565 
Prof. Mil ne — .4 crö.ss Europe and Asia. 
feasible than the supposition of its having been formed by some 
cataclysmic seismic action, as is soraetimes advocated. 
It was along this Southern end of the Baikal that I met witk the 
best scenery in Crossing Siberia. About balfway 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 blocbs 
stood up like icebergs in miniature. 
When speaking of the freeziDg 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 
lOth or loth of June, whilst near Posolsky, farther to the south, it 
freezes from the 22nd of December to the lOth or 16th of January, 
and breaks up between the 20th of April and the lOth 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 tbe lake there is a slight increase 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 Geograplii- 
cal Distribution of Animais, 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 Tip the rivers and converted much of Siberia into a 
vast freshwater or brackish lake, perhaps ofifers the best solution of 
