boxes and bales and had a crew of four men. A small skiff was towed
astern and another alongside. These Manjour merchants are quite
enterprising, and engage in traffic for small profits and large risks
when better terms are not attainable. Before the Russian occupation
all the trade of the lower Amoor was in Manjour hands. Boats annually
descended from San-Sin and Igoon bringing supplies for native use.
Sometimes a merchant would spend five or six months making his round
journey.

The merchants visited the villages on the route and bargained their
goods for furs. There was an annual fair at the Gilyak village of Pul,
below Mariensk, and this was made the center of commerce. The fair
lasted ten days, and during that time Pul was a miniature Nijne
Novgorod. Manjour and Chinese merchants met Japanese from the island
of Sakhalin, Tunguse from the coast of the Ohotsk Sea, and others
from, the head waters of the Zeya and Amgoon. There were Gilyaks from
the lower Amoor and various tribes of natives from the coast of
Manjouria.

A dozen languages were spoken, and traffic was conducted in a patois
of all the dialects. Cloth, powder, lead, knives, and brandy were
exchanged for skins and furs. A gentleman who attended one of these
fairs told me that the scene was full of interest and abounded in
amusing incidents. Of late years the navigation of the Amoor has
discontinued the fair of Pul. The Manjour traders still descend the
river, but they are not as numerous as of yore.

With a good glass from the deck of the steamer I watched the native
process of catching salmon. The fishing stations are generally, though
not always, near the villages. The natives use gill nets and seines in