Lake Baikal

“ The surface of Lake Baikál is more than 400 feet higher than the city of Irkútsk, and the river Angará, through which the lake discharges into the arctic ocean, falls that 400 feet in a distance of 40 miles, making a current that is everywhere extremely swift, and that runs in some places at the rate of 12 or 15 miles an hour. ”

“ Mountains.—With the exception of the delta of the Selenga, Lake Baikal is surrounded by lofty mountains. The Khamar-daban border-ridge (the summit of a mountain of the same name is 5300 ft. above the lake) , falling with steep cliffs towards the lake, fringes it on the south; a massive, deeply-ravined highland occupies the space between the Irkut and the Angara; the Onot and Baikal ridges (also Primorskiy) run along its north-west shore, striking it diagonally; an Alpine complex of yet unexplored mountains rises on its north-east shore; the Barguzin range impinges upon it obliquely in the east ”

“ If so, let him substitute pines for oak and beech-trees, unpaved paths for cobbled streets, wooden huts for stone houses, and he has seen Monshafskaya as I saw it that bright August morning, when for the first time I looked on the waters of the Holy Sea of Siberia, for by this name alone is Lake Baikal known by the natives inhabiting its shores. To call it a lake to a Siberian is an insult. He will invariably correct you with the rebuke, “I suppose you mean our Sea.” Among the peasantry it is believed to bring dire misfortune on any one daring to call it by any other name. ”

“ This gentleman gave us some interesting information regarding the new road now being constructed by the government from Irkutsk to Kiachta, round the south end of Lake Baikal. The present route across the lake is very inconvenient, and not always safe. In summer and winter the communication by the lake is pretty regular; but during the interregnum between the seasons it is very uncertain. When ice is forming on the lake it is always doubtful whether the steamer can cross with safety, and she is probably laid up for the winter sooner than is really necessary, from fear of being nipped by ice. ”

“ The natives—The Olkhonese—Shamanism—The Buriats—The Tungus—The Samoyeds—The Carnival at Irkutsk—Pablo—Adieu to Constantine—Another perilous night on the ice of Lake Baikal.
Among other races, natives of the island of Olkhon are occasionally met with in the streets of Irkutsk. The shores of Lake Baikal, before the Russian conquest, had served, from the most remote times, as a place of banishment for the Chinese. They called this country, in their figurative language, the land of long nights. ”

“ The current of this immense body of water is so impetuous that although the distance is only thirty miles, vessels sometimes take four and even five days to do the distance from Irkoutsk to Lake Baikal, which is sixty feet higher above sea-level than the capital of Eastern Siberia, the lake being twelve hundred feet above the level of the sea. Baikal is occasionally visited by terrible hurricanes. On such occasions the loss of life is great, for the ramshackle boats in which the natives fish soon go to pieces in a sea. ”

“ Earth quakes are very frequent on the shores of Lake Baikal, especially at the mouth of the Selenga, extending as far as Irkutsk, Barguziu, and Selenghinsk; in 1862 an extensive area was submerged by the lake. Numerous mineral springs, some of them of high repute, are spread all over Transbaikalia. ”

“ When a person is drowned there the waves invariably throw his body on shore.
The lake does not freeze until the middle of December, and sometimes later. Its temperature remains pretty nearly the same at all seasons, about 48° Fahrenheit. In winter it is crossed on the ice, the passage ordinarily occupying about five hours. The lake generally freezes when the air is perfectly still so that the surface is of glossy smoothness until covered with snow. A gentleman in Irkutsk described to me his feelings when he crossed Lake Baikal in winter for the first time. ”

“ Geology.—It is certain that in previous geological ages Lake Baikal had a much greater extension. It stretched westwards into the valley of the Irkut, and up the lower valleys of the Upper Angara and the Barguzin. Volcanic activity took place around its shores at the end of the Tertiary or during the Quaternary Age, and great streams of lava cover the Sayan and Khamar-daban mountains, as well as the valley of Irkut. Earthquakes are still frequent along its shores. ”

