Celestial Empire under the late commercial treaty, and traveled so far
that he was twice arrested by local authorities. He knew every fair
from Leipsic to Peking, and had been an industrious commercial
traveler through all Northern Asia.

Once, below Sansin, on the Songaree river, he was attacked by thieves
where he had halted for the night. With a single exception his crew
was composed of Chinese, and these ran away at the first alarm. With
his only Russian companion he attempted to defend his property, but
the odds were too great, especially as his gun could not be found. He
was made prisoner and compelled to witness the plundering of his
cargo. Every thing valuable being taken, the thieves left him.

In the morning he proceeded down the stream. Not caring to engage
another crew, he floated with the current and shared with his Russian
servant the labor of steering. The next night he was robbed again, and
the robbers, angry at finding so little to steal, did not leave him
his boat. After much difficulty he reached a native village and
procured an old skiff. With this he finished his journey unmolested.

There were fifteen or twenty deck passengers, a fair proportion being
women and children. Among the latter was a black eyed girl of fifteen,
in a calico dress and wearing a shawl pinned around a pretty face. On
Sunday morning she appeared in neat apparel and was evidently desirous
of being seen. There were two old men dressed in coarse cloth of a
'butternut' hue, that reminded me of Arkansas and Tennessee. The
morning we started one of them was seated on the deck counting a pile
of copper coin with great care. Two, three, four times he told it off,
piece by piece, and then folded it carefully in the corner of his
kerchief. In all he had less than a rouble, but he preserved it as if