There is a sameness and yet a variety in the scenery of the Amoor two
or three hundred miles above Komarskoi. The sameness is in the general
outlines which can be described; the variety is in the many little
details of distance, shadow, and coloring, which no pen can picture.
In the general features there are cliffs, hills, ravines, islands, and
occasional meadows, with forests of birch, pine, larch, and willow.
The meadows are not abundant, and the attractions to settlers
generally small. The hills are rugged and, though well timbered, not
adapted to agriculture. The pine forests are dark and gloomy, and the
leafless birches make the distant hills appear as if thinly snow-clad.
The willows are generally upon the islands, and grow with great
luxuriance. The large meadows are occupied by Russian settlers.
Many little streams enter the Amoor on both sides, but chiefly from
the north. There is a famous cliff called Sa-ga-yan, where the river
has washed and undermined the high bank so that portions fall away
every few years. The current strikes this hill with great force, and
where it is reflected the water is broken like the rapids above
Niagara. It is a dangerous spot for small boats, and very difficult
for them to ascend. When the expedition of 1854 descended the Amoor
several barges were drawn into an eddy at this cliff and nearly
swamped. Captain Fulyelm and Mr. Collins, in 1857, were in danger and
trouble, especially where the current rebounds from the shore.
When our steamer struck this rapid it required all the strength of our
engines to carry us through. I desired to examine the shore, but had
no opportunity. Mr. Collins found the bank composed of amygdaloid
sand, decomposed rock and sandstone, with many traces of iron. On the
beach were chalcedony, cornelian, and agate. Two veins of coal have
been traced in the cliff, and it is thought a large deposit exists
there. The natives have a story that the cliff smokes whenever a human
being approaches it, but I saw no indications of smoke as I passed.
They consider it the abode of evil spirits, and hold it in great
dread.
[Illustration: SA-GA-YAN CLIFF.]
The Russians told me that a few wreaths of smoke were visible in
summer, caused probably by the decomposition of several coal seams on
the upper side of the mountain.
Up to the present time no coal has been mined along the Amoor, though
enough is known to exist. The cheapness and abundance of wood will
render coal of little importance for many years to come. Nicolayevsk
is supplied with coal from Sakhalin Island, where it is abundant and
easily worked. Iron ore has been discovered on the upper Amoor and in
the Buryea Mountains. Captain Anossoff proposes to erect a smelting
establishment at Blagoveshchensk, supplying it with iron ore from the
Buryea region and with coal from the Zeya. Copper and silver exist in
several localities, but the veins have not been thoroughly examined.
The mountains are like those in the Nerchinsk district that have
yielded so richly in precious metals.
Captain Anossoff is the brother of my companion across the Pacific,
and has seen ten years service in Eastern Siberia. Most of that time
he has passed on the Amoor and its tributary streams. In many places
he found rich deposits of gold, the last and best being on the Oldoi
river, about a hundred miles north of Albazin. A ton of earth yielded
six hundred dollars worth of gold. I saw the specimens which the
captain took out in person. The gold was like the best gulch or scale
gold in California, with nuggets up to four or five ounces in weight.
Gold has been found in other localities. On several tributaries of the
Ousuree the Chinese have conducted washings for many years. The
Russian settlers near Posyet find gold in the streams flowing into the
sea. An engineer officer assured me the washings in that region could
be made profitable.
The government has recently opened the Amoor and its tributaries to
private enterprise and invited its citizens to search for gold where
they please. This is a concession in the right way, and partially
abandons the claim hitherto enforced that all mines belong to the
Imperial family. Some of the surveys of Captain Anossoff have been for
private parties at St. Petersburg, and the development of the mineral
resources of the Amoor is confidently expected in a few years. At
present the lack of laborers and machinery is a great drawback, but as
the country grows older the mining facilities will increase. It is not
impossible that a gold fever will sometime arise on the Amoor and
extend to America.
Much of the country I saw along the Amoor resembles the gold-bearing
regions on the Pacific coast. While we were taking wood at a village
above Sa-ga-yan I walked on shore and stopped at a little brook
flowing from the hills. Carelessly digging with a stick in the bottom
of this brook I brought up some black sand, which I washed on a piece
of bark. The washing left two or three shining particles that had
every appearance of gold. I wrapped them in a leaf to carry on board
the steamer, but as I afterward lost envelope and contents, the value
of my discovery is to this day unknown.
