passed Chinyrack, the fortress that guards the river, and is
surrounded, as if for concealment, with a grove of trees. Along the
bank above Chinyrack there are warehouses of various kinds, all
belonging to government. Soon after dark we anchored before the town,
and below several other vessels. My sea travel was ended till I should
reach Atlantic waters.

CHAPTER X.

At Nicolayevsk it is half a mile from the anchorage to the shore. A
sand spit projects from the lower end of the town and furnishes a site
for government workshops and foundries. Above this tongue of land the
water is shallow and allows only light draft and flat bottomed boats
to come to the piers. All sea-going vessels remain, in midstream,
where they are discharged by lighters. There is deeper water both
above and below the town, and I was told that a change of site had
been meditated. The selection of the spot where Nicolayevsk stands was
owing to the advantages of the sand spit as a protection to river
boats.

After dining on the Morje we went on shore, and landed at a flight of
wooden steps in the side of a pier. The piers of Nicolayevsk are
constructed with 'cribs' about twenty feet apart and strong timbers
connecting them. The flooring was about six feet above water, and wide
enough for two teams to pass.

Turning to the left at the end of the pier, we found a plank sidewalk
ascending a sloping road in the hillside. The pier reminded me of
Boston or New York, but it lacked the huge warehouses and cheerful
hackmen to render the similarity complete. "This is Natchez,
Mississippi," I said as we moved up the hill, "and this is Cairo,
Illinois," as my feet struck the plank sidewalk. The sloping road came
to an end sooner than at Natchez, and the sidewalk did not reveal any
pitfalls like those in Cairo a few years ago. The bluff where the city
stands is about fifty feet high, and the ascent of the road so gentle
that one must be very weak to find it fatiguing. The officers who
came on shore with me went to the club rooms to pass the evening. I
sought the residence of Mr. H.G.O. Chase, the Commercial Agent of the
United States, and representative of the house of Boardman. I found
him living very comfortably in bachelor quarters that contained a
library and other luxuries of civilization. In his sitting-room there
was a map of the Russian empire and one of Boston, and there were
lithographs and steel engravings, exhibiting the good taste of the