THE EXPLORATION OF MANCHURIA. 
By Capt. Arthur de C. Sowerby, F. R. G. S., F. Z. S. 
[With 4 plates. 1 
Manchuria, perhaps on account of its being the ancestral home 
of the last ruling djaiasty of the great Chinese Empire, has long been 
a country of considerable interest to explorers from the west, though, 
owing to peculiar difficulties, not usually presented in the cases 
of other unlaiown parts of the world, its exploration has not been so 
thorough or so rapid as might have been expected. 
The difficulties which barred alike the scientific and commercial 
explorer, and effectually kept out the greatest pioneer of all, the 
prospector, lay in the fact that the Manchu emperors in their rule 
over China tried to keep closed the doors of this the sacred home 
of their forbears against the inquisitive and grasping Europeans. 
And, all things considered, and from their own point of view, they 
had considerable reason on their side. 
As regards Manchuria itself, their first experience with the white 
" barbarians " of the west occurred when the Russians in their march 
of conquest across Siberia came into contact with the outposts of the 
Manchu Empire on the Amur in the seventeenth centur}^, and at 
once a struggle commenced between the emissaries of the two mighty 
empires for the possession of this valuable stretch of territory, which 
ended in the nineteenth century in the whole of the Amur and Ussuri 
regions coming under the sway of the Tsar of all the Russias. 
Next the Manchu emperors found the white man knocking with 
no uncertain hand at the doors of their domain in the far south, so 
that it is not to be wondered at that they tried to keep IManchuria 
closed to these aliens. Nevertheless, the whites have persisted in their 
purpose, and, after forcing the doors, have during the past century 
succeeded in finding out much about the wonderful country of 
Manchuria. 
Very early in what may be called the modem history of the coun- 
try the great explorer and naturalist. Pallas, reached the Amur 
region. He was followed in turn by Radde and Schrenck, and all 
three have left invaluable records of their discoveries. 
* Paper read at the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, May 26, 1919. Re- 
printed by permission from the Geographical Journal, Vol. LIV, No. 2, August, 1919. 
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