of the banks; and impossible to say anything certain about the de posits, the thickness, and the extension of the layers.

From Schilkinsk downward to the Little Gorbiza, limestone of a grey colour prevails on both sides, amongst which is included white marble in considerable thickness. Farther appears, instead of the lime species, granitic syenite, and syenitic porphyry. The former is remarkable for including crystals of feltspar, which have the shape of a rectangular parallelopipedon, and are above an inch in size. some places the syenite has changed into diabas, and these two species occur in a tract of seventy versts. Then the layers change to quartz, after which appear again granite, then glimmer-slate, which is to be found on a tract of fifty versts. Farther occurs chlorite-slate, serpentine, talc-slate, and then slate. The latter forms big rocks on the right side, which come to the river; they are interwoven by differently coloured veins of quartz. The shore species on the left bank of the Schilka, as well as those on the banks of the tributary rivers, witness to the existence of precious metals.

The distance from Ust-Strelotschnaja to the mouth of the Great Gorbiza (Amagara) is fifty versts. After making from twenty to forty versts at the mouth of the Great Gorbiza, on the left bank, the ships stopped. At the first place was found slate with a layer of a black colour, which was not to be recognized, changing into silicious slate, and having quartz veins. At the second place likewise slate, but glimmery, of a dark gray colour, with irregular formation, and quartz veins. At the last of the night resting-places, everywhere simple black slate, changing likewise into silicious slate.

Generally speaking, one might call the country we passed through mountainous; the banks were almost everywhere stony. Above the Gorbiza, enters from the right side a considerable by river. The Amoor flows steady in a deep bed, and large ships and steamers may conveniently pass

(Seventy versts.)* 31st May. Twenty versts from the night resting-place, we met on the left bank sixteen Orotsches, people from the Tungusian tribe, who are tributary to Russia. Further we met single Tungusians in boats of birch-bark. They belonged to the tribe of the Mauri, and paid, as it appears, only a small tax to the Chinese collectors. We presented them with some spirits, which acted very strongly on them, and with some small articles of ornament. One of them spoke, beside his native tongue, the Russian, Chinese, and Manchurian languages.

From the left side

(180 versts.) We made this day 130 versts. two rivers more enter the Amoor, of which one seems to be of considerable width. The hills on both sides became lower; they approached partly, as before, the river closely, partly they retired from it, by which small meadows are created near the banks. The hills were

*The distances placed within parentheses relate always to Ust-Strelotschnaja.

overgrown with different timber, as larch trees, pines, and, in some places, birches. The low banks of the Amoor are bordered with willow and red-berried elder. The banks of the Amoor from UstStrelotschnaja to here are, generally speaking, unfit for settlement, although perhaps beyond the southern boundaries valleys may be found fit for agricultural purposes. On this whole tract were collected stone species at five places. Eighty versts from Ust-Strelotschnaja was found likewise sparkling slate, of a dark grey colour, and shining on fracture; the masses of it are intersected with quartz veins. At 100 versts was found slate of a dense texture; and at 180 versts appeared the slate in an irregular formation, its colour being dark, dyed by oxide of iron. All this relates to the left bank.

(237 versts.) On the 1st June we arrived at the place where once Albasin (Taksa) stood. On the right side, above Albasin, the Emuri (Albasicha) enters the Amoor. The hills on the right bank of the Amoor lower towards the Emuri, the right side of which is formed by meadows. Before the mouth of the Emuri, a low island, two versts long, has formed itself, on which may yet be recognised the traces of the batteries erected by the Manchu-Chinese against Albasin. The country of the old Ostrog consists of sandstone with distinct prints of plants. Behind Albasin one sees for the first time another vegetation. On the southern slopes of the hills the larch tree changes for oak and black birch, and at the foot of the hills one sees hazle-nut and elm, bordered with willow, ash, and wild-rose. However, the vegetable cover of the ground bears yet the stamp of the Daurian flora.

The Manegrians, of whom we met here a few hamlets, looked at our passing by quite indifferently, although certainly the steamer, with a long row of boats, must have been to them a new sight. Not even the music lured them from their occupations. We made this day 144 versts to the valley of Buringa. At this place one meets everywhere the same coal sand stone. The hills surrounding the valley Buringa consist for a great part of sandstone and conglomerate,-in the latter is to be found slate, small parts of silicious slate, of quartz, and of horn-blend, inclosed in chlorit cement. At the South side of the bills grows weak oak and black pine, bordered with wild rose; at the northern side white birch and ash; on the summits fir and larch trees. The uppermost layer of the valley consists of rich black earth; a few early flowers were already in blossom; on the hills were in blossom the white poppy, the mouse-ear, and the Daurian rhododendron. The edge of the valley Buringa, which is washed by the Amoor, is on its whole extent slimy-sandy, and fit for settling. There are to be found yet the traces of the former Russian village Andruschkina.

