Open house was held on the Augusta yesterday afternoon for about 400 visitors. This afternoon Admiral Yarnell will give an official reception on the Augusta to our hosts. The harbor bears a striking resemblance to that of Constantinople. The harbor is about four miles long, a mile wide, and extends from the Bay of Peter the Great to Amur Bay. Excellent facilities are available for docking, handling cargo and marine repair work.
Ice breakers keep the port open during the winter months.
The exports are soya beans, lumber and fish. The city is built on the slopes of a ridge of hills and has a population of over 100,000. The site was selected as an outlet for Eastern Russia after the Treaty of Aigun in 1858. This is a good will visit and the first time since 1923 that one of our naval vessels has been in the harbor when the US.S. Sacramento served as a station ship for the American crew operating the nearby Russian Island wireless station. Our acquaintances has been handicapped by the lack of a knowledge of Russian and the scarcity of Russians who speak English.