In 1879 the number of factories and public works in the government was 117, with 3322 workmen and a production amounting to 3,647,045 roubles, besides 57 workshops with upwards of 250 workmen and a production of nearly 280,000 roubles. The distilleries ranked first with 1,897,500 roubles. In the iron-works of Nicolaieff 795 workmen were employed, and the production was valued at 442,110 roubles. The salt-works were credited with 298,852 roubles, the cloth factories with 115,365, and the porcelain potteries with 85,962. The principal pottery is situated in the okrug or circle of Irkutsk, and employs about 1500 workmen; and its wares are widely known throughout all Siberia. The chief cloth factory is at Telminsk, about 40 miles from Irkutsk. Cigars are manufactured to the value of 115,000 roubles. See the Pamτjatnaya Kn,izhka of the Stat. Com. of the Irkutsk Government, 1881.

The population, which in 1862 was 363,375, was 383,578 in 1879 (199,344 males). At the latter date the native tribes numbered 115,783 souls (59,979 males); the Buriats are the most numerous, these amounting to about 116,000 in 1862. The Yakuts and Tunguses are comparatively few. Of the European population a large proportion are exiles or descendants of exiles, most of them being of Polish blood. Shamanism was in 1879 the religion of 66,422, and Lamaism that of 12,491; 1837 were Mahometans, and 2878 Jews. Of the Christian population (319,919), the Orthodox Greek Church claims 296,521, and 2427 are Roman Catholics. In 1862 the Jews were under 900 and the Roman Catholics about 1200. The native tribes are being rapidly incorporated by the Orthodox Church.

According to observations taken at the town of Irkutsk, which is one of the regular meteorological stations of Russia (1536 feet above the sea), the temperature ranged in 1879 from 99° Fahr, in July to 34° below zero in January. In 1876 the minimum was 40° below zero. The mean temperature in summer is 56°, and in winter 7°.

Irkutsk, the chief town of the government of the same name, is under various aspects the most important place in all Siberia, being not only the greatest centre of population and principal commercial depot to the north of Tashkend, but the residence of the governor-general, a fortified military post, an archbishopric, and the seat of several learned societies. It is situated in 52° 17' N. lat. and 104° 12' E. long., 3780 miles from St Petersburg. The town proper lies on the right bank of the Angara, a tributary of the Yenissei, and on the opposite bank is the Glaskovsk suburb. The river, which has a breadth of 1890 feet, is crossed by a flying bridge. The Irkut, from which the town takes its name, is a small river which rises in Lake Ilchin and joins the Angara directly opposite the present town, the main portion of which is separated from the monastery, the castle, the port, and the suburbs by another confluent the Ida or Ushakovka. Irkutsk has long been reputed a remarkably fine city for such an outlying situation—its streets being straight, broad, well paved, and well lighted; but in 1879, on the 22d and 24th June (4th and 6th July), the greater proportion of its houses being of wood, the central and most important part fell a prey to a great conflagration. In the accompanying plan the area laid waste is indicated by the lighter shade. The palace of the governor-general, the principal administrative and municipal offices, and many of the other public buildings were destroyed; and the government archives, the admirable library (10,000 vols.) and museum of the Siberian section of the Geographical Society, with minor collections of the same kind, were utterly ruined. . The total loss was estimated at 30,000,000 roubles. Full details will be found in D. D. Larionoff’s Cub. gorod Irkutsk (Irkutsk, 1880). A cathedral (built of wood in 1693 and rebuilt of stone in 1718) and other twenty-three Orthodox churches, a fine gymnasium, a school of medicine, a museum, a theatre, a town’s hospital and a military hospital, an orphan asylum, an infirmary, the penitentiary, and the crown factories are among the public institutions and buildings.

The origin of Irkutsk is to be found in the winter-quarters established by Ivan Pokhaboff for the collection of the fur tax from the Buriats. Its existence as a town dates from 1686. The first church, that of our Saviour, and the monastery of the Ascension, 3⅜ miles from the town, were built in 1672, and that of the Apparition of the Virgin in 1693. It was in 1731 that the town was made the administrative centre of the Irkutsk province, and its position as chief town of the government dates from 1764. Its population, which was about 6500 at the time of Gmelin’s visit (1740), had increased to 16,569 by 1838, and to 24,779 in 1862 (12,639 males). An elaborate census taken in 1875 gave 18,076 males and 14,436 females, a total of 32,512. This increase is wholly produced by immigration; for the death-rate always considerably exceeds the birth-rate, a fact easily explained by the vast proportion of the unmarried classes,—public employés, soldiers, ecclesiastics, prisoners, and domestics amounting to 12,876 in 1875.