r two and a
glass of bad brandy that brought many tears to her eyes. I think she
was at least fifteen minutes drinking the fiery liquid, which she
sipped as one would take a compound of cayenne pepper and boiling
water. The worst 'tanglefoot' or 'forty-rod' from Cincinnati or St.
Louis would have been nectar by the side of that brandy.

The country for a hundred miles or more above the Buryea mountains was
generally level. Here and there were hills and ridges, and in the
background on the south a few mountains were visible. There were many
islands which, with the banks of alluvium, were evidently cut by the
river in high freshets. Where the beach sloped to the water there was
a little driftwood, and I could see occasional logs resting upon
islands and sand bars.

When taken in a tumbler the water of the Amoor appeared perfectly
clear, but in the river it had a brownish tinge. There were no snags
and no floating timber. I never fancied an iron boat for river travel
owing to the ease of puncturing it. On the Mississippi or Missouri it
would be far from safe, but on the Amoor there are fewer perils of
navigation. More boats have been lost there from carelessness or
ignorance than from accidents really unavoidable. The Amoor is much
like what the Mississippi would be with all its snags removed and its
channel made permanent.

While among the islands I saw a small flotilla of boats in line across
a channel, and after watching them through a glass discovered they
were hauling a net. There were ten or twelve summer huts on the point
of an island, and the boats were at least twice as many. A dozen men
on shore were hauling a net that appeared well filled with fish. I do
not think a single native looked up as we passed. Possibly they have a
rule there not to attend to outside matters when exercising their
professions.

CHAPTER XVII.

The second day above the mountains we passed a region of wide prairie
stretching far to the north and bearing a dense growth of rank grass
and bushes, with a few clumps of trees. On the Chinese side there were
hills that sloped gently to the river's edge or left a strip of meadow
between them and the water. Many hills were covered with a thin forest
of oaks and very little underbrush. At a distance the ground appeared
as if carefully trimmed for occupation, especially as it had a few
open places like fields. In the sere and yellow leaf of autumn these
groves were charming, and I presu