on appeared in its best clothing,
a few of the women sporting crinoline, and all wearing their best
calicoes. Among the men there were Cossacks and soldiers in their grey
coats or in plain cloth and sheepskin. I saw a few Yakuts with the
narrow eyes of the Tunguze and their clothing of deerskin.

A few Orochons stood apart from the Russians, but not less observant
of the boat and those on board. Outside the village were three or four
conical yourts belonging to the aboriginals. It is said this people
formerly lived in the province of Yakutsk, whence they emigrated to
the Amoor in 1825. One of their chiefs has a hunting knife with the
initials of the Empress Catherine. It was presented to an ancestor of
the present owner.

Albazin is finely situated on a plateau fifty feet high and extending
some distance back to the mountains. Opposite is a small river
abounding in fish, and in front an island several thousand acres in
extent and very fertile. Though less than seven years old, Albazin had
already begun to sell grain for transportation to Nerchinsk. A steamer
laden with grain left for Stratensk three days before our arrival.

Albazin is of historical interest to the Russians. In the year 1669 a
Polish adventurer named Chernigofsky built a fort at Albazin. That his
men might not be without the comforts of religion he brought a priest,
who founded a church at the new settlement. It is related that when
organizing his expedition he forcibly seized this priest and kept him
under guard during the journey to the Amoor. The Chinese twice
besieged Albazin, once with eighteen thousand men, and afterward with
nearly double that number. The Russians resisted a long time, and were
only driven from the Amoor by the famous treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689.

When I landed at Albazin, Captain Porotof, superintendent of the
Russian settlements between that point and Komarskoi, guided me
through the ruins. The present village of Albazin is inside the line
of Chinese works, and the church occupies the interior of the old
fort. All the lines of intrenchment and siege can be easily seen, the
fort being distinctly visible from the river. Its walls are about ten
feet high, and the ditch is partially filled from the washing of earth
during the many years since the evacuation. A drain that carries water
from the church has cut a hole through the embankment. In it I could
see the traces of the trees and brushwood used in making the fort.

In the