generally wear blouses or frocks after the Chinese pattern,
and the most of them could be readily taken for shabby Celestials.

Their hats were of two kinds, some of felt and turned up at the sides,
and others of decorated birch bark shaped like a parasol. These hats
were an excellent protection against sun and rain, but could hardly be
trusted in a high wind. All these men were inveterate smokers, and
carried their pipes and tobacco pouches at their waists. Most had
sheath knives attached to belts, and some carried flint, steel, and
tinder. They formed picturesque groups, some talking with purchasers
and others collected around fires or near their piles of fish.

[Illustration: BOAT LOAD OF SALMON.]

As I stood on the bank, a Gilyak boat came near me with a full cargo
of salmon. The boat was built very high at bow and stern, and its
bottom was a single plank, greatly curved. It was propelled by a woman
manipulating a pair of oars with blades shaped like spoon-bowls,
beaten flat, which she pulled alternately with a kind of
'hand-over-hand' process. This mode of rowing is universal among the
Gilyaks, but does not prevail with other natives along the Amoor.

Whenever I approached a group of Gilyaks I was promptly hailed with
_'reba! reba!'_ (fish! fish!) I shook my head and uttered _nierte_
(no,) and our conversation ceased. The salmon were in piles along the
shore or lying in the native boats. Fishing was not a monopoly of the
Gilyaks, as I saw several Russians engaged in the business. They
appeared on the best terms with their aboriginal neighbors.

Salmon are abundant in the Amoor and as much a necessity of life as in
Northern Siberia. They are not as good as in Kamchatka, and I believe
it is the rule that the salmon deteriorates as one goes toward the
south. Possibly the quality of the Amoor salmon is owing to the time
the fish remain in the brackish waters of the Straits of Tartary. The
fishing season is the only busy portion of the year with the natives.

[Illustration: AN EFFECTIVE PROTEST.]

The town is supplied with water by carts like those used in many
places along our Western rivers. For convenience in filling the driver
goes into the stream until the water is pretty well up his horse's
sides. A bucket attached to a long handle is used for dipping, and
moves very leisurely. I saw one driver go so far from shore that his
horse protested in dumb but expressive show. The animal turned and
walked to land, o