TOBOLSK, the name of one of the two great governments into which Asiatic Russia is divided, being the western division of that immense territory. Irkutsk is the eastern division. Tobolsk is bounded on the west by the Oural chain of mountains, which separates it from European Russia; on the north by the Northern Ocean, the coast, broken by many deep bays, extending from the mouth of the Obi to that of the Olenek. It is separated from Chinese and Independent Tartary by an extensive frontier, partly of mountains and partly of desert plains; and from the contiguous territory of the Irkutsk by no very definite boundary. Within the bounds of this government are included three extensive districts, which are watered by the great rivers, the Obi, the Irtysh, and the Yenisei, which include the most cultivated parts of Siberia. But the country, on the whole, is far from productive. From the northern shore of the Frozen
Ocean, as far as latitude 58° north, it presents one uniform aspect of the most dismal sterility, with only a few pines and stunted shrubs, or bare moss; and a great portion of the southern parts consists of steppes or plains, covered with saline lakes or marshes. Some of these however, as the steppe of Barabinski towards the east, are covered with the most luxuriant pasturage, and would be susceptible of high cultivation, if the inhabitants had skill and industry. The agricultural districts are those on the west, on the Tobol and its tributaries, which in the lower part of their course yield most luxuriant crops; also in the east, the middle parts of the Yenisei and Obi. The rivers in those parts of Siberia abound in fish, which, notwithstanding the indolence of the inhabitants, has become a considerable article of traffic. The mountains on its western and southern frontier abound in mineral wealth. The wastes and forests are filled with innumerable wild animals, many of which are rendered valuable by their furs. But the country still labours under natural disadvantages, which render its communications difficult, and the transmission of its surplus produce to the proper market expensive. Its northern shores are inaccessible to traffic; and its vast rivers, taking their course to that ocean, lead only to the seats of poverty and barbarism. By the census of 1801, its inhabitants amounted to 622,422. These are composed of Mongols, Ostiaks, Tschuwashes, Bucharians, Tungouses, Yakoutes, Samoiedes, besides 20,000 Cossacks, and several other tribes of wandering Tartars.