and citizens,
with a fair number of Manjours from the other bank.

On landing, I called upon Colonel Pedeshenk, the governor of the
Province, and delivered my letters of introduction. The Colonel
invited me to dine with him that day, and stated that several
officers of his command would be present. After this visit and a few
others, I went with Captain Borasdine to attend the funeral of the
late Major General Bussy. This gentleman was five years governor of
the Province of the Amoor, and resigned in 1866 on account of
ill-health. He died on his way to St. Petersburg, and the news of his
death reached Blagoveshchensk three days before my arrival. I happened
to reach the town on the morning appointed for the funeral service.

The church was crowded, everybody standing, according to the custom
prevailing in Russia. Colonel Pedeshenk and his officers were in full
uniform, and almost all present held lighted candles. Five or six
priests, with an Archbishop, conducted the ceremonies. The services
consisted of a ritual, read and intoned by the priests, with chanting
by the choir of male voices. The Archbishop was in full robes
belonging to his position, and his long gray beard and reverend face
gave him a patriarchal appearance. When the ceremony was finished the
congregation opened to the right and left to permit the governor and
officers to pass out first. From beginning to end the service lasted
about an hour.

Colonel Pedeshenk had been governor but a few months, and awaited
confirmation in his position. Having served long on the staff of
General Bussy, he was disposed to follow in the footsteps of his
predecessor and carry out his plans for developing the resources of
his district.

At the appointed hour I went to dine at the governor's, where I found
eight or ten officers and the young wife of Colonel Pedeshenk. We
spent a half-hour on the balcony, where there was a charming view of
the river and the Chinese shore with its background of mountains. The
governor's house was more like a mansion in a venerable town than in a
settlement less than ten years old. The reception hall would have made
a good ball-room anywhere out of the large cities.

The charming young madame did not speak English but was fluent in
French. She was from Irkutsk, and had spent several years in the
schools and society of St. Petersburg. She had many reminiscences of
the capital, and declared herself delighted with her home on the
Amoor. After