﻿I'rof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 565 



feasible than the supposition of its having been formed by some 

 cataclysmic seismic action, as is sometimes advocated. 



It w^as along this soiithern end of the Baikal that I met with the 

 best scenery in crossing Siberia. About halfway along the shore I 

 left what I have spoken of as a ledge, and descended to the level of 

 the lake. In places the shore was covered with large boulders, 

 whilst in other parts it was sandy. Sometimes I crossed the mouth 

 of a small valley, which marked the entrance of some tributary 

 from the south. Here, instead of tall pines, which flanked the 

 steeper portions of the road, there were clumps of birch, which 

 swung their drooping branches, thick with hoar-frost, in the breeze. 

 At night-time, charging deep gullies in the dark, the roaring of the 

 waters on the shore, the intense cold, the loneliness, and the gene- 

 rally cramped position in which I was obliged to sit both night and 

 day, had a miserable and depressing effect. Along the road I only 

 met two men, and this happened under circumstances so suspicious 

 that I congratulated myself when they were well passed. After 

 rounding the southern end of the lake, I had a full view of the cliff- 

 faced hills upon the western side, which were then capped with 

 snow. Nearer to me I had small fields of ice, some of which were 

 a square mile or more in area, and amongst which a few blocks 

 stood up like icebergs in miniature. 



When speaking of the freezing of Siberian rivers, I mentioned 

 the fact of the Baikal freezing over at different times in different 

 parts. Thus in the vicinity of the Island of Olkoon it freezes about 

 the 23rd of December, and breaks up from the end of April to the 

 10th or 15th of June, whilst near Posolsky, farther to the south, it 

 freezes from the 22nd of December to the 10th or 16th of January, 

 and breaks up between the 20th of April and the 10th of May. 

 There are small places in the lake where it is said never to freeze, 

 and about such places the seals, which inhabit these waters, are said to 

 congregate in winter-time. These unfrozen patches are, I believe, 

 looked upon as marking the position of warm springs. In some por- 

 tions of the lake there is a slight increaGC in temperature as you 

 descend. The experiments showing this were made at 1000 metres 

 from the shore in water ninety fathoms deep. At about ten metres 

 from the surface the temperature was "7 Cel., and this increased as 

 you descended until the bottom was reached, when it was 3-1 Cel. 



At all the post stations I made inquiries about the seals which 

 inhabit the lake, but I did not see anything more than a few of 

 their skins. I also asked about shells and fish, and I was successful 

 in obtaining a few of the former. 



Speaking of the Lake Baikal seal, Mr. Wallace, in his Geographi- 

 cal Distribution of Animals, vol. i. p. 218, says: "It is a species of 

 Callocephalus, closely allied to, if not identical with, one inhabiting 

 Northern seas, as well as the Caspian and Lake Aral. This would 

 indicate that all Northern Asia was depressed beneath the sea very 

 recently ; and Mr. Belt's view, of the ice during the Glacial epoch 

 having dammed up the rivers and converted much of Siberia into a 

 vast freshwater or brackish lake, perhaps offers the best solution of 



