It is the same with the vegetable kingdom.  The mahogany and cork tree grow here, and the bark of the latter is largely used by the natives.  On the slopes of the mountains a few miles away are the Siberian pine, the Ayan spruce, and here and there a larch tree.  Cedars and fir trees are abundant and grow to a great size.  The whole appearance of the region is one of luxuriance and fertility.

The mouth of the Ousuree is a mile wide, and the stream is said to be magnificent through its whole length.  Its sources are in Latitude 44 deg., and its length is about five hundred miles.  While I was at Nicolayevsk Admiral Fulyelm said to me: 

“I have just returned from a voyage on the Ousuree.  It is one of the loveliest rivers I ever saw.  The valley bears such a resemblance to a settled country with alternate parks and open country that I almost looked to see some grand old mansion at every bend of the stream.”

A little past noon we sighted the town and military post of Habarofka at the mouth of the Ousuree.  It stands on a promontory overlooking both rivers, and presents a pleasing appearance from the Amoor.  The portion first visible included the telegraph office and storehouses, near which a small steamer was at anchor.  A Manjour trading boat was at the bank, its crew resting on shore; a piece of canvas had been spread on the ground and the men were lounging upon it.  One grave old personage, evidently the owner of the boat, waved his hand toward us in a dignified manner, but we could not understand his meaning.

Coming to shore we narrowly missed running over a Goldee boat that crossed our track.  Our wheel almost touched the stern of the craft as we passed it, but the occupants appeared no wise alarmed.  Two women were rowing and a man steering, while a man and a boy were idle in the bow.  A baby, strapped into a shallow cradle, lay in the bottom of the boat near the steersman.  The young Mongol was holding his thumb in his mouth and appeared content with his position.

The town was in a condition of rawness like a western city in its second year; there was one principal street and several smaller ones, regularly laid out.  As in all the Russian settlements on the Amoor the houses were of logs and substantially built.  Passing up the principal street we found a store, where we purchased a quantity of canned fruit, meats, and pickles.

[Illustration:  “NONE FOR JOE.”]

These articles were from Boston, New York, and Baltimore, and had American labels.  The pictures of poaches, strawberries, and other fruits printed on the labels were a great convenience to the Russian clerk who served us.  He could not read English, but understood pictorial representations.  On the boat we gave the cans to the steward, to be opened when we ordered.  The pictures were especially adapted to this youth as he read no language whatever, including his own.  On one occasion a quantity of devilled turkey was put up in cans and sent to the Amoor, and the label was beautified with a picture of His Satanic Majesty holding a turkey on the end of a fork.  The natives supposed that the devil was in the cans and refused to touch them.  The supply was sent back to Nicolayevsk, where it was eaten by the American merchants.