with the Chinese is 

 considerably facilitated by this lake, which has been regularly tra- 

 versed by steam-boats since 1844. Russian goods are carried from 

 Irkutsk, on the banks of the Lower Angara, by way of the lake to 

 Kiachta by steamers and other vessels, and in winter by sledges. 

 The vessels ascend the Lower Angara and sail over the lake to the 

 mouth of the Selinga. They then ascend this river to Wershnei, 

 Udinsk, or even to Selinginok, but rarely higher. Thence the goods 

 are carried by land to Kiachta, a distance of about 16 miles. The 

 navigation on the lake lasts only from May to the month of November, 

 when the masses of ice render it dangerous. From the month <>f 

 January to the end of April the goods are carried on sledges. 



The country around the lake displays unequivocal traces of volcanic 

 agency. In some places at ita western extremity large masses of lava 

 have been discovered, and on the eastern side, especially along the 

 course of the Bargusin River, hot and sulphurous waters are nume- 

 rous. It would even seem that the lake itself, or some place in ita 

 neighbourhood, is the focus of earthquakes. To their ojwratimi flu- 

 singular movements to which the waters of the lake are subject may 

 probably be attributed. Sometimes, though rarely, the surface of tlie 

 lake i* perfectly smooth, and yet the vessel* are so much agitated 

 that it i* difficult to stand in them. But rvcn in the most complete 

 calm the surface is very rarely without an undulation. This undu- 

 lation increases whenever a wind is coming. Sometime* with very 

 moderate wind* a wave rises on the surface, proceeds a distance and 

 breaks, and is soon followed by another in the same direction. A 

 moderate wind, it is said, agitates the surface violently, but a storm 

 produces much less effect on it. All these peculiarities prove that there 

 is some hidden cause for these strange movement* of the water. 



'I'll. inlands which exist in this lake are numerous along the eastern, 

 and in some place* along the western shores, but most are of small 

 extent and nothing but masses of rock, which seem to have been 

 separated by some convulsion of nature from the mountains on the 

 shore. The largest i* the island of Olkhon, which is about 80 mile* 

 long and 10 miles broad. It is extremely rocky mid mountainous. 

 The mountain* in many parts are covered with larch, birch, ]iim , 

 poplar*, and willows ; other districts afford good pasture for the cattlo 



