292
Notices of the Sagalien River.
JUNE,
in lat. 471° N. Before it turns south, the river receives ten tributaries
into its bosom from the left, some of them large streams; the Cho
lokchi is the first large one west of Ft. Baklano-
卓魯克齊河
va; then succeed the Kerbechi
the Orand Aldekan
miles; the Ursu
about 140 miles long; each about a hundred
about 20 miles, the Poronda
of 300 miles, and the Pir- All these bring down their
of 200 miles, the Elgue tan
of 280 miles in length. waters from the solitudes of the Yablonnoi Mts.; the only inhabited spot noted in this region being the post of Yaksa
on the main trunk between the Ursu and Poronda (see Chi. Rep., Vol. VIII, page 417). After passing long. 1244°, where it turns southerly, the Sigalien washes the base of the mountains for nearly 200 miles, receiving only one tributary of any size during the whole distance, viz. the river Humari which rises in the Iliful Mts., 伊勒 14, and courses along the northern base of the Sial-
里山
.
koi Mts. in lat. 59 ̊, till it joins the main stream in lat. 514° and
lɔng. 128°. The town or post of Oloussou-mutan
is situated near the junction.
✰✰★Я ***
As the river turns the base of the mountains, one of its largest con-
fluents, the Tchikiri comes in from the northeast, bring-
精奇里
ing the superfluous waters of a region fully thirty thousand
square miles in extent, almost as unknown and more desolate than the centre of Africa. The numerous branches of the Tchikiri rise in the mountains on the frontier of Russia, and join each other one after another till t'eir united waters flow into the Sagalien at Aihom in lat. £0, an old military post now superseded by Sagalien hotun, or Heh- Jung king ching, the chief town of the immense commandery of the same name. The names of the largest branches of the Tchikiri are
the Silinpda 西林穆廸 and its conduent the Yanna 陽奇尼 and the Kintou, whose headwaters are as high as the parallel of 55° N. The nomads who find a precarious subsistence in these dreary wilds belong to the Tungusian race, and are known under various tribal names. The Humaris live about the river of that name and northward to the frontier; while the Ghiliaks roam eastward be- tween the Tchikiri river and the spurs of the Hingan called Koshi and Yang, the Ducheri and Gogooti tribes are found further south near Aihom and easterly beyond the Songari. They all trade in peltry and fish at the Chinese posts, but acknowledge allegiance
to no one.
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