46 
S A R YT.S CII EW r S TEA V E L S, 
As otir baggage was already at Jakutsk, we hastened to send the 
order of the magistrate to the Jakntish Knasks on the Amga, to 
have the roads mended without delay. 
CHAP. Vil. 
TRANSPORT OF THE BAGGAGE TO J IT DO M S K O T - IC REST 
DIFFICULTIES ON THE PASSAGE.—RI V E R-T U N G U SI AN S. 
—GLUTTONY OF THE JAKUTS.—ARRIVAL AT OCHOTSK. 
nn ^ 
HE conveyance of the baggage to Judomskoi-krest being 
confided to me, I proceeded on the 14th of July to Usmaiash 
Tristan, where I found a vast quantity of stores, which had been 
transported upon telegas, or four-wheeled carriages, drawn by 
oxen. The next day I disposed all the luggage in 17 canoes, 
and attended them myself down the river. Each canoe held 70 
poods, and the whole burthen, of which our ordnance and an¬ 
chors formed the principal part, amounted to 1500 poods. Each 
canoe drew three feet of water, and the whole was dragged 
along by 120 men, who were principally Jakuts, hired for the 
purpose. 
We set off at midnight from the above-mentioned place, and 
crossing the Aldan, came to the mouth of the Maia, which is 
300 fathoms broad, and nine feet deep in the middle. But we 
soon found places where the river in its whole breadth is not 
above live feet deep. The water was then likewise two foot 
higher than ordinary. 
At first the stream was so gentle as to admit of our rowing, 
but the tide gradually gained strength as we went on farther. 
Both sides were covered with small larch-trees, and occasionally 
with shrubs of different kinds. The right bank is so low, as to be 
continually overflowed; but the left bank is in some parts 20, in 
others 60 and 80 toises high. It is also very rocky in many 
places. Farther on, the mountains of the left bank gradually de¬ 
cline so low as to leave the shore under water; while on the 
other hand, the right side begins to rise, and is continued by a 
rocky declivity for some distance. 
Here we found some River-Tungusians, so called from their 
having no reindeer, and paddling incessantly about the river in 
their birch canoes, which serve at the same time for their habi¬ 
tations. These canoes are very small, and much in use among 
the Jakuts, in lakes and rivers. They are composed of twigs, 
plaited round long poles, which answer the purpose of ribs, and 
are altogether covered with the bark of the birch tree. The ca¬ 
vities are filled up with a sort of cement, which the Jakuts ex¬ 
tract from boiled cream. These people, who live entirely on, 
