B A I 



and the want of fuRic'ent prote£lion againft the north 

 winds. 



In the Baikal are numerous iflands; moft of them, how- 

 ever, very fiia!!. The largell is OIc!)on, in the northern 

 part, fepar?.ted fronfi the main land by a found, in which r.rc 

 eight illands of i^nferior 'dimenfions. Olchon is 50 verfts in 

 length, eight or ten broad, and terminates to the no:th in a 

 promontory; the fouth-eaftern part is lower and deilitute of 

 forefts; in the foiith-wt.tcrn gnm- pi:us, poplars, birch, and 

 willows. The land is fo favourable to the nurture of cattle, 

 t!iat the fine droves bclonghi^ to the inhabitants find paflure 

 ail the winter throiigii, without any particular tending. 

 The population confids of 150 Bura;t families, many of 

 whom are owners of between four and five hiindrt d head of 

 fheep. The natural properfity to idleiefs in all palloral 

 people here finds fo much encouragement, that the Burats 

 pafs the greater part of the day in caroufin^. 



Round the c; aft are feveral objcdls of conftquence to the 

 naturalift. On the weftcrn fide, above O!chon, in a vcr)- 

 beautiful country, llcirted by majeftic forefls, with a fine 

 view of the lake, are feveral fprings, moftly cold. Amidd 

 thcfc is one of hot water, more remarkable than the reft on 

 account of its fanative properties. A Ruffian officer bdong- 

 ing to the mines having obtained relief from it in fome dif- 

 order, reduced it to a conduit, wl-.ich yields 582 gallons 

 every hour; ar.il it is found to be only neceftary to dig in its 

 vicinity for coming to hot water. The water is clear, but 

 has fomewhat of a foetid tafte; the vapour fmclls like fired 

 gunpowder, and occafions fneezing; birds are boiled in it in 

 twelve minutes, fplit fiili iu feventeen minutes. No fnow 

 therefore remains here Upon the ground; the lake likewife 

 continues free from ice; and even the cold fprings, where 

 they run through the territory of the hot, are tepid. Thefe 

 hot fources are ulcd for bathing as well as for drinking. 

 Some years ago a lama performed frequent cures bv means 

 of thefe waters; fince his death, however, the RuiTians are 

 the only perfons who occafionally rcfort to them. 



The Upper Angara flows through the northern margin 

 Tito ti'.c lake, after having purfi;ed a courfe of Sco verfts, 

 down feveral precipices, forming Itnpendcms cataraits, along 

 a traA of near a hundred miles. Not far from its mouth, 

 eaftward^, is the FroHka lakv-, fifteen verfts long, and from 

 one to five verfts acrofs, remarkable for its extraordinary 

 depth, and for a cataraft on its way to t!ie Baikal. The 

 river Frolika, between fifteen and twenty fathoms wide, 

 forms this cataract by rolling over a fncceflion of rocks, ex- 

 tending half a verll, and being twenty feet in perpendicular 

 height. More to the fouth is again a hot fource, pellucid, 

 and in tafte refembliug foap- water; in the morning the 

 effluvia it ca'ls around is enough to make one fick. The 

 water iffues iu a copious ftream, but is turned to no ac- 

 count. 



On the Shamane jiromontory ftands a curious lufus na- 

 ture; namely, three rocks adjacent to each other, upwards 

 of two hundred feet in height above the water's level. 

 Their tops refcmble human heads, with caps on them. It 

 may well be imacrined that the particular features are not 

 fmall. Of the middh moft, which is the biggeft, the nofe is 

 in length feveu feet, in the (lit of the mouth two families of 

 fea-gulls are comm.odioufly lodged; even the eyebrows are 

 not wanting; only there is no trace of an ear. The Tun- 

 gufes revere thefc three rocks, as the fea-god Dianda, with 

 h'S two fubordinate deities. He is able to fave any Tim- 

 gufe from drowning, to cauft a good draught of fifhcs, 



fee. 



The peninfida Barnrufin, thirty verfts long and fifteen 

 troad, is thickly wooded, but void of game and filh, eonfe- 



VOL. lil. 