The original inhabitants along this part of the Amoor are wandering
Tungusians, in no great number and with little wealth. We saw their
huts on both banks, principally the southern one. At a Russian village
where we stopped there was a Managre hut or yourt of light poles
covered with birch bark. The covering was wound around the framework
in horizontal strips that overlapped at the edges like shingles on a
house-roof. Entering the hut I found a varied assortment of deer
skins, cooking and other utensils, dogs, dirt, and children. I gave a
small coin to one of the latter, and was immediately surrounded by
others who wished to be remembered. The mother of the infants sent one
of them to me with a freshly killed goose, which I declined accepting.
The head of the establishment examined my watch attentively, but I
think his curiosity was simulated, as he must have seen marry watches
among the Russians. Not to be outdone in curiosity, I admired the
trappings attached to his belt. These were a knife, a pipe, pouches
for bullets, tinder, powder, tobacco, and flints, a pointed iron for
cleaning a pipe, and two or three articles whose use I could not
ascertain. His dress was a deerskin frock and leggings, and his cap of
Chinese felt cloth was in several thicknesses and fitted close to his
head.
Outside the hut Borasdine gave the man a cigar, but the gift was not
appreciated. The native preferred tobacco and was better satisfied
when I gave him enough to fill his pipe. The Managres smoke the
Manjourian tobacco, which is raised in large quantities along the
middle Amoor and the Songaree. It is much like Connecticut leaf, but
has a more pungent flavor, and lacks the delicacy of Havana tobacco.
Men, women, and children are alike addicted to its use.
Our new acquaintance was a hunter, and allowed us, though with
hesitation, to look at his rifle. It had a flint lock of curious
construction, the hammer being drawn back to a horizontal position and
held in place by a notched piece of bone. The breech-pin was gone, and
a piece of stone fixed in the stock filled its place. The breech of
the stock was but little larger than the other part, and seemed very
awkwardly contrived. A forked stick is carried to form a rest, that
ensures the accuracy of aim. Powder and lead are so expensive that
great economy is shown in their use. I was told these natives were
excellent marksmen, and rarely missed a shot. When within proper
distance of their game they place their supporting sticks very quickly
and with such caution as to make no noise.
[Illustration: RIFLE SHOOTING.]
One intoxicated aboriginal stood in the group of Cossacks on the bank
and appeared quarrelsome, but found the Russians too good-natured for
his purpose. A light shower scattered the crowd and left the inebriate
addressing a horse and a wood-pile.
On the 11th of October the weather was like summer, the air still and
clear and my thermometer standing at 71 degrees. During the night I
found it necessary to take an extra blanket, and at noon of the 12th
the thermometer was at 45°, with a cloudy sky and a breeze from the
northeast. This change of twenty-six degrees was too much for comfort,
but of little consequence compared to my subsequent experience.
Instances have been known of a change of seventy degrees in twelve
hours from a sudden shifting of the wind. On the morning of the 13th
we had a light fall of snow, with the air at freezing point and the
water at 40°.[D]
[Footnote D: I here enter a protest against the Fahrenheit
thermometer, and think all who have used it to any extent will join me
in preferring the Centigrade or Reaumer scales. Centigrade has the
freezing point at zero and the boiling point at 100°. Reaumer freezes
at zero and boils at 80°. Fahrenheit very clumsily freezes at 32° and
boils at 212°. The difference in the graduation of the scale is of
much less consequence than the awkwardness of beginning the reading at
32°. The Russians use Reaumer’s method, and I always envied them their
convenience of saying ‘there are so many degrees of cold,’ or ‘so many
of heat,’ while I was forced to count from 32° to use my national
scale.]
We passed a rock projecting far into the river, with precipitous sides
and a sharp summit visible for some distance along the Amoor. Below it
is a small harbor, where the Russian steamer Mala Nadeshda (Little
Hope) passed the winter of 1855. She was on her way to Stratensk,
carrying Admiral Puchachin on his return from a mission to Japan.
