a large river of Siberia, in the southern part of the government of Irkoutsk, which rises beyond the frontier, in the country of the Mongols, where its stream is increased by the accession of the Kharatale and the Iga. It becomes navigable as it approaches the frontiers of the empire, and, flowing from south-east to north-west, it falls by three mouths into Lake Baikal. On its banks are several considerable Russian towns, namely, Verschmel, Oudinsk, Selenginsk, and Kiachta, the great point of commercial intercourse with China.