9^ NOTES ON THE RIVER AMCr. [Dec. 13, 1858. 



Third Meeting, December loth, 1858. 



Sir KODERICK I. MURCHISON, President, in the Chair. 



Presentations. — Earl Stanhope, the Rev. N, Lewis, and Messrs. 

 J. A. Mucker, G. M. M. Esmeade, and Conway M. Shipley, were presented 

 upon their election. 



Elections. — Colonel J. A. Hazelius, Chief of the Topographical Corps 

 of Sioeden, as a Corresponding Member ; Capt. C. Cornwallis Chesney, 

 r.e. ; Captain E. MoncMon Jones ; Rev. William J. Edge, m.a. ; James 

 Allan ; Henry Blackett ; Henry Collinson ; William Davies ; Pascoe St. Leger 

 GrenfeU I Charles Lewell, Phil. Dr.; Francis Lyne ; A. Henderson 

 Mac Doug all ; J. Sydney Stopford ; and J. J. W. Watson, Esqrs., were 

 elected Fellows. 



The Papers read were : — 



1. Notes on the River Amur and the adjacent Districts. By MM. 

 Peschurof, Vasilief, Radde, Usoltzof, Pargachefski, &c. 



The Paper read before the Society consists of a large collection of 

 extracts from a series of reports made to the Imperial Geographical 

 Society of Russia. They were written by the leaders of the various 

 expeditions which had been despatched to explore the Valley of the 

 Amur, its tributaries, and adjacent districts. 



It will be recollected that the Amur is the most valuable river 

 of Northern Asia, and the only one that connects its central steppes 

 with the rest of the world. It is navigable, with trifling interrup- 

 tions, from the Pacific, by the Sea of Okotsk, to the very foot of the 

 Yablonnoi range, and it appears that a very small amount of road 

 and canal would suffice to open a communication between that point 

 and the Baltic by way of the Selenga River and Lake Baikal. A 

 certain amount of commerce is already being carried on upon the 

 waters of the Amiir. American products and manufactures find 

 their way to Irkutsk, and salted meat from the trans-Baikal provinces 

 is exported in exchange. Russian immigrants are beginning to 

 settle along its banks among the ten tribes (some partly settled, 

 others entirely nomad) that have hitherto occupied the soil. 

 Taking, as a whole, the accounts of the various travellers whose 

 communications have been incorporated into the present paper, it 

 would appear that the Amiir is within — but only just within — a 

 climate admitting of agricultural fertility and pastoral wealth. The 

 summer is fine, but winter is extremely rigorous, and the natural 

 vegetation of the land consists alone of the hardiest plants. Farther 



