321 



AMSTERDAM, NEW. 



AMUR. 



The slanting sides of the crater contain many thermal springs, some 

 of which run freely while others ooze out in the form of mud. The 

 temperature of these springs is various, some being 196 of Fahrenheit, 

 and others at the boiling heat. Swamps and stagnant pools of water, 

 varying in their heat from 80 to 130", are found on every part of the 

 island. Most of the springs are brackish ; one of them, the tempera- 

 ture of which is 112, is strongly chalybeate. 



The soil is altogether volcanic ; it is spongy and porous, and 

 trembles under the feet. If the ear be applied to the surface, a sound 

 like that of bubbling water may be heard. 



The sea on the coast abounds with fish. Among these are some 

 red-coloured perch, from 6 to 12 inches in length ; another species of 

 perch, from 3 to 4 feet long ; rock-cod, and bream. The quantity of 

 cray-nsh seen crawling on the bar at the entrance of the crater at low 

 water, is almost incredible. 



No frutescent plant is found on the island. The list of its vegetables 

 is confined to mosses and a few kinds of grasses. Not a single quad- 

 ruped of any kind inhabits the island, which is likewise free from all 

 insects, with the exception of the common fly. Land birds are never 

 seen here, but the number of aquatic birds which resort hither to 

 lay their eggs is astonishing. Among these are the white and the 

 brown albatross ; crested penguin ; black, gray, blue, and stormy 

 petrel ; puffin ; silver bird, or sea-swallow ; and a small brown duck, 

 not larger than a thrush. 



The shore of Amsterdam Island is resorted to by great numbers of 

 seals, for which reason it is visited by the Americans, who carry the 

 skins which they there procure to China. 



A paper in the twentieth volume of the ' Philosophical Transactions,' 

 which gives an account of the discovery of this island by Van Vlaming, 

 states that the sea was then so crowded by seals and sea-lions, " that 

 it was necessary to kill them in order to effect a passage for the ship 

 to the ihore." These animals, although still abundant, are certainly 

 not now in sufficient numbers to obstruct the passage. Another 

 marvellous statement in the same paper was to the effect that fish 

 might be caught in the sea with one hand, and cooked with the other 

 in the natural boiling springs ; and this assertion has been almost 

 literally corroborated by Mr. Barrow, who hi 1793 dropped some perch 

 "living, off the hooks into a boiling spring, and found them cooked to 

 perfection in fifteen minutes." 



AMSTERDAM, NEW. [BEBBICE.] 



AMU. [Oxus.] 



AMUCU, a lake, situated on the boundary-line between British 

 Guyana and the empire of Brazil, in 3 30' N. lat., 58 55' W. long. 

 In the dry season it is hardly more than 3 miles long, and almost 

 covered with rushes, showing only at intervals sheets of water. 

 A small river called Pirarara passes through it, and falls into the 

 Maou, about 10 miles above the junction of that river with the 

 Tocoto, an affluent of the Rio Branco, which latter river falls into the 

 Rio Negro, one of the principal tributaries of the Amazonas. In the 

 rainy season the low and level country surrounding the lake is covered 

 with water, and the lake then extends to the mountains, a distance of 

 many miles. It even overflows the country which in the dry season 

 lies between it and the Rupunoony, an affluent of the Essequibo, and 

 constitutes at that season a natural water-communication between the 

 last-mentioned river and the Amazonas. This lake is remarkable 

 since in the fabulous accounts of the El Dorado (or gold country) its 

 banks were stated to consist of auriferous earth, and near it the 

 imperial and golden city of Mansa was said to be built. 



(Schomburgk, hi London Geogr. Journal, voL vi.) 



AMUR, one of the largest rivers of Asia, rises near 50 N. lat., 

 110 E. long., and its mouth is opposite the northern extremity of 

 the Island of Taraikai, formerly called Saghalien, in 53 N. lat., 143 

 K. long. It carries off nearly all the waters of the slopes and 

 mountains in which the gre#t desert of Gobi or Shamo terminates 

 towards the east. The basin of this great river lies partly in the 

 Russian but chiefly in the Chinese empire. It is very imperfectly 

 kaowo, 



The source of the Amur is the river Onon, which rises hi that range 

 of the Baikalean Mountains which is called Kentei. [ALTAI.] This 

 river, which drains a country now nearly uninhabited, is famous in 

 Mongol history ; the great hero, Gengis Khan, was born and distin- 

 guished himself in his youth on its banks. The Onon first runs from 

 west to east for about 160 miles, and afterwards to the north-east for 

 ;il>imt 320 miles, till it joins the Ingoda. The Ingoda rises on the 

 eastern declivity of the Tshokondo, the highest summit of the range 

 which separates the tributaries of the Amur from those of the Lake 

 of Baikal, or of the Yablonoi Krebet ; and runs nearly parallel to the 

 Onon till it joins the latter, after a course of about 160 miles. After 

 this junction the river is called Shilka by the Russians, and Saghalien- 

 Ula by the Mandshoo, and continues under this name its north-eastern 

 course for about 260 miles, when it meets the Argun or Ergun<S, a 

 large river, which in its upper course is called Kherlon and Lu-Kiu, 

 and has its sources also in the Kentei, near 110 E. long., but about 

 three degrees farther to the south, in 47 N. lat. 



