200 



BAIKAL. 



it is subject. Even in a very moderate breeze it oft'-n 

 rages with alarming fury, while the strongest g 

 scarcely produce any perceptible increase of agita- 

 tion. 



These peculiarities render the navigation of this 

 lake extremely hazardous ; for, however inviting the 

 weather may be, and however propitious the gale, a 

 vessel may suddenly be wrecked by one of those vio- 

 lent commotions, which no sagacity can foresee, and 

 no activity controul. Furious hurricanes, too, of- 

 ten burst in a moment from the surrounding moun- 

 tains, and if, on these occasions, the bark happens 

 to be in a narrow or shallow part of the lake, its de- 

 struction is inevitable. At a distance from the 

 shore, the danger is less imminent ; as in the middle 

 of the lake there are no hidden rocks nor banks 

 against which a vessel can strike. The mariners who 

 navigate the Daikal have a compass peculiar to them- 

 selves, in which they distinguish only three winds. 

 Those which blow between the north and south are 

 called Bargiisin, because they proceed from the di- 

 rection of the river Bargusin : when they prevail, 

 the passage is expeditious from the mouth of the Se- 

 lenga to the opposite shore. Those which arise be- 

 tween the north-west and south-west are called Koul- 

 touk, as coming from the extensive bay of that name : 

 while the north-winds, which are by far the most 

 dangerous, are named Gornaia Pogoda, or winds 

 of the mountains ; because the northern shore, from 

 which they spring, is particularly mountainous. 



The Baikal extends from the 51 to above the 55 

 of North latitude. It is upwards of 300 miles long, 

 and its breadth varies from sixteen to fifty miles. 

 Its depth, though unequal, is in some places incre- 

 dibly great. In some of the central gulfs a line of 

 more than three thousand fathoms could not reach 

 the bottom ; and Pallas mentions that from the mid- 

 dle of this lake to its northern shores, the depth was 

 in general so immense, that a clue of packthread 

 more than an ounce in weight was insufficient to 

 sound it. Of the rivers that discharge themselves 

 into the Baikal, the principal are the Upper Anga- 

 ra, the Bargusin, and the Selenga, which join it from 

 the north, the east, and the south. The only outlet 

 from this enormous reservoir is the Lower (or Great) 

 Angara, which, bursting from its western side with 

 impetuous rapidity, through a channel more than a 

 mile broad, interspersed, too, with huge fragments 

 f rock, presents a scene of awful sublimity, and 

 stuns with its thundering noise the inhabitants of all 

 the adjacent regions, to the distance of many miles. 

 It cannot be supposed, however, that this single 

 channel is at all adequate to the discharge of such a 

 prodigious body of water ; yet the lake seldom rises, 

 even in the spring season, more than three feet above 

 its ordinary level ; so that it appears probable that 

 part of it may be absorbed by some subterraneous 

 drain. The water of the Baikal is so clear, that at 

 the depth of eight fathoms the bottom is distinctly 

 seen ; yet at a distance it assumes a greenish hue. 

 It is very agreeable to the taste, except in the month 

 of July, when it is thrown into a kind of fermenta- 

 tion, called its flowering, which renders it*6mewhat 

 nauseous, and gives it a turbid appearance, as if 

 mixed with yellow sand. 



A lake, distinguished by such bold and 6ingular 



features, fills all who behold it with astonishment and E 

 awe ; and is regarded by the superstitious inhabitants v -v -' 

 of the surrounding country with a very natural vene- 

 ration. They dignify it with the name of the Holy 

 Sea ; and to call it simply a lake, they consider 

 such a degree of profanity as cannot fail to provoke 

 the immediate vengeance of heaven. A pilot, who 

 had the hardihood to give it that contemptuous ap- 

 pellation, was tossed with his crew from shore to 

 shore, till, exhausted by fatigue and hunger, and in 

 danger of immediate shipwreck, he was at length 

 compelled to implore the compassion of the Holy 

 Sea. His prayers were heard he reached the shore 

 in safety ; and from that moment never named the 

 sea but with the most profound reverence. At a 

 small distance from the lake there is a chapel de- 

 dicated to St Nicolas, to which the mariners re- 

 pair to conciliate the favour of the saint by oblations, 

 and to prefer vows and supplications for a prosperous 

 voyage. As soon as they set sail, they throw various 

 presents into the lake, either of money or of victuals, 

 and if after all they happen to be overtaken by a 

 storm, they uniformly ascribe it to the profanity of 

 some Jonah on board. 



In the neighbourhood of the Baikal the climate is 

 extremely severe, owing chiefly to the elevation of 

 the ground, and the want of sufficient shelter from 

 the north winds. Scarce a night in the short sum- 

 mers which there diversify the year passes without 

 frost ; and even in August the approach of winter is 

 announced by frequent falls of snow. The lake, 

 however, is never frozen over till late in December, 

 and the ice generally dissolves about the beginning 

 of May. Ice-fields, several miles in length, are first 

 formed in [the bays, and while congelation is going 

 on, the rest of the lake is covered with a thick fog, 

 till the whole becomes one solid mass, which, ac- 

 cording to the calmness or agitation of the surface 

 during the process of freezing, is either smooth as a 

 mirror, or so rough as to be scarcely passable. The 

 violent winds prevent the snow from adhering to it, 

 so that to travel over it at first is an undertaking of 

 extreme difficulty. Sometimes the driver, while run- 

 ning by the side of his sledge, is thrown forward by 

 a sudden squall, to the distance of several fathoms ; 

 and is thus in danger either of being frozen, or of 

 falling into chinks still left in the ice. As the time 

 of breaking up approaches, these chinks become 

 wider and more frequent ; boards are then laid across 

 them for the accommodation of travellers, and when 

 the apertures can no longer be passed in that manner, 

 canoes begin to ply between the fields of ice. This 

 dangerous mode of conveyance, however, is not long 

 necessary ; for, when the thaw once commences, the 

 ice is very rapidly dissolved. In some of the bays, 

 however, which are shaded by the impending moun- 

 tains from the sun, large masses of ice lie unmelted 

 throughout the whole summer. 



Of the islands of the Baikal, which are not nume- 

 rous, the most remarkable is the island Olkhon, 

 near the northern shore, and separated from the 

 main land by a sound. This island is 50 versts in 

 length, and nearly ten in breadth, and is inhabited 

 by about 150 families. It terminates in a promon- 

 tory towards the north ; on the south-east it is low 

 and bare ; but its south-western coast is finely diver- 



