remarks on rivers. 
5$ 
The Aldoma has two sources, namely on the Jablonish moun¬ 
tains, and on those from whence the Ulkan springs. At its 
mouth we found three jurts of Tungusians, who subsist alone on 
fish, which are similar to those at Ochotsk. The Reindeer 
Tungusians come also here to fish at the close of June. 
Although they assured me that the banks of the Aldoma pro¬ 
duced no timber, yet I observed among the floating wood some 
pieces four yards in thickness, and twelve or fourteen in length. 
During my stay in the Uldoma, 1 had the unexpected pleasure 
of meeting with Mr. Fomin, who was just come from the Uda. 
Whoever has experienced the agreeable surprise of rn eeting a 
friend or acquaintance in a savage and desert quarter of the 
globe, will fully enter into our feelings on this occasion. 
Mr. Fomin was commissioned to plan a harbour on the 
Uda, but its entrance being two shallow, and otherwise in¬ 
commodious for the reception of vessels, he had surveyed the 
whole of the Uda as far as the Chinese frontiers to the east, 
and the Aldoma to the north-east, but found nothing worthy of 
his attention, except a bay in the latter river, which was per¬ 
fectly sheltered on all sides, except towards the south. Besides 
these two rivers, there is only the famous Amur, which after 
passing through 400 versts of the Chinese territory, falls into 
this sea. 
This river formerly belonged to Russia,, and between the years 
1 664 and 1689, attracted the Kosuks and hunters from the 
different nations in the Russian dominions, to its borders. Ci¬ 
ties, fortresses, and villages, were built, and agriculture intro-* 
duced. The land is fruitful, and the water abounds in fish ; the 
inhabitants therefore lived in opulence, and would in time have 
converted this tract of country into the most flourishing part of 
Russia, if the envy and jealousy of the Chinese had not been 
roused against these new settlers, to impede their farther esta¬ 
blishment. They sent a considerable force for the purpose of 
destroying their cities, and although they met with a stout re¬ 
sistance, yet by a treaty concluded between them and the Rus¬ 
sians, the latter retained only the .upper part of the Amur, under 
the name of the rivers Schilka and Arguka, the confluence of 
which forms the new frontier. All beyond this point w 7 as ceded 
to the Chinese, and the Russian city Aib.isin, together with the 
Argunsk on the southern side pf the Arguna, and adjacent places, 
were destroyed. The city of Nertochmsk only was saved, and 
and afterwards another fortress of the same name was built, on 
the north side of the Arguna. 
The Chinese have not derived the smallest advantage from this 
possession of the river, which, by remaining in the hands of the 
