j ,     STEAM NAVIGATION,:ON THE AMOOR.            '127
* On American steamboats the after cabin is the aristocatic,.
one; on the Amoor the case is reversed. The steerage pas*sengers lived, moved, and had their being and baggage aft the engine, while their betters were forward. This arrangement gave the steerage the benefit of all cinders and smoke,
unless the wind was abeam or astern.
Steam navigation on themoo[ir dates from 1854. In that
year two wooden boats, the Shilka and the Argoon, were constructed on the Shilka river, preparatory to the grand expedition of General Mouravieff. Their timber was cut in the forests of the Shilka, and their engines were constructed at Petrovsky-Zavod. The Argoon was the first to descend, -leaving Shilikinsk. on the 27th of May, 1854, and bringing the Governor General and his staff. It was accompanied by fifty barges and a great many rafts loaded with military forces to occupy the Amoor, and with provisions for the Pacific fleet.
the Shilka descended a few months later. She was running in 1866, but the Argoon, the pioneer, existed less than a decade, In 1866 thererwee twenty-wo steamers on the Amoor,
all but four belonging to the government.
The government boats are engaged in transporting freight,
supplies, soldiers, and military stores generally, and carrying the mail. They carry passengers and private freight at fixed rates, but do not give insurance against fire or accidents of navigation. Passengers contract with the captain or steward for subsistence while on board. Deck passengers generally support themselves, but can buy provisions on the boat if they wish. The steward may keep wines iad other beverages for sale by the bottle, but he cannot maintain a bar. He has various little speculations of his own and does not feed his ,ustomers liberally. On the Ingodah the steward purchased eggs at every village, and expected to. sell them at a large profit in Nieolayevsk. When we left him he had at least ten
·.  ,,  shels -:jjhnd, but he never furaished eggs to usunless we
a.:d tBoradine anld myslf;-save; V
c'i         dwhea two other pase rs were present  ei
paseges  r