Survey of the Amoor River. 55 
at Albasin, and also by the treaty of 1727, the boundary be- 
tween the two empires was the Northern watershed of the 
Amoor river on the Stanovoi mountains, leaving the entire basin 
of the river, east of the junction of the Schilka and Argoon in 
possession of the Chinese. It was so delineated on the official 
charts of Russia. In 1844-5, von Middendorf, under instrue- 
tions from the Imp. Acad. of Sciences in St. Petersburgh, pro- 
ceeded to determine on the spot the exact boundary line. He 
reported that the Chinese did not claim as far north as the 
watershed, but only as far on the left bank of the Amoor as the 
tributaries were navigable for small boats. Without further 
ceremony, so far as it appears, some fifty thousand square versts 
on the south of the Stanovoi summits were accor ingly indi- 
cated on the charts as belonging to Russian dominion. 
e Crimean war caused the removal of large bodies of troops, 
often under highly intelligent officers, quite to the Pacific coast, 
for the defence of such Russian possessions as were threatened 
by the allied fleets. Abont that time not less than five Russian 
rts were “provisionally” established on the Amoor, between 
Ust-Strelotschnaja and the mouth of the Sungari. Nicolaieff, 
at the mouth of the Amoor river, was fortified, and even so far 
south (on the right bank of the Amoor) as De Castries bay the 
Russian flag was raised and a fort erected. The actual posses- 
sion of the Amoor was thus completed. By recent advices it 
appears that Russia, in addition to a commercial treaty like that 
of the other powers, has obtained a treaty conceding to it all of 
the Amoor territory which had thus been oceupied. What are 
the exact limits of this concession we are not yet informed. 
the ulterior purpose of the movements in that region.* 
how visited that country that we may anticipate at an early day 
vi ions to our knowledge of Hastern Asia. Already the 
: 
may be found for the most part in the comprehensive “ Mittheil- 
ungen” of Dr. P , are sufficient to awaken a profound 
_ * Perry’s Japan. i. 32. 
