Notes on Manchuria 



261 



was very anxious for me to get some 

 captain to take him the following sum- 

 mer, with his family, canoe, and outfit, 

 to the northeast as far as the ship went, 

 and then he would try to find this mys- 

 terious land of which he had heard so 

 much ; but no one cared to bother with 

 this venturesome Eskimo explorer. So 

 confident was this man of the truth of 

 these reports that he was eager to sail 

 away into the unknown, like another 

 Columbus, in search of an Eskimo par- 

 adise." 



' ' The only report of land having been 

 seen by civilized man in this vicinity was 

 made by Captain John Keenan, of Troy, 

 New York, in the seventies. He was 

 at that time in command of the whaling 

 bark Stamboul, of New Bedford. Cap- 

 tain Keenan said that after taking sev- 

 eral whales the weather became thick, 

 and he stood to the north undereasy sail, 



and was busily engaged in trying out 

 and stowing down the oil taken. When 

 the fog cleared off, land was distinctly 

 seen to the north by him and all the 

 men of his crew ; but, as he was not on 

 a voyage of discovery and there were 

 no whales in sight, he was obliged to 

 give the order to keep away to the south 

 in search of them. The success of his 

 voyage depended on keeping among 

 whales. 



' ' The fact was often discussed among 

 the whalemen on the return of the fleet 

 to San Francisco in the fall. The posi- 

 tion of Captain Keenan 's ship at the 

 time land was seen has passed from my 

 mind, except that it was between Har- 

 rison and Camden Bays." 



It will be noticed that these state- 

 ments would place the island a little to 

 west of the position shown on the ac- 

 companying map. 



NOTES ON MANCHURIA 



By U. S. Consul Henry B. Miller, Niuchwang, Manchuria 



IBEUEVE there is no place in the 

 world where the wagon or cart 

 traffic is equal to that of Niuch- 

 wang. • The carts compete with the 

 railroads in a haul of 400 miles or more. 

 During the winter months, when the 

 roads are firmly frozen, there are not 

 less than 2,000 carts, each carrying two 

 tons, per day coming to the port, each 

 drawn by from four to seven mules or 

 ponies. Some of these carts are from 

 thirty to forty days on the roads, in order 

 to reach the market. It is under such 

 conditions as these that the trade of 

 Niuchwang, amounting to nearly $20,- 

 000,000 per year, has grown. It is a 

 mistake to attribute the growth of this 

 trade to the building of the Russian 

 railway. The railways are just begin- 

 ning to have an influence toward im- 



proving the trade of the country, and 

 the natives are only beginning to alter 

 their methods to meet these new con- 

 ditions. It is plain that the railways 

 will add much to the development of 

 the productiveness and trade of the 

 country, but that remains for the future 

 to show. The country has made this 

 marvelous growth independent of the 

 railways, and what it will do with them 

 will depend upon the wisdom of the 

 railway management. 



Before 1902 practically all the foreign 

 trade in Manchuria came through the 

 port of Niuchwang, and the Chinese an- 

 nual customs returns gave the complete 

 statement of imports and exports for all 

 the country. This was altered to a con- 

 siderable extent by imports and exports 

 in 1902 through Dalny, Port Arthur, 