The 4th July we continued our journey. In the Amoor began to appear small islands, covered with poplar, ash-tree, and willow. At eight o'clock in the evening we stopped at the left bank: this was one of the finest landscapes we had hitherto met with. An open valley is encircled by the rivers Toro and Augan. On the banks a few Manegrians roam; also we saw a small drove of horses. The territory near the banks which we looked on to-day is very fit for agriculture NO. 1.-VOL. XXVIII.

E

and breeding cattle. The bank valleys are surrounded amphitheatrically by steep hills, which approach at several places to the bank, and end in perpendicular cliffs.

The order of the vegetation is here again quite the same,-the summit of the mountain is covered by oak and larch; on the slopes grow oak and black pine; in the lower situations ash trees and several shrubby plants. The flowers were not remarkable for their variety, perhaps because the spring was just beginning. We saw very fine white ponies. The cliffs on the left bank consist chiefly of granite, mixed with feldspar and veins of smoke-coloured quartz, without any addition of glimmer. We made 110 versts.

(531 versts.) Forty versts farther, at the mouth of the Onon, Manegrians are found in seven hamlets. Where the hills were bare there appeared granite, sometimes with an admixture of feldspar, which was coloured by oxide of iron. We passed the sand hill Zagajan, which is situated in a curve on the left bank. One of the Manegrians told of a miraculous peculiarity of the hill: as soon as a man approaches it it vomits smoke, but when the man retires the hill ceases smoking. The river population-all of the Tungusian stock, and all given to Schamanism-pay to this wondrous hill a particular veneration, and maintain that it is the dwelling-place of an evil spirit. The mountain extends for three versts, but could not be inspected nearer, and it can only be suggested that the smoke originates either from selfcombustion of coal layers, or that the mountain contains excavations, as this is the case with lime hills in many mountainous countries of the Eastern Siberia, and that by the exterior air becoming cold the warmer air comes forth from the excavations in the shape of smoke. The hill consists of sandstone. At its foot layers of conglomerate are to be seen, in the accumulation of which agates are found.

Passed the rivers Mardali, Hakan, Great Vagan, Schagdscha; ar, rived in the neighbourhood of the river Bulkun. 106 versts.

(597 versts.) This country bears another character,-the wide valleys at the banks of the river enlarge, the steep hills retire more and more, the meadows are covered with a nourishing grass. At one of the halting-places the bank was stiff clay, at the last one slate was to be seen. The number of islands in the river augments. Now, the river runs strongly to the South. The curves are so sharp to S.W., that one appears sometimes to go backward. Wide, partly high valleys, low islands-the trees appear like oases, poplars, ashtree, wild-apple (Pyrus spectabilis) occur alternately with shrubs of red-berried elder, sand-willow, and hiss. On the hills grow small oaks (Schwache Fiche) and black-birch; larch and pine become more scarce. The meadows are covered with exquisite grass. In these extensive valleys numerous flocks of cattle could be fed, but till now life shows itself only in the powerful activity of nature.

(633 versts.) We arrived at the Kamara (Chamara, Chumar-Bira) which enters the Amoor from the right hand. According to the statement of the guide, its course is longer than 300 versts. Here, where as early as 1651 an Ostrogian, Chabaroff, founded Kamarok, a mili

tary post is established. Two jurtes made of birch-bark are standing on a landstreight, but nobody was in them.

(709 versts.) Seventy-six versts below the mouth of the Kamara there is on the left bank of the Amoor another military post, consisting of three huts. Before them, which are built of wood and covered with rush, stands a house of worship, which, according to the suggestion of the sinologue Sytschewski, who accompanied the expedition, is an offering altar dedicated to the god of war (Huanlo). The inhabitants had left the houses but recently.

