Lakes are very numerous in certain parts of the empire, especially in the north-west and south-east. Almost all the lakes which occur in the salt steppes that surround the Caspian on tho north, as well as in those of the Crimea and the Nogay steppe, which lies north of the peninsula, aro salt lakes, and salt might be obtained from all of them. There are very few lakes in the interior of Russia, and they are all small; but those of the countries surrounding the Gulf of Finland — — — are very numerous. [FINLAND.] To the south of that gulf a very great number of lakes is dispersed over the country. The largest is the lake of Peipus, or Pakow [Lavosele] ; its outlet, the river Narowa, though deep, has a very rapid course, and forms, a short distancoabove the town of Narve, a cataract 18 feet high, by which the navigation is entirely interrupted.
The country which extends between the innermost recess of the Gulf of Finland, and that bay of the White Sea which is called the Gulf of Onega, contains the largest lakes in Russia and in all Europe, the Ladoga and the Onega : the Lake of Ladoga is the largest. In length from north-west to south-east it is nearly 120 miles, and its greatest width is 70 miles. It covers an area of more than 6500 square miles. A few rocky islands occur along its north-western shores, but none in the main body of the lake. The depth varies greatly. In some places it is stated to amount to nearly 150 fathoms, which considerably exceeds the greatest depth of the Baltic, but iu others it is shallow, and not deep enough for large vessels. The waters of a very extensive country unite in this lake. The Lake of Onega, which is nearly at an equal distance from the Lake of Ladoga and the Gulf of Onega, is more than 120 miles long, with an average width of nearly 40 miles. The area is about 4895 square miles, including the island of Klimez Koj, which contains an area of 42 square miles. Its depth is generally 80 to I00 fathoms. Along the shores there are numerous rocky islands, but the main body of the lake is free from them. The waters of this lake are discharged into that of Ladoga by the Stair River, which is about 120 miles long, and flows through a low and swampy country overgrown with thick forests. This river is navigated by large river boats. The surplus of the waters collected in the Lake of Ladoga is carried to the Gulf of Finland by the Neva, which flows more than 40 miles measured along the windings of the river, and after dividing near and in St. Petersburg into four arms, reaches the Bay of Croustadt. Its width yank; between 100 and 200 fathoms, and its depth is commonly 3 fathoms or more, so that large river-vessels and steamers can navigate it. A shoal about the middle of its course near Pella is avoided by a short canaL The river is covered with ice from the end of October to the end of April. The lakes Bjelo-Osero, and Ilmen, which lie iu the same depression, are noticed under NOVGOROD.
Umiak—The navigability of nearly all the Russian rivers to a very short distance from their sources, and the very moderate height of the elevated tracts, which divide the river systems from one another, above the level of the rivers that originate in them, facilitate more than iu any other country the making of canals and the establishment of a continuous water-communication in the interior of the empire.
Peter the Great perceived the advantages of such a water-communica tion, and he planned nearly all the canals which have been executed since his time, and some of them were even finished in his reign.
It has been already observed that those rivers which originate south of 55° N. lat., are much less adapted for navigation iu their upper courses than those which have their sources farther north, owing to the dryness of the climate. When attempts were formerly made to suite the southern rivers (the Don, the Volga, the Duieper, &c.) by canals, this circumstance does not appear to have been known, or at least not to have been considered as an obstacle to the enterprise. All the canals which were undertaken in these districts however have failed because there is no water to feed them.
On the contrary, all the canals which have been made in the northern provinces have succeeded completely. The three most important constitute a water communication between the Volga and the lakes of Onega and Ladoga, and consequently with the Neva and St. Petersburg. The most famous and most frequented of them is the canal of Vishuci Volotshok, near 57° 40' N. lat., 34° 30' E. long., by which a direct water communication is opened between St. Peters burg and Astrakhan, a distance of 3200 miles ; yet the canal does not exceed 3 miles in length. It unites the Twerza, a feeder of the Volga, with the Lake of Mstino, which is about 8 miles long, but hardly a mile wide, and from which the river Msta flows into the Lake of Ilmen. To obviate the danger incurred by vessels exposed to the storms so prevalent on Lake llmen, a canal has been made from a point about a mile above the embouchure of the Msta to the Volchow, along the northern shore of the lake. This canal, which is nearly 0 miles long and from 12 to 14 fathoms wide at its upper level, is called the Canal of Novgorod, as it terminates iu the vicinity of that town in the Volchow. Though the actual extent of the canals on this line of water communication amounts only to 9 miles, the works executed in rendering the connecting rivers navigable are very exten sive, and have cost large sums. With the exception of the canals iu the interior of China, there is probably no canal in the world which is more navigated than that of Vishnei Volotshok. The produce of the mines of Perm and Ekaterinburg, of the rich country and tho oak forests between Nisi:mei-Novgorod and Simbirsk, and of the whole basiu of the Oka, reaches St. Petersburg and the Baltic by the Volga and this lino of navigation. The canals and rivers on this lino are free from ice from the middle of April to the end of October.