232 Dr. Blackie on Russian Acquisitions in Manchooria, 



the rivers Shilka and Argun, which unite their waters in lat. 53° 19' 

 27" N., Ion. 121° 50' 7" E., in the north-west of the Chinese territory 

 of Manchooria; thence it flows first in a south-east, and then in a north- 

 east direction, and falls into the northern part of the gulf of Tartary, 

 opposite the island of Saghalien, after a course, reckoned from the head 

 waters of the streams of which it is composed, of 2,380 geographical 

 miles, or about 2,731 statute miles; and, after draining a basin, whose 

 area is estimated at 582,880 geographical square miles, or more than 

 the united area of France, Austria, Great Britain, and Ireland. It is 

 navigable throughout its whole course, from the junction of the Shilka 

 and Argun to the sea, or probably not less than 1,500 statute miles. 



Early in the seventeenth century, the Kussians carried their arms into 

 eastern Siberia, and, about 1636-1639, obtained information through 

 some Cossacks of the existence of a large river in Manchooria, called 

 by the Chinese He-long-kiang, but which they named the Amoor. 

 This is the first notice of this river received by Europeans. In 1643, 

 the Cossack officer, Vasilei Pojarkoff, accompanied by a band of adven- 

 turers, entered Manchooria, in the hope of discovering silver ore. 

 Taking his departure from the newly founded town of Yakutsk, he pro- 

 ceeded up some of the affluents of the Adan river, till he reached the 

 Yablonoi, or Stanovoi mountains, which separated the then territory of 

 Yakutsk from Manchooria, and occupied two weeks in crossing this 

 mountain range and reaching the banks of the river Seja, or Dschi. 

 Along this stream Pojarkoff sailed to its junction with theAmoor, andhe 

 then navigated the latter river till he reached the ocean. Pojarkoff 

 found no silver ore, but he returned laden with such a quantity of 

 costly furs that other adventurers soon followed his steps. In 1650, 

 the Cossack leader, Jerofei Chabaroff, animated by like views, entered 

 the Amoorland, planted a luie of fortified posts along the Amoor river, 

 and the upper part of its principal affluents, and subdued the greater 

 part of Manchooria to the Russian crown. Chabaroff did not reach 

 the embouchure of the river, but this was accomplished by one of his 

 officers, the Cossack Nagiba, in the year 1651. 



For a time after Chabaroff's conquest, the Manchoos were too much 

 occupied in consolidating theu" power in China, which had recently been 

 brought under their sway, to give proper attention to the pi'oceedings 

 of the Russians, who were forming settlements in the Amoorland. 

 Still the fortress of Albasin, founded by the Russians in 1658, was 

 destroyed by the Chinese in 1664 and 1665 — rebuilt by the Russians, 

 and a second time taken and razed by the rightful owners of the soil. 

 At length, in 1689, the Chinese emperor Kang-hi sent to the Amoor a 

 strong military force, which the Russians could not withstand. All 



