SCENERY ON THE AMUR 49 



the so-called "Jeltuga republic," a few miles inland, 

 and such was the disorder and lawlessness in their 

 midst that the Celestial Government was obliged to 

 send troops in 1886 to scatter the miscreants. Food 

 on board was anything but good ; supplies were 

 scarce, and butter unknown. Our main support was 

 soup, together with a few fragments of former pros- 

 perity, such as Littledale's cakes, bits of which were 

 daily distributed with much parsimony "to make them 

 last." Fortunately at one of the villages the cook 

 managed to get hold of a freshly caught twenty-pound 

 sturgeon, which was highly appreciated by the fam- 

 ished party. We now advanced steadily, covering 

 about 250 versts a day (160 miles). 



June the 8th was a lovely warm day on the Amur. 

 The scenery had by now entirely changed ; the hills 

 had almost disappeared, giving place to low rolling 

 plains on either side, covered with high grass and 

 groves of poplar, ash, and young oak trees. At one of 

 the stanitzas we picked up a sailor who had caught his 

 foot in the engine of a steamer, and took him to the 

 hospital at Blagovestchensk, where we were due on 

 the following morning. In the afternoon we passed 

 the so-called " Hurning Cliff." It is supposed that 

 the smoke which rises perpetually out of the ground 

 is due to the slow combustion of coal. Towards 



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