238 Dr. Blackie on Russian Acquisitions in Manchooria, 



bank of the river, a few miles below the mouth of the Kamara, is 

 another Chinese post, and just before reaching the river Seja on the 

 right bank there is a third. At this last, named Amba-sachaljan, the 

 houses, scattered and bad, are built of wood, reeds, and mud, and the 

 windows ai-e filled with oiled paper instead of glass. Round each is a 

 clump of birch, elm, poplar, plane, and acacia trees, and each is pro- ■ 

 vided with a carefully tended garden, in which millet and maize are 

 sown, and small beets, radishes, leeks, onions, Spanish pepper, beans, and 

 other vegetables are grown. There are few cattle, but pigs of various 

 kinds, and barn door fowls are numerous. 



The river Seja, or Dschi, along which it wiU be remembered, Pojai-- 

 hoff sailed in his exploratory journey, here falls in on the left bank. It 

 flows through a magnificent valley, and brings down such a large 

 quantity of water that the Amoor gains greatly in width and depth by 

 the accession. About twenty miles below the mouth of the Seja, and on 

 the right bank of the river, lies the Chinese town and fortress of Sach- 

 aljan-ula-Chotim or Aigunt. Between these two points the banks are 

 thickly covered with villages and isolated houses, and farther down, for 

 some miles, numerous villages are met with. Sachaljan-ula-Chotun is 

 the chief seat of the Chinese power on the banks of the Amoor. It has 

 a considerable garrison, armed as Chinese usually are, and above the 

 town in the harbour were seen thirty- five large river boats of about 100 

 tons burden each. No admission to this place is permitted. 



The river Seja forms the boundary of a hiU country. Beyond it, to 

 the Burija, a distance of about 170 miles, the banks of the Amoor 

 stretch out in wide prairie lauds, fitted either for agriculture or cattle 

 rearing. The vegetation becomes almost European. Here grow the lime 

 tree, poplar, bryony, hazel, oak, black bii'ch, &c. The plains are thickly 

 peopled and extensively cultivated, and the inhabitants — Daurians, 

 Manchoos, and Chinese — occupy themselves likewise with cattle rearing. 



From the river Burija, which joins the Amoor on the left, near the 

 middle of its course, in lat. 49° 23' N., long. 130° 5' 23" E. to Cape 

 Sberbiejeff, the banks are not wooded. On all sides, at a greater or less 

 distance, hills are visible. Sometimes they approach close to the stream, 

 and form sandy cliffs. At Cape Sberbiejeff, which is a high dark hill, 

 the river turns suddenly south, and in a com*se of 180 miles, cuts 

 through a ridge of lofty thickly grouped hills. On the right side, there 

 still continue some small valleys, as far as the Manchoo post, at the 

 mouth of the river Oou, which there falls in on the right bank ; but 

 beyond that point until the mountains, a branch of the CMn-gan, are 

 crossed, the river is literally hemmed in between stone walls, which 

 gradually close in upon it. The current here attains a speed of five 



