BAIKAL, a lake of Siberia, 360 miles long from southwest to northeast, and from 20 to 53 in breadth, in terspersed with islands. It has a shore line of 1,220 miles; long. 104° to 110° E.; lat. 51° 20' to 55° 20' N. It contains seals and many fish, particularly sturgeons and pikes. In the en virons are several sulphurous springs, and in one part, near the mouth of the river Barguzin, it discharges a kind of pitch which the inhabit ants purify. The water is sweet, transparent and appears at a distance green, lilce the sea. It receives the waters of the upper Angara, Selinga, Barguzin and other rivers; but the lower Angara is the only one by which it seems to discharge its waters. It is enclosed by rug ged mountains, and the scenery is unusually magnificent. In summer the lake is navigated by steamboats, but it is frozen from November to April, and trade is carried on over the ice.
It has several islands, the largest of which is Olkhon. Baikal forms an important link in the ch2in of communications between Russia and China and has several commercial ports, the most important being Lisvinichnoe, whence the Angara carries its waters to the Yenisei. The Trans-Siberian Railway passes around its southern end. Its sturgeon, salmon and fresh water seal fisheries are valuable, and large quantities of other fish are also taken. A peculiar fish, called the golomyrilcat which is almost one mass of fat, yielding train oil, was at one time caught in immense numbers, but is now rather scarce. Besides the Russians set, tled on the banks of the Selenga and Angara, the shores of Lake Baikal are also inhabited by tribes of the Buriats and Tunguses.