The Living Age Volume 147 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 Excerpt: ...only just room to turn round. What struck me, however, as perhaps the most remarkable feature of this river was its winding, tortuous course. The distance from its outflow from Lake Khanka to its fall into the Ussuri measures in a direct line sixty miles; whereas by the current of the river it measures nearly one hundred and eighty. I do not think we passed a single half-mile of water in which there was not a bend; consequently great skill was required in steering the barge tugged by the steamer. So contracted were some of the curves that, when the steamer had turned the bend, the two crafts were proceeding in opposite directions. Speed had to be slackened quickly, but even so the barge not unfrequently ran into the muddy Dank, and temporarily stuck fast. I saw turtles in the Sungacha. They are numerous there, and lay their eggs on the margin of the stream. The Russians do not eat the turtles, but the Goldi are said to do so. The current of the Sungacha is about two knots; its waters abound in fish, and its banks with game. We came to one station only on the first day, which was the last collection of houses that could be dignified with the name of a village. It was called Markova. All the stations beyond this point were Cossack pickets, consisting of one or perhaps two houses, at which a supply of horses is kept for the postal service in winter, or when the water is low in summer. There were six of these pickets beyond Markova, thus making a total of thirty-six stations between Khabarofka and Kamen Ruibolof, or the " fisherman's stone." Among these there are four villages in which there is a church--namely, Kazakevich, Ilyinska, Kosloffski, and Venukova, with a priest to each of the first three. There are likewise among the stations twenty-one Co...