The Kherlon runs, according to the Chinese ' Geography,' in the 

 first part of its course, to the north for about 70 miles, then for about 

 35 miles to the south-east, and afterwards to the north-east for 320 

 miles. It then changes the direction of its course to the east, making 



OEOO. DIV., VOL. I. 



its way through two ranges of high mountains, and after having run 

 in this direction for about 100 miles, it falls into the large Lake of 

 Kuluu or Dalai Nor (117 E. long.), which is 210 miles in circum- 

 ference. From this lake the river issuing under the name of Argun 

 forms the boundary between the Chinese and Russian empires, and 

 after a north-north-eastern and northern course of about 400 miles, 

 joins the Shilka, in 53 23' N. lat. 



After this junction the river is called Amur by the Russians, who 

 adopted this name from the Ghileaki, a tribe of the Tunguses, living 

 near its mouth, in whose language Amur or Yamur signifies the 

 ' Great River,' or the ' Great Water.' The Mandshoo preserve the 

 name of Saghalien-Ula (River of Black Water). 



The Amur does not long continue its north-eastern course. An 

 extensive mountain range, the Khing-ghan Oola or Yalo, stretching from 

 south to north, obliges the river to take the same direction. But it soon 

 forces its way through the mountains, forming for perhaps 100 miles 

 a succession of rapids, till it enters the plain situated to the east of 

 the mountain-range. During it passage through the mountains, the 

 Amur changes the direction of its course from north to east, declines 

 afterwards to the south-east aud south, and continues in this direction 

 till from the 54th parallel it has descended to the 48th. It then 

 resumes its eastern course, and at its most southern point (47^ N. 

 lat.) its waters are increased by those of the Sungari or Songari-Ula, 

 which by the Chinese is considered as the principal river. 



The Songari-Ula rises nearly in 42 N. lat. in a mountain called 

 Tshang-pe Shan (White Mountain) on account of the snow with 

 which its summit is always covered, and separates the basin of the 

 Amur from the peninsula of Corea and the basin of the Hoang-Hai, 

 or Yellow Sea. Its general course is north-north-west till it joins 

 the Naun or Nonni-Ula, a large river which descends along the 

 eastern side of the Khing-ghan Oiilu Mountains, from 52 to 46 N. 

 lat. in a general direction from north-west to south-east. After 

 this junction the Songari-Ula runs east-north-east till it joins the 

 Amur. 



At a considerable distance from the junction with the Songari-Ula, 

 the Amur again changes its course, running henceforth to the north- 

 north-east down to its embouchure, and traversing the country 

 between 47 and 53 N. lat. In this part of its course it receives 

 another considerable river, the Usuri-Ula, which runs parallel to the 

 Pacific Ocean, from which it is divided by a high mountain-range ; 

 but this tributary of the Amur is entirely unknown. 



The whole course of the Amur amounts to above 2000 miles ; in a 

 straight line however the sources and mouth are only about 1330 

 miles distant from one another. 



As far as this river is known it abounds in fish ; but though they 

 are of the same species as those of the rivers in Europe, they are, as 

 Pallas observes, distinguished by some peculiarities. 



The country drained by this river and its branches is divided by the 

 Khing-ghan Oola Mountains into two parts, quite different in their 

 character. This mountain-range is the eastern boundary of the great 

 desert of Gobi or Shamo, and the country to the west of it, about 

 the Onon and Argun, preserves many of the characteristics of the 

 desert. It is so considerably elevated above the level of the sea, that 

 the Shilka and the Argun, both of which are slow rivers, are com- 

 monly covered with ice from five to six months in the year, though 

 they flow under the parallels of London and Paris. The greatest 

 part of the soil is sandy and sterile, and unfit for agricultural 

 purposes, and of the remainder a small portion only is actually 

 cultivated. In the part of this region which belongs to the Russian 

 empire, and which may amount to nearly one-third, agriculture was 

 much more attended to before the Cossacks conquered it. On their 

 arrival here, in the middle of the 17th century, they found very large 

 tracts cultivated with care, but the cruelties and vexations exercised 

 by them obliged a whole nation, the Da-ures, from which this country 

 is called Da-uria, to abandon their native soil and to take refuge 

 within the Chinese empire. 



The country to the east of the Khing-ghan Oola, which belongs 

 altogether to the Chinese empire, exhibits an entirely different 

 appearance. The valleys enjoy a much milder climate ; and forests 

 of oaks, limes, hazels, and cherry- ^rees replace the scanty woods of fir 

 and larih of Da-uria. The ground along the river, and even to a 

 certain height on the slopes of the mountains, is cultivated, aud 

 produces barley, rye, wheat, buck-wheat, and hemp ; and between the 

 fields extend fine meadows. Since the accession of the present 

 dynasty to the throne of China, many persons are banished to these 

 valleys for their crimes or misdemeanours ; and this policy, it is said, 

 contributes powerfully to improve the state of agriculture. The valley 

 of the Usuri which is more elevated, is chiefly inhabited by a branch 

 of the Mandshoo, who still follow a pastoral life. The mountains 

 that divide this valley from that of the Songari-Ula produce the 

 Ginseng, which in China is considered a panacea ; this is said to be the 

 only place where it is found on the old continent. 



Not far from the banks of the Shilka, and on those of a small river 

 called the Nertsha, the Russians have built the town of Nertshinsk, 

 which contains about 1000 inhabitants. The principal town in the 

 Chinese territories is Kirin or Girin-Ula on the Songari-Ula, the seat 

 of a provincial government. In the valley of the Naun-Ula, is the 

 town of Naun-Koten, and in that of the Usuri, Ninguta, the native 



Y 