“ Unfortunately, storms are very sudden and frequent on Lake Baikal, and, moreover, in summer travelling is often impeded by dense fogs, and it occasionally happens that boats are detained for hours and even days at a time before they dare venture across. It will certainly be very unpleasant for the 70passengers to be kept for many hours at Listvenitchnaya or Misofsk waiting for the weather to clear. ”

“ There are two routes by which it is possible to go from Irkútsk into the Trans-Baikál. The first and most direct of them follows the river Angará for about forty miles to its source in Lake Baikál, and then crosses that lake to the village of Boyárskaya. The second and longer route leads to Boyárskaya by a picturesque "cornice road," carried with much engineering skill entirely around the southern end of the lake, high above the water, on the slopes and cliffs of the circumjacent mountains. ”

“ The road runs along the right bank of the Angara, the river that runs out of Lake Baikal, and falls into the Yenisei, about 1200 miles below Irkutsk. The water of the Angara is perfectly clear.
From the Baikal to Irkutsk we pass through a very fine country, whether regarded from a tourist or agricultural point of view. The cleared portion is in an advanced state of cultivation, carefully fenced, and very fertile. The people have more of the appearance of men who mean to make a living out of the soil, than any we had seen further east. ”

“ I have not exaggerated the state of things at Kiakhta, though must, in justice, add that it was the most dissolute and drunken place we came across. Some excuse, too, must be made for people living in a land with such squalid, depressing surroundings, and having absolutely no intellectual pursuits.
There are two roads from Kiakhta to Lake Baikal; one the old post-road, the other a private one, made and used by the tea-merchants, or by those having their permission. The latter is a hundred and eighty versts shorter than the old government post-road. ”

“ The ice railway not yet being complete, there was but one way to cross Lake Baikal—by horse-power or on foot. High officials and favoured travellers secured sledges; the main body of infantry, including Ivan's regiment, having hastily swallowed a breakfast of army rations, set out on the march across the forty miles of ice plain, at "fatigue step." The bands were forbidden to play, lest the rhythmic tread of the soldiers, instinctively keeping time to the music, should bring too great and concentrated strain upon the ice. ”

“ Many rivers run into the lake, the only outflow being by the Angara. Baikal is peculiar as being the only fresh-water lake in the world where seals are found, about two thousand being killed annually. The shores are in most places extremely steep, precipices rising a thousand feet sheer up from the edge of the water, with soundings of a hundred and fifty fathoms a few yards from their feet. ”

“ Our journey over Lake Baikal was wonderful. I shall never forget it as long as I live. But I will tell you what was not nice. We travelled third class, and the whole deck was occupied by the waggon-horses, which were wild as mad things. These horses gave a special character to our crossing: it seemed as though we were in a brigand’s steamer. At Klyuevo the watchman undertook to convey our luggage to the station; he drove the cart while we walked along the very picturesque shore. Levitan was an ass not to come with me. The way was through woods: on the right, woods running uphill ”

“ From these heights large rivers flow towards every quarter of the horizon. It is here that the sources of the Selenga are found, descending to the northward into the lake Baikal, and from thence by the Enesei and the Lena into the Frozen Ocean: of the Amour, which empties its waters to the eastward into the gulph of Tartary: of the two great rivers of China flowing to the southward, and [433] of numberless lakes and rivers discharging their waters to the westward, some burying themselves in deserts of sand, and others working their way to the great lake of Aral and the Caspian sea. ”

“ He had been captured by some Russian peasants in the valley of the Amúr — one of the very few places on the globe where the tropical tiger meets the arctic reindeer.
The distance from Irkútsk to Lake Baikál is only forty miles; and as the road along the Angará was smooth and in good condition, we made rapid progress. The farther we went to the eastward, the higher and more picturesque became the banks of the river. ”

“ JAPANESE AND RUSSIAN ADMIRALS.
East of Baikal In the latter part of January the well-informed correspondent of the London Times at Peking telegraphed an estimate of the Russian forces east of Lake Baikal, which, in its circumstantiality and exhaustiveness, bore the evidence of truth. According to this authority, Russia had available at that time a total of 3,115 officers, 147,479 men, and 266 guns; and these numbers included the railway guards over the whole of the Manchurian railways and the garrisons of the principal fortresses. ”