B A I 



qucntly cannot boaft of a numerous population. Lower 

 down to the fouth is the Dukhovoi or Vapoun- lake, five 

 verfts long and three broad. Its ycllowilh flimy 'water is of 

 a naufcons acid tafte; the whole diftria is charged with its 

 fcetid exhalations; yet the water tak^n in a veffel has no re- 

 markable odour. It even abor.nds in pike, perch, and 

 various other forts of iilTi, which, howevtr, often in winter, 

 when the ice remains without apertures, are ftiflcd in the 

 puti-ifying water. Whence it may be, that the horrd ftench 

 of this region arifes not fo much from the lake itfclf, as from 

 the prod-gious quantity* of filh that lie coniipting on the 

 fliore. 



The moft famous of all the irincral waters on the coafts 

 of the Baikal is the Turkobad, celebrated fince the com- 

 mencement of the late century, not yet liowevcr employed 

 according to its merits. It confifts of feven fprings, fome of 

 hot, others of cold water, which in one place have been col- 

 lefted into a refervoir. It !■! vlfited both by RulTians and 

 BurcEts, labouring under diforders, who generally find relief 

 from it. The fonr.cr, on their recovery, erciS crolTes; the 

 Pagans plant young cedars about tie fpot, hanging up like- 

 wife on poles filk and cotton ftuffs, as votive offerinijs to the 

 deities; in the fame view they aUo throw money into the 

 water. Without waiting for any revealed authority from 

 -the Shamanian gods, the Rufrian-: carefully convey away all 

 thefc articles; m,aking by that means fometimcs a profit of 

 ten rubles in the year, a capital fum for this part of the 

 world! A little above the Tiirka is obtained naphtha, 

 which the lake cafts aftiore in. the fpring, hanging to icicles, 

 or incrufted with ice. in lumps often as big as one's fift. 

 This dark brown clammy fubftance, which probably ooze* 

 up from the bottom of the lake, though tolerably vifcous, 

 may however be kneaded, and is fchible in moderately warn 

 water. It has rather a fragrant odour, and is ufcd in heal- 

 ing wounds, particularly as a falve for running fores. 

 Thefe parts aboimd likewife in various fpecies of alkaline 

 falts, which have of late been coUedcd for the ufe of the 

 apothecaries. 



So'.uhwards from the Turka is the mouth of the Selenga, 

 the largcll river that difembogurs into the Baikal, and 

 whereon the two cities Udin.'k and Selengifk are fituate. 

 In its mouth lie fcattcred a few iflands. Lower down ftands 

 tlie monaftery of Pofolfl<, \vhich is the landing-place on 

 coming acrofs the Baikal from Irkut(l<. The fouth-weftern 

 mountainous border of the lake is called Kultuk. 



We now proceed to the particularities of animated nature 

 in tliis extraordinary lake. Among ihe aquatic animals, the 

 prime rank is certainly due to the callionynuis, called by the 

 Ruffians golomyanka, entirely peculiar to the Baikal. He 

 is from four to fix inches in length, and, excepting his head, 

 ikin. and a flender back-bone, cont:ftj folely of blubber, into 

 which he immediately diffoKes on being cxpofcd to a gentle 

 heat. None of thefe fiili, Iu)wever, are caught in nets or 

 otherwife; it is even cxtreincly rare to fee them ahve; it is 

 onlv during violent agitations of the vrater that they are 

 raifed to the furfacc and caft afliore, generally either dead or 

 in a dying ftate. This chiefly happens in fummer, when it 

 blows a tempeft from the north; though not every year 

 alike. .Shoals of them are often found piled up in heaps on 

 the iliore, particularly near the mouth c»f the Selenga: at. 

 times they are fo rarely feen, that the old fiOicnncn even 

 aver th?.t it is only of late years that they have been feen at 

 all. Whence and liow thcv are thrown up and eie<2ed 

 cannot indeed be latislacforily afcertaiucd ; unlefs it be pro- 

 bably in confeq'icnce of their ufual haunts being the deepcil 

 chalms at the bottom of the lake. That thefe may pofi[iblr 

 be connciCled with the cleft< of the mountain!, we have 

 ? (^ alrcaiif 



