he asked, "and how far had I traveled
to reach Blagoveshchensk?"

The interpreter named the distance and said I came to the Amoor in a
ship connected with the telegraph service.

"When would the telegraph be finished?"

He was told that within two or three years they would probably be able
to send messages direct to America.

Then he asked if the railway would not soon follow the telegraph. He
had never seen either, but understood perfectly their manner of
working. He expressed himself pleased at the progress of the telegraph
enterprise, but did not intimate that China desired anything of the
kind. The interview lasted about an hour, and ended with a
leave-taking after the European manner.

There is much complaint among the Russians that the treaty of 1860 is
not carried out by the Chinese. It is stipulated that trade shall be
free along the entire boundary between the two empires, and that
merchants can enter either country at will. The Chinese merchants are
not free to leave their own territory and visit Russia, but are
subject to various annoyances at the hands of their own officials. I
was repeatedly informed at Blagoveshchensk that the restrictions upon
commerce wore very serious and in direct violation of the
stipulations. One gentleman told me:

"Every Manjour trader that brings anything here pays a tax of twenty
to fifty per cent, for permission to cross the river. We pay now a
third more for what we purchase than when we first settled here. The
merchants complain of the restriction, and sometimes, though rarely,
manage to evade it. Occasionally a Manjour comes to me offering an
article twenty or thirty per cent, below his usual price, explaining
that he smuggled it and requesting me not to expose him."

I asked if the taxation was made by the Chinese government, and was
answered in the negative.

"Thee police of Igoon and Sakhalin-Oula regulate the whole matter. It
is purely a black-mail system, and the merchant who refuses to pay
will be thrown into prison on some frivolous charge. The police master
of Igoon has a small salary, but has grown very wealthy in a few
years. The Russian and Chinese governors have considered the affair
several times, but accomplish nothing. On such occasions the Chinese
governor summons his police-master and asks him if there is any truth
in the charges of the corruption of his subordinates. Of course he
declares everything correct, and there the matter ends."

How hist