i 14 The National Geographic Magazine 



and 300 of all other nationalities, in- 

 cluding Germans, Austrians, Greeks, 

 and Turks. All the rest are Russians. 

 There are no Americans. 



The railway and administration em- 

 ployes, including families, constitute 

 1 1,000 of the population. The Chinese 

 population is about 40,000, located in a 

 special settlement. The ratio of women 

 to men is as follows : Japanese, 120 per 

 cent ; Russians, 44 per cent ; Chinese, 

 1.8 per cent; average of women, 14.3 

 per cent. 



Harbin is the center of the entire 

 railway administration of Manchuria, 

 and, as the Russian commercial enter- 

 prises of the Far East are under the 

 direction of the railway company, it 

 will also be the center of Russian indus- 

 trial and commercial development. It 

 is the headquarters of the civil courts 

 and the chief military post and the main 

 center of control of all the vast army of 

 railway guards. The administration 

 city, therefore, consists of all of the 

 public and private buildings and shops 

 necessary for these various departments. 

 Residences for the employes cover the 

 largest area of this division of this mar- 

 velous city. 



The following are some of the princi- 

 pal buildings of the administration city; 



Building 



Administration buildings, three 

 stories in height, having a total 

 floor space of 3,600 square sagene 

 (i76,4oosquare feet ),tocost when 

 finished 



Railway shops 



Hospitals 



Commercial school and girls' 

 school 



Technical school 



Eight schools for teaching Rus- 

 sians Chinese and for teaching 

 Chinese Russian 



Club and store for employes 



Hotel •. 



Russo-Chinese bank 



Cost of buildings. 



Rubles. 



1,200,000 



2,500,000 



626,000 



500,000 

 250,000 



0.6,000 

 370,000 

 163,000 

 200,000 



Dollars. 



618,000 



1,287,500 



322,390 



257.500 

 128,750 



49,440 

 190,550 



83,945 

 103,000 



The total administration expenditure 

 on the city has been 30,000,000 rubles 

 ($15,450,000). 



TRANSPORTATION 



Steamers. — The Sungari River is navi- 

 gable with light-draft steamers and na- 

 tive craft for nearly 200 miles above the 

 city, up both branches of the river, and 

 much traffic has already developed on 

 these streams, especially in wheat. 



From Harbin to the Amur River, dur- 

 ing the navigating season, which begins 

 in April and ends November 1, good- 

 sized river steamers run daily. These 

 steamers are well fitted with good, com- 

 fortable cabins for first, second, and 

 third class passengers. They carry large 

 cargoes of freight and usually tow 

 barges loaded with freight. From Har- 

 bin to seagoing steamers at the mouth of 

 the Amur cargo is carried now at 14 

 kopecks per pood, or about $4 gold per 

 ton The Chinese Eastern Railroad 

 Company and the Amur Steamship Com- 

 pany run good steamers on this line, and 

 there are also several private boats cov- 

 ering the same route. All are loaded 

 continually to their full capacity. 



The steamers are mostly of the stern- 

 wheel type, burning wood, such as are in 

 operation on the western rivers in the 

 United States, but as far as I could learn 

 none are constructed of American-made 

 machinery. The time usually required 

 to go from Harbin to Kharborofsk, at 

 the mouth of the Ussuri River, on the 

 Amur, is five days. At this place these 

 steamers connect with trains for Vladi- 

 vostock. 



Railroads. — Going west from Harbin 

 the train takes you by a branch line from 

 the crossing of the headwaters of the 

 Amur to Stretensk, the head of naviga- 

 tion of this great river, while the main 

 line goes to Lake Baikal (Siberia) and 

 Russia. Going east, the railway reaches 

 the sea at Vladivostock over a grade 

 that does not exceed in anyplace 13 feet 

 to 1,000. Going south, the Chinese 

 Eastern Railway meets seagoing ships at 

 Niuchwang, Dalny, and Port Arthur. 

 The heaviest grade on this line is 9 feet 



