Note 1 — Chapter XXXII · FROM CHITA TO NERTCHINSK.

The surface is mountainous; one range, the Yablonoi, running from north to south, is the watershed of numerous rivers. The streams from the western slopes drain into Lake Baikal; the largest one towards the north, the Vitim, finds its way to the Lena, whilst the remainder run into the Argun, which flows at the south of the province and into the Ingoda and Onon, which form the Shilka. The population of the government is 430,000, of which the town inhabitants number only 4 per cent. In 1867 the population was 380,000, of whom there were 400 hereditary nobles, 1,000 personally noble, 1,700 ecclesiastical persons, 11,000 townspeople, 109,000 rural inhabitants, 4,000 military, 9 foreigners, and 164,000 natives. The present population is quoted as 10,000 less than that given by the Almanack for 1875, which diminution probably arises from emigration to the region of the Amur, and from the Government sending fewer exiles here than formerly. There were throughout the government, in the year 1875, about 3,000 marriages, 16,000 births, and 12,000 deaths. The province is divided into seven uyezds; and among its principal towns, besides the capital, are Verchne Udinsk, Selenginsk, and Troitzkosavsk, on or near the Selenga, Barguzin, near the Baikal, and Nertchinsk, to all of which we went with the exception of Barguzin. Barguzin is the chief town of the district, but is not otherwise remarkable.