“ There is a legend among the peasantry, that were this island washed away, Lake Baikal would overflow, destroy the capital, and turn the whole Angara Valley into one huge sea. The “Chamans,” a sect now nearly died out, believe that the souls of the departed are transported to the “Shaman Kamen,” and are compelled to cling for a night to the steep, slippery rock; a very difficult proceeding. If they succeed in remaining till the following morning, they are saved, and received into eternal bliss; if not, they are engulfed for ever. ”

“ Unfortunately, however, there is an impediment to the entire utilization of this great waterway which up to the present has defied the combined ideas of some of the greatest practical engineers of the world, for not far from where the Angara leaves Lake Baikal it forms a big rapid over two miles in length, and before gaining its subsequent level actually falls over a ledge of rock which bars its entire width. It is this huge “step” which must be removed before the river can be entirely used for navigation. ”

“ After having served, through a succession of geological periods, as an outlet for the water and ice which accumulated on the plateau, it is now utilized for the two highways which lead from Lake Baikal over the plateau (3500-4000 feet) to the Amur in the east and the Chinese depression in the south. Elsewhere, the high and massive border-ridge on the north-western edge of the plateau can be crossed only by difficult footpaths. ”

“ The navigation of the river Selenga, Lake Baikal, and the river Angara is at present only carried on by nine steamers, only three of which ply between Irkutsk and the rapids. All these vessels, except one, are owned by Russians. The one exception is owned and worked by an Englishman resident in Irkutsk, Mr. Charles Lee, a gentleman to whom I have already referred. The Russian steamers offer but little of interest, having been purchased in Russia, and only put together in Siberia. ”

“ According to the latest telegrams, regular traffic from Lake Baikal to Stretensk is to be commenced on July 1/14, 1900. Thus, there is now a direct run (excepting only the lake crossing of 60 versts (about 40 miles) , from Moscow, viâ Samara, Cheliabinsk, Omsk, and Irkutch, to Kaidalovo (252 versts—168 miles—this side of Stretensk) , whence the rail will turn off to Nagodan on the Chinese frontier. This latter stretch, a distance of 325 versts (216 miles) , will complete the work as regards Russia. The Ussuri line, from Habarovsk to Vladivostock, has been open for traffic since 1897. ”

“ The Fourth Army Corps was not across Lake Baikal; 30,000 or 40,000 men were shut up in the fortresses of Port Arthur and Vladivostock, and were not only useless for field operations, but were themselves liable to siege and capture; and, allowing the highest possible estimate, the Russian Commander-in-Chief had at his disposal for assuming the offensive in Manchuria no more than 100,000 men with 260 guns. ”

“ According to Madame de Bourboulon, Siberia is more civilized than old Russia; so true is it that it is easier to overlay a new country with civilization than to rejuvenate an old one.
On reaching the bank of Lake Baikal, our travellers were greatly disappointed to find that the steamers which navigate the lake had sustained severe injuries, and were undergoing repair. ”

“ The soil is very fertile in certain parts, but meagre elsewhere, and less than a million acres are under crops (rye, wheat, barley, oats, buckwheat, potatoes) . Grain has to be imported from West Siberia and cattle from Transbaikalia. Fisheries on Lake Baikal supply every year about 2,400,000 Baikal herring (omul) . Industry is only beginning to be developed (iron-works, glass- and pottery-works and distilleries, and all manufactured goods are imported from Russia) . The government is divided into five districts, the chief towns of which are Irkutsk (q.v.) ”

“ Kiachta and Maimaichin stand on the edge of a Mongolian steppe seven or eight miles wide. Very little snow falls there and that little does not long remain. Wheeled carriages are in use the entire year. The elevation is about twenty-five hundred feet above sea level.
There was formerly a custom house at Troitskosavsk, where the duties on tea were collected. After the occupation of the Amoor the government opened all the country east of Lake Baikal to free trade. The custom house was removed to Irkutsk, where all duties are now arranged. ”