Baikal

bi'kal, a lake in the south central part of Siberia. It lies in a mountainous region, 1,312 feet above the sea. It is about one-half as large as Lake Superior. It is the largest body of fresh water in Asia. R. S. Tarr gives the following figures: Area, 12,500 square miles; elevation, 1,312 feet; greatest depth, 4,550 feet. The lake is well stocked with sturgeon, salmon, and other fish. The natives also take large numbers of seals. Steep precipices or pine-clad slopes rise from its shores. The lake receives several small rivers, and discharges its waters through an outlet into the Yenisei, ultimately into the Arctic Ocean. It lies in the route of the great Siberian railway. At first, trains were carried across a distance of fifty miles or more by means of a steam ferry. In the winter a temporary track was laid on the ice. Travelers tell of riding thirty miles in open sleighs with the thermometer thirty below zero. One tourist describes the crossing as effected by means of seventy-five three-horse sleighs for first and second class passengers, and two hundred one-horse sleighs for third class passengers. A passage was maintained for the ferry as late as possible by means of a huge ice breaker. During the war with Japan, the Russian government succeeded in building a track around the south shore of the lake, thus avoiding serious delay in transportation. See Lakes; Ferry; Siberia