Nertchinsk

Nertchinsk, a town of eastern Siberia, in the Trans-Baikal Territory, on the Nertcha, a tributary of the Shilka (which is a head-stream of the Amur), 875 miles E. of Irkutsk. The district of which it is the centre yields silver, lead, zinc, tin, and gold; and the town is a trading centre for Russians, Mongols, Turcomans, and Tunguses, exchanging tea, gunpowder, and furs. Pop. 3750. See the Century Magazine, October 1889.—Another Nertchinsk, NERTCHINSKIY-ZAVOD, stands 180 miles SE., on a tributary of the Argun, and is also a great mining centre. The silver-mines and gold-mines are largely worked by convict labour, and the pop. of the town, with the mines, is about 5000. The soil in the vicinity is fertile, and the climate mild and agreeable.