the Ousuree the Russian villages were generally on the south
bank of the river, but after passing that stream I found them all on
the north side. The villages tributary to China consisted only of the
settlements of Goldees and Mangoons, or their temporary fishing
stations. The Chinese empire contains much territory still open to
colonization, and I imagine that it would be to the interest of the
Celestial government to scatter its population more evenly over its
dominions. Possibly it does not wish to send its subjects into regions
that may hereafter fall into the hands of the emperor of Russia.
There is a great deal of land in Manjouria adapted to agriculture,
richly timbered and watered, but containing a very small population.
Millions of people could find homes where there are now but a few
thousands.

A Russian village and military post seventeen miles below the mouth of
the Songaree is named Michael Semenof, in honor of the Governor
General of Eastern Siberia. We landed before the commandant's house,
where two iron guns pointed over the river in the direction of China.
However threatening they appeared I was informed they were
unserviceable for purposes of war, and only employed in firing
salutes. A military force was maintained there, and doubtless kept a
sharp watch over the Chinese frontier.

The soldiers appeared under good sanitary regulations, and the
quarters of the Commandant indicated an appreciation of the comforts
of life. The peasants that gathered on the bank were better dressed
than those of Petrovsky and other villages. The town is on a plain
covered with a scattered growth of oaks. Below this place the wood
furnished us was generally ash or poplar; here it was oak, somewhat
gnarly and crooked, but very good for steamboat fuel. One design of
the colonization of the Amoor is to furnish a regular supply of wood
to the government steamers. The peasants cut the wood and bring it to
the bank of the river. Private steamers pay cash for what they
purchase; the captains of the government boats gives vouchers for the
wood they take, and these vouchers are redeemed at the end of the
season of navigation. About sixty thousand roubles worth of wood is
consumed annually by government, and twelve thousand on private
account.

While the boat took wood Borasdine and I resumed our hunting, he
carrying a shot-gun and I an opera glass; with this division of labor
we managed to bag a single snipe and kill another,