The officer took a liberal supply of presents for
the people along the banks, and was instructed to avoid all collisions
with the natives and not to enter their towns. From the day of his
departure to the present nothing has ever been heard of him or his
men. Diligent inquiries have been made among the natives and the
Chinese authorities, but no information gained. It is supposed the
party were drowned by accident, or killed by hostile residents along
the river.

In 1850 and the three following years the mouth of the Amoor was
examined and settlements founded, as already described. The year 1854
is memorable for the first descent of the Amoor by a military
expedition. The outbreak of the Crimean war rendered it necessary to
supply the Russian fleet in the Pacific. The colonies on the Pacific
needed provisions, and the Amoor offered the only feasible route to
send them. General Mouravieff made his preparations, and obtained the
consent of his government to the important step. He asked the
permission of the Chinese, but those worthies were as dilatory as
usual, and Mouravieff could not wait. He left Shilikinsk on the 27th
of May, escorted by a thousand soldiers with several guns, and
carrying an ample supply of provisions for the Pacific fleet.

The Chinese made no actual opposition, but satisfied themselves with
counting the boats that passed. Mouravieff supplied the fleet at the
mouth of the Amoor, and then returned by way of Ayan to Irkutsk. The
troops were left to garrison the fortified points on or near the sea.
In 1855 three more expeditions left Shilikinsk with soldiers and
colonists. General Mouravieff accompanied the first of these
expeditions and went directly to Nicolayevsk. The allied fleet
attempted to enter the Amoor but could not succeed. The general sent
his compliments to the English Admiral and told him to come on if he
could and he should be warmly received. In 1856 a few Cossack posts
were established along the river, and in the next year nearly three
thousand Cossacks were sent there. The Chinese made a formal protest
against these movements, and there were fears of a hostile collision.
The reverses that China suffered from the English and French prevented
war with Russia, and in 1858 Mouravieff concluded a treaty at Igoon by
which the Russian claim to the country north of the Amoor and east of
the Ousuree was acknowledged. The Russians were thus firmly
established, and the development of the countr