MAjSTCHURIA SOWERBY, 461 
The Province is bounded on the north bj^ the Amur, and on the 
south bj the Sungari. It has practically no railways, the western 
section of the Chinese Eastern Railway only passing through the 
southwestern corner. However, the Russians have recently built a 
railway down the left bank of the Amur from Karimskaya, near 
Chita, to connect up with the recently opened Ussuri Railway at 
Khabarovsk, while steam'ers ply on the Amur at least from Bla- 
govyeshchensk - (noted for a brutal massacre of Chinese by the Rus- 
sians, who some 15 years ago ^ drove the Chinese inhabitants, consist- 
ing of some 2,000 souls, at the point of the bayonet into the river) 
to its mouth, and up the Sungari as far as Harbin and even to Kirin. 
Of the state of cultivation and the products of this Province I can 
not speak at first hand, except to say that along the banks of the 
Sungari the rich soil is rapidly being brought under the plow for 
the production of the soya bean and other cereals. The fur-hunting 
and fishing industries are also of great importance. 
As alread}^ stated, I made four expeditions from Tientsin into 
Manchuria. The first of these had for its object the exploration of 
the forested area of western Kirin. After reaching Kaiyiian by 
train, mj companion. Major Bowker, and I engaged carts and pro- 
ceeded eastward to a place called Chaoyangchen, which is situated 
within 10 or 15 miles of the outskirts of the forest, close to the 
Fengtien-Kirin border. We passed a number of villages on the way, 
and two rather large towns, Shanchengtze and Hailungfu. These 
were new and, from all accounts, of mushroom growth. Indeed, the 
road we traversed led through country that showed abundant evi- 
dence of having come under the plow but recently. 
From Chaoyangchen, where we stayed a couple of days with Dr. 
and Mrs. W. Young, of the United Free Church of Scotland Mission, 
we set out in a southeasterly direction, and, after passing the new 
township of Huinanting, where the local official did his best to stop 
our further progress, owing to the fear that we might fall foul of a 
notorious band of Hung-hu-tzu (bandits) that infested the neighbor- 
ing forest, we entered and traveled up the valley of the Hama Ho 
(Frog River). We were very soon in the forest, which here con- 
sisted mainl}'' of oak, walnut, elm, and maple, the first three mostly 
of gigantic size. There Had been conifers — pines and spruce — but 
these had been cut away by recent settlers, who were everjnvhere 
making large clearings, building log cabins, and cultivating the rich 
soil. 
The roads, if one may use the term, were excessively bad, and we 
had considerable difficulty in making headway. We had not gone 
^ As a matter of fact, they run up as far as Stretensk on the Shilka River. A. deC. S. 
* This massacre took place in ISOO, during the Boxer outbreak. 
