he boat remained an hour or more to take wood, Borasdine and I
improvised a hunting excursion. It proved in every sense a wild-goose
chase, as the birds flew away before we were in shooting distance. Not
wishing to return empty-handed we purchased two geese a few hundred
yards from the village, and assumed an air of great dignity as we
approached the boat. We subsequently ascertained that the same geese
were offered to the steward for half the price we paid.

Just above Petrovsky we passed the steamer Amoor, which left
Nicolayevsk a week before us with three barges in tow. With such a
heavy load her progress was very slow. Barges on the Amoor river are
generally built of iron, and nearly as large as the steamers. They are
not towed alongside as on the Mississippi, but astern. The rope from
the steamer to the first barge is about two hundred feet long, and the
barges follow each other at similar distances. Looking at this steamer
struggling against the current and impeded by the barges, brought to
mind Pope's needless Alexandrine:

"That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along."

Each barge has a crew, subordinate, of course, to the captain of the
tow-boat. This crew steers the barge in accordance with the course of
the steamer, looks after its welfare, and watches over the freight on
board. In case it fastens on a sand bar the crew remains with it, and
sometimes has the pleasure of wintering there. The barge is decked
like a ship, and has two or three hatchways for receiving and
discharging freight. Over each hatchway is a derrick that appears at a
distance not unlike a mast.

Above Petrovsky the banks generally retain their level character on
the Russian side. Cliffs and hills frequently extend to the water on
the Chinese shore, most of the land being covered with forests of
foliferous trees. Some of the mountains are furrowed along their sides
as regularly as if turned with a gigantic plow. Near the villages of
Ettoo and Dyrki the cliffs are precipitous and several hundred feet
high; at their base the water is deep and the current very strong. On
the north shore the plain is generally free from tall trees, but has a
dense growth of grass and bushes. Sand-banks are frequent, and the
islands are large and numerous.

This region is much frequented during the fishing season, and the huts
of the natives, their canoes and drying scaffolds are quite numerous.
There are but few fixed villages, the country not