TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 657 



After a course of GoO miles it imilcs with the Argun at Ust Stielka, aud forms 

 the Amur. From Ust Strelka to its ra<iuth tlie Amur lia? a course of 1780 miles 

 ■wit'a a fall of 2000 feet ; but if the Argun be regarded as the head-quarters of the 

 river there must be allowed to the Amur a length of 300(3 miles, and a fall of 

 6000 feet. At Ust Strelka the river is 1100 yards wide, and ten feet deep. At 

 Albazin, IGO miles lower, it contracts to ryjo' yards, but the depth increases to 

 20 feet. It then runs 400 miles to the south-east and passes Blagovestchensk 

 the left bank from Ust Strelka being Russian, and the right bank ( 'hiuese territory! 

 At Aigun the rivdr increases to a mile in width, and at Tashkova commences to 

 How through the Bureya M(HmtaiQS in a stream 000 yards wide, and from 110 to 

 80 feet deep. After this the stream widens up to the confluence of tjie Ussuri 

 which flows into the right bank of the Amur at Khabarofka, 112.] miles from 

 Ust Strelka. I'^rom Khabarofka, Mr. Lansdell descended the Amur 000 miles to 

 Nikolaefsk. The river now widened in some places to three miles in a siuMe 

 channel, and where islands intervened its greatest breadth was as much as twefve 

 miles. On the third day fri)m Khabarofka the traveller reached Michailofsky 

 situated in the district whence is produced the corn of the lower Amur (which 

 amounted in 1878 to 3270 tons, besides 811 tons of potatoes). ' 



On the last day's travel, Mr. Lansdell saw at Tuir some Tatar monuments with 

 Sanscrit words written iu Chinese, Niguriau, and Thibetan. It is said to be the 

 site of an ancient Lama monastery. The characters on the principal stone reminded 

 the observer of a palimpsest manuscript of which only the upper characters had 

 been deciphered. 



The author reached Nikolaefsk on the 13th, and staved to the 30th Au"-ust 

 then returning to Khabarofka. This gave him ampler opportunity of seeiu'? the' 

 natives— especially the Gilyaks and Goldi. The Gilvaks inhabit the lower^part 

 of the river, are small in stature, and live almost entirely on tish. They have 

 little notion of a Supreme Beiug, aiid are ccmmonlv sail to worship the bear 

 (this, however, they denied). So far as they have any reli^non at all, it is that of 

 Shamanism, common to most of the aborigines of Northern Asia, the chief leature 

 of which appears to be that of a priest performing incintations, and connected 

 with which is the driuldngof brandy to intoxication. They use als) rou^h idols 

 of wood. ' " 



Higher on the Amur, and up the Ussuri dwell the floldi, numbering GOOO 

 They are slightly superior lo the Gilyaks, but both people buv their wives, aud 

 practise polygamy; a wi.'"e costs eight or tend.igs.a sledge, and two cases of brandy 

 The favourite winter dresses of Goldi and Gilyaks are made of the skins of their 

 dogs, but in summer they use dresses of fish-skin. Tlie liussian 3Iissionary at 

 Khabarofka told Mr. Lansdell that in 23 years he had baptized in the neio-hbour- 

 hood more than 2000 heathens. " 



On the 4th September, the traveller came the second time to Khabarofka 

 whence he proceeded up the Ussuri. This river is nearly two miles wide at its' 

 junction with the Amur. In ascending, the right bank is Chinese territory, the 

 left Ru.s.siau. The Chinese bank is for the most part Hal : but the horizon is 

 bounded by low mountain peaks. The left, or Russian bank, is mountainous and 

 wooded. Sometimes the mountains retire, leaving a rich bottom land of Eno-lisk 

 park-like scenery. The habitations passed on the Ussuri were few and far between. 

 Most of the Russian d^^•ellings consisted of Cossack sfmii/zas and pickets, placed 

 there to guard the frontier. The Ussuri is navigable several miles beyond Busse, 

 and could a railway be made from A'ladivostock to its most southern naviirable 

 point It would be of the greatest importance to the fertile lands of the lower sea- 

 coast province. The total length of the Ussuri is 407 miles. The upper part of 

 the stream is rapid, aud below the confluence of the Sungacha also it is swift • but 

 towards the mouth it has a current of two knots onlv. It presents no special 

 difliculties to navigation. " 



On the 9th September, Mr. Lansdell at Busse entered the Sungacha which is 

 from 100 to 110 feet wide, and from 50 to 80 feet deep. It is veiy tortuous and 

 winding, having a bend in eacli half-mile ; the water is .so muddy as to be unuse- 

 able for cooking, but is full of fish and also of turtles, and t!ie banks abound with 



1880. 



u u 



