Evening star., 1920-01-10
|RKUTSK At LAST
FEELS WARS sting
Recent Capital Of Kolchak
Government Reported Cap
tured by Bo|SheVikl.

The misfortunes of war have JUST
caught 10 10 Irkutsl<," says bulletin
from the National Geographic so
ciety. which describes the recent cap
itaI Of the kolchak governments, nov
renortco TO lee captured by the boil
shcNiki s
Fort. hours from anywhere. hGu-
rativr,y: five days from Pctrograd
literally. in the best of times: 1artner
in fact. from the Russian CAPITA tnai ma.
is San Francisco from New YORK, lHiS
siberian metropolis vas too Ear re
moved to suffer more than pm prlcAS
from the world war. but now is en-
gulfed in its turbulent wake.
"Not only is Irkutsl remote CITY
of . sleeping giant country, oI. -
has been an isolation ward for tus-
sia.s political cxtles. From such
thistle the ,rare!t> usually did not
expect ,nuch-and was agreeabfy sur
prised. Until the storming By the
reds a few days aG", lrkutstf was a
thriving, wen buiit, modern CITY.
True it experienced feW
scratches in February. 1913, but these
could not compare with the great hre
Of 1879. which did irreparanl. damage
to archives contained in museum. II
hraTy. government buildings ana the
Siberian branch of the Russian Geo
gra ph zeal Society.
"i;ut. in rebuilding, IrItutsk was the
Baltimore of Siberia. and when cen
A. w. Greedy visited it, some th1rty
years later, he wrote:
Noted for Its Churches.
"Among Siberian cities 1rkutsk is
noted for its churches, orphanges, nos
pitfalls, schools, observatories and mus
Gums It is a city of imposing bulid-
ings beautiful homes and is given TO
lavish hospitality, while it's extended
business operations are supplemented by
all modern municipal equipments. in
cluding telephony and efficient fire serV-
ice.
"It must be added. that it has in
summer nearly impossible streets, that
the prevalence of unpunished crimes is
notorious, while it is said by free
speaking Russians that the inefficiency
of it's police is only surpassed by the
corruption of it's officials.
"Irkutsk is capital of a province of
the same name which has as million peo-
pie The city's normal population is
about that of Omaha, Neb. Lake
Baikal's southwestern shores are but
forty-four miles east of the city, which
is on the right bank of the Angara
river Thus Baikal, deepest lake in the
world, and largest, Except for our own
great lakes and Victoria NyanZa and
Tanganyika, in Africa) with its five
contributory rivers. affords unusual in
land transportation facilities. The An
CARA, 4 principal outlet of the lake. leads
to the Menisei river basin, with its TO-
900 miles of navigable waterway.
'Irkutsk had it's beginning from the
| station established there in 1852 for col
! lection of a fur tax from the Buriats
| This curious people still dwell in the
| Baikal Lake region In them, it wouI
seem, the chronological east and west
l. almost meet. Their business is akin to
| the hcrdsmen of our own western plains
| their appearance, with shaved heads
and pigtails. like that of the Chinese
| In winter they dress like Eskimos, with
| sheepskins and furS their summer at
| tire is the oriental gown of silk and
cotton.
1.-The horses the Buriats raise figure
in the religion they cling to most tena-
ciously. This religion calls for sacrifice
of the favorite steed at the owner S
grave. The less faithful among the
heirs, though. have been known to tie
an animal with tether so frayed that
the horse soon broke away to join the
herd.
'1rkutsk is on the Transsiberian rail-
way, little more than five days jour
ney east of Moscow in peace times.
THE Cathedral of the Virgin of KaZan
is one of the most conspicuous edifices
in Irkutsk. its five domeS and detached
belfry Immediately attracting the eye of
the visitor.
zone of the peculiar customs which
the traveller encountered at Irkutsk be-
fore the war was the closing of the rail-
way ticket Office for the sale of tickets