Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 332

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Notices of the Sagalien River.

JUNE,

ment. Very few of the stations on the Songari which figure on Ar- rowsmith's map are inserted in the large Chinese map of the Empire.

The Chinese consider the Kwantung the largest of the two at its junction with the Hehlung, and the united stream carries that name through to the ocean, a distance of about 520 miles in a N.N.E. direction. This part of the Sagalien is unknown to Europeans;

it incloses many islands, and receives many confluents into its bosom, of which the Usuri is the largest. This river is separated from the Hurha by a spur of the Long-White Mts. called Harhar

爾喀 and Plakan 畢喇彦; its three headstreams all rise in the Sihata Mts. 錫赫特 not far from the ocean; one of them flows

through lake Tapaccu or Hinkai, a sheet of water in lat. 44°, more than a hundred miles in circumference; the Mouren★★ and Noro 諾羅 are the largest affluents of the Usuri;—but of the

productions, the soil, the inhabitants, and the climate of its valley and streams, we know nothing certain. After the junction of the Usuri, the Sagalien rolls on its vast volume of waters to the ocean, confined by the Sihata Mts. or Efitshin Alin on the east, and the Hingan or Daurian Mts. on the west, almost to its embouchure. The Henkon

興滚 and the Kerin格愣 are the largest affluents on the northern banks; the post of Gidatka is situated near the mouth of the Henkon, at the head of the estuary formed by the great body of water here poured into the ocean. The embouchure is about lat. 53° N. and long. 1401° E., upwards of 1330 miles from the head- waters of the Kerlon in a direct line, but fully 2300 if we include all the windings-making the Sagalien about the same size as the Nile.

Pallas examined the natural history of this river to some extent; the fish are specifically different, but bear great resemblance to those found in Europe; the most common kinds are two species of carp (Cyprinus leptocephalus and lubio), barbels, the beluga or white stur- geon, and a kind of trout (Salmo oxyrhynchus.) Crawfish, smaller and smoother than the European, occur in the Shilka and Onon; the pike is yellow and spotted like the Indian species. Pearl oysters are found in the Onon; in some places the Chinese government protects their fishing; the common barnacle grows to a large size.

The entire basin of the Sagalien is divided by the Inner Hingan range west of the R. Naun into two parts, quite dissimilar in their character. The western part may be considered as a portion of the Desert of Gobi; the air is very dry about the Kerlon, Arguni and Onon the greatest part of the soil is sandy and sterile, unfit for agri-