ezvous of this region being transferred to Sofyesk.

On an island opposite Mariensk is the trace of a fortification built
by Stepanoff, a Russian adventurer who descended the Amoor in 1654.
Stepanoff passed the winter at this point, and fortified himself to be
secure against the natives. He seems to have engaged in a general
business of filibustering on joint account of himself and his
government. In the winter of his residence at this fortress he
collected nearly five thousand sable skins as a tribute to his
emperor--and himself.

Morning found us at Sofyesk taking a fresh supply of wood. This town
was founded a few years ago, and has a decided appearance of newness.
There is a wagon road along the shore of Keezee lake and across the
hills to De Castries Bay. Light draft steamboats can go within twelve
miles of De Castries. Surveys have been made with the design of
connecting Keezee Lake and the Gulf of Tartary by a canal. A railway
has also been proposed, but neither enterprise will be undertaken for
many years. I passed an hour with the post commander, who had just
received a pile of papers only two months from St. Petersburg, the
mail having arrived the day before.

The steamer Telegraph lay at the landing when we arrived; among her
passengers was a Manjour merchant, who possessed an intelligent face,
quite in contrast with the sleepy Gilyaks. He wore the Manjour dress,
consisting of wide trowsers and a long robe reaching to his heels; his
shoes and hat were Chinese, and his robe was held at the waist with a
silk cord. His hair was braided in the Chinese fashion, and he sported
a long mustache but no beard.

[Illustration: MANJOUR MERCHANT.]

A few versts above Sofyesk we met a Manjour merchant evidently on a
trading expedition. He had a boat about twenty-five feet long by eight
wide, with a single mast carrying a square sail. His boat was full of
boxes and bales and had a crew of four men. A small skiff was towed
astern and another alongside. These Manjour merchants are quite
enterprising, and engage in traffic for small profits and large risks
when better terms are not attainable. Before the Russian occupation
all the trade of the lower Amoor was in Manjour hands. Boats annually
descended from San-Sin and Igoon bringing supplies for native use.
Sometimes a merchant would spend five or six months making his round
journey.

The merchants visited the villages on the route and bargained their
goods for furs. T