a French captain that we were engaged in an international
enterprise, and therefore not subject to capture. Anossoff joined me
in arranging a plan to cover contingencies.

As we approached De Castries we could see the spars of a large ship
over the islands at the entrance of the harbor. A moment later she was
announced.

"A corvette, with steam up."

She displayed her flag--an English one. As we dropped anchor in the
harbor a boat came to us, and an officer mounted the side and
descended to the cabin. The ship proved to be the British Corvette
Scylla, just ready to sail for Japan. Escaping her we did not
encounter Charybdis. The mission of the Scylla was entirely pacific,
and her officer informed us there had been war between Prussia and
Austria, but at last accounts all Europe was at peace. The war of
1866 was finished long before I knew of its commencement.

De Castries Bay is on the Gulf of Tartary, a hundred and thirty-five
miles from Nicolayevsk. La Perouse discovered and surveyed it in 1787,
and named it in honor of the French Minister of Marine. It is in Lat.
51 deg. 28' N., Lon. 140 deg. 49' E., and affords good and safe anchorage.
Near the entrance are several islands, which protect ships anchored
behind them. The largest of these islands is occupied as a warehouse
and coal depot, and has an observatory and signal station visible from
the Gulf. The town is small, containing altogether less than fifty
buildings. It is a kind of ocean port to Nicolayevsk and the Amoor
river, but the settlement was never a flourishing one.

Twelve miles from the landing is the end of Lake Keezee, which opens
into the Amoor a hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. It was
formerly the custom to send couriers by way of Lake Keezee and the
Amoor to Nicolayevsk to notify consigners and officials of the arrival
of ships. Now the telegraph is in operation and supercedes the
courier.

In 1855 an English fleet visited De Castries in pursuit of some
Russian vessels known to have ascended the Gulf. When the fleet came
in sight there were four Russian ships in port, and a few shots were
exchanged, none of them taking effect. During a heavy fog in the
following night and day the Russians escaped and ascended the Straits
of Tartary toward the Amoor. The Aurora, the largest of these ships,
threw away her guns, anchors, and every heavy article, and succeeded
in entering the Amoor. The English lay near De Castries, and could not
understa