(826 versts.) 117 versts farther, on the right shore of the Amoor, is situated the village Amba-Sachalgan, consisting of twenty-three houses. The travellers profited by the halt for the night at the opposite bank to visit the village. Four old men, two old women, and three young people came to meet them, all the rest of the inhabitants running away. The scattered houses were badly built of wood, rushes, and clay; instead of glass there was oiled paper in the windows. In the rooms were painted on linen cloth, pictures of the Budhist gods and of the Foist; on the walls others of bad Chinese workmanship, between which were applied light cupboards for keeping of the household stuff. Near each house were clusters of trees, birches, elms, maple, acacia, and the incomparable Pyrus spectabilis. Each house has its garden, of which much care is taken. Different varieties of millet and Indian corn were sown. In the smaller beds. grew radishes, leeks, garlic, Spanish pepper, beans, and late greens. Particular interest was excited by two new species of cabbage. Of cattle and horses were seen but few; but many swine of a peculiar kind and fowls. The country near Alba-Sachaljan is in general flat; the bare banks are shiny and sandy; to be seen round about are wide valleys, here and there hills, the mountains far retired, little wood, the soil exceedingly well adapted for agriculture.

The other day we had scarcely got down the cape to the left, when was offered to our view the unbounded valley of the Seja, the borders of which lost themselves in the immeasurable space. Looking toward the right side of the Amoor, it appeared as if this valley extended to the middle of Mantchuria. The Seja enters from the left side of the Amoor with a gigantic mouth; their waters flow as a large girdle into the low valley. "This point was incomparably beautiful; I never had seen the like," says Mr. Permikin. The Amoor increases considerably in depth and width by the plentiful supply of water. If the country of Albasin, the mouths of the Kamara and Aengun are fit for settlements for several reasons, the valley of the Seja surpasses the others in every respect. The Russians discovered, in the seventeenth century, the upper Seja by passing from the river Tugur over the Chin-Gan; then they occupied gradually the whole valley of the Seja to the Amoor, a distance of more than a thousand versts, and established four Ostrogs,-Werschneseisk, Selembinsk, Giluisk, and Dolonsk. According to an account from the year 1681, iron ore is said to be found in the white mountains, half way between the mouth of the Seja and the Selinga, which enters it.

(856 versts.) Thirty versts from the mouth of the Seja the town Sagalien-ula-Choton is situated. On the whole tract to this town are small villages, consisting of a few houses,-one of them extends for five versts along the bank. In the neighbourhood of the houses we perceived at many places cultivated fields. Both banks of the Amoor are of slimy sand; in the sand accumulations of the river occur agates and cornelians. At the harbour, a little above the town, we found thirty-five large boats, several of which could carry 300 pud. Several members of the expedition begged permission to visit the town. At the landing-place they were received by the Amban and three officers, who invited them to a tent, before which rose two banks. Near one bank certainly all the soldiers of the place were assembled; their number might amount to about 1,000. They carried long poles with sharpened and often blackened points, which were meant to give them the appearance of pikes. A few of them had clumsy, heavy swords; a very few were armed with small carbines; most of them had in their hands small bows, and on the back a quiver and arrows. At a little distance from the hut stood ten guns, on carriages with large wheels and of clumsy make. Each of them was covered with a pointed roof of birch-bark: carriages and roof were painted red. Beside each gun stood a man with a stick in his hand, but it was not possible to see whether it was a simple stick or a match. The Amban refused the strangers permission to see the town. During the conversation the soldiers thronged in such numbers into the tent that they required to be driven out thrice by the use of sticks. Opposite the lower town is an island, on which one may see traces of an earthen wall. Here the Manchu-Chinese had built a fortress in the seventeenth century to hinder the excursions of the Cossacks on the river.

(861 versts.) Five versts below Sagalien, on the left bank, is a large village, which, as was said, forms a suburb of Sagalien, and is named Aigun. In the seventeenth century it had the same importance which Sagalien has to-day. When the Cossacks advanced on the left bank, it was deserted little by little, and after the peace of Nertschinok, Sagalien was built by order of the Emperor.

From the mouth of the Seja the valley on both sides of the Amoor extends The banks are perfectly low; here and there occur hills; the blue mountains vanish into the horizon. The low places are covered with marsh, between which occur small lakes, bordered richly with bulrushes. After the opinion of Mr. Magister Herzfeld, the botanist of the expedition, the Daurian flora, predominating to the mouth of the Seja, changes now decidedly for the type of European vegetation, which lasts to the mouth of the Sungari. Here grow lime, poplar, cornus mascula, bryonia alba, and several other species. Hazelnut, oak, black birch, still also occur. It is to be noticed that on the banks only low trees and shrubs grow, but in the villages and gardens of the Manchues tall poplars and elms, which are planted by men and which are to be seen very far in the low valleys.

(901 versts.) Forty versts from the mentioned island, the Amoor turns to the East and a little later to N.E. The banks are slimy