Caught by ice the Nadeshda wintered under shelter of this rock, while
the Admiral became a horse marine and mounted a saddle for a ride of
four hundred miles. Since that time the rock has borne the name of the
boat it protected.
In most of the villages there are schools for educating the boys of
the Cossacks and peasants. Some pupils are admitted free, while from
others a small fee is required. Occasionally I saw boys flocking to
the schools at sound of the master’s bell, or coming out at recess or
dismissal. I had no opportunity to inspect one of these
establishments, but presume my description of the one at Mihalofski
will answer for all. The youths were as noisy as school-boys
everywhere, and when out of restraint indulged in the same hilarity as
if born on the banks of the Hudson or the Thames.
At noon on the 14th we stopped at Albazin to leave passengers and take
wood. It was Sunday, and the population appeared in its best clothing,
a few of the women sporting crinoline, and all wearing their best
calicoes. Among the men there were Cossacks and soldiers in their grey
coats or in plain cloth and sheepskin. I saw a few Yakuts with the
narrow eyes of the Tunguze and their clothing of deerskin.
A few Orochons stood apart from the Russians, but not less observant
of the boat and those on board. Outside the village were three or four
conical yourts belonging to the aboriginals. It is said this people
formerly lived in the province of Yakutsk, whence they emigrated to
the Amoor in 1825. One of their chiefs has a hunting knife with the
initials of the Empress Catherine. It was presented to an ancestor of
the present owner.
Albazin is finely situated on a plateau fifty feet high and extending
some distance back to the mountains. Opposite is a small river
abounding in fish, and in front an island several thousand acres in
extent and very fertile. Though less than seven years old, Albazin had
already begun to sell grain for transportation to Nerchinsk. A steamer
laden with grain left for Stratensk three days before our arrival.
Albazin is of historical interest to the Russians. In the year 1669 a
Polish adventurer named Chernigofsky built a fort at Albazin. That his
men might not be without the comforts of religion he brought a priest,
who founded a church at the new settlement. It is related that when
organizing his expedition he forcibly seized this priest and kept him
under guard during the journey to the Amoor. The Chinese twice
besieged Albazin, once with eighteen thousand men, and afterward with
nearly double that number. The Russians resisted a long time, and were
only driven from the Amoor by the famous treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689.
When I landed at Albazin, Captain Porotof, superintendent of the
Russian settlements between that point and Komarskoi, guided me
through the ruins. The present village of Albazin is inside the line
of Chinese works, and the church occupies the interior of the old
fort. All the lines of intrenchment and siege can be easily seen, the
fort being distinctly visible from the river. Its walls are about ten
feet high, and the ditch is partially filled from the washing of earth
during the many years since the evacuation. A drain that carries water
from the church has cut a hole through the embankment. In it I could
see the traces of the trees and brushwood used in making the fort.
In the fort and around it cannon shot, bullets, arrow heads, and
pieces of pottery are frequently found. A few years ago a magazine of
rye was discovered, the grains being perfect and little injured by
time. Captain Porotof gave me two Chinese cannon shot recently found
there and greatly roughened on the surface by the action of rust. The
position and arrangement of their batteries and lines of
circumvallation show that the Chinese were skilled in the art of war.
Albazin was valuable to the early adventurers on account of the fine
sables taken in its vicinity. It is important now for the same reason.
The Albazin sable is the best on the Amoor; that of the Buryea
mountains is next, and that from Blagoveshchensk is third in grade. At
several places I saw these furs, but found none of them equaling the
furs of Kamchatka.
Some interesting stories about the siege of Albazin are told by the
Russians. While the siege was progressing and the garrison was greatly
distressed for want of food, Chernigofsky sent a pie weighing forty or
fifty pounds to the Chinese commander to convince him that the fort
was abundantly supplied. The latter was so delighted with the gift
that he sent back for more, but his request was unheeded. He probably
saw through the little game they were attempting to play on him and
determined to beat them at it. History does not say whether the pie
was pork, mutton, or anything else. Possibly the curs of Albazin may
have entered into its composition.
[Illustration: TAIL PIECE—GAME]