Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-01-23

ings, walked the deck for severa
hours, and then caught furtive
snatches of sleep on four chairs in ar
ranged in the dining saloon.
The second and third class passen
gers had no dining saloon. They just
"pigged it." and after my account OF
how the elite on board fed, you may
get a little idea Of what tht plugging
| it, was like. There was stove for
| common use under one of the matches
| and a great Caldron of waters always
on the boil. There was no regular
meal hours, except that there was no
eating, as far as 1 could see, between
midnight and in the morning. The
second class passengers had cabins,
loathsome places, but the third class
folks slept on deck, with overturned
! kettles and chunks of bread and bits
of dried fish strewn around.
So away went the Admiral Tsche-
| hachoff down the ShiN1a river till it
Joined the Argun river, and thence
forth the stream was the Amur, Russia
on the left bank and Manchuria on the
right. Scant villages were on the
Russian bank, a few huts and a
church. The vessel swung round
with her nose upstream, the anchor
was thrown overheard, and there were
halts Of an hour while a gang of
coolies scurried on shore and brought
aboard logs of timber for fueling
purposes. The native women came
with bread for sale, and tousle-headed
mOujiks sat and blinked and laughed
at the boat.
The rivers wound through a thou
sand miles of pretty scenery, neither
grand nor majestic, but just pretty.
The hills beloved. They were all
wooded, and as autumn had set in, the
larch and the birch were only green
in sheltered hollows. On the crests
they were a mass of FURNISHED gold,
with here and there a splash of deep
crimson, as though the sun had given
them hurried kiss in passing. Some
times, when there was depth, the
water swirIed beneath scarped and
gray rock, with MOSES and flowers in
the crevices.
The sun always set in purple haze,
making the river a sheet of claret.
Then a biting chilliness sent one
down stairs to hunt out a heavy coat.
Night was born with a rich blueness.
and the pale crescent of a moon came
up from behind the China hills, but
sunk in an hour.
We overlook great RATS of tied
timber, often a hundred yards long,
floating on the stream, and kept in
mid-channeI by three giant oars at
each end. Often there was a hut
erected, and in front of it could be
seen a woman cooking the evening
meal.
The ShiIka and Amur are shallow
rivers, studded with islands and sand
banks. In places the stream is half a
mile wide, and yet the navigabIe chan
mel often not a hundred yards. So al !
ways in the bow were standing two
men, one port and one starbOard, |
pitching poles into the water and
shouting the depth. Five feet; six
five feet all the day and night !
through. All along were posts. white
on the Russian side, red on the Chi !
nese, and the vessel zig-zagged from
one to the other, for that way lay the
channel. At night the indications
were white and red lamps. Eerie were
these little oil lamps fringing for hun
dreds of miles the low countries of
Russia and China, and penciIing the. !
stream with their rays.
We would go for half a day and
never see a hut. But occasionally we
would notice cIinging to the shores
slim, paddIe-prOpelled "dUgout" boat
such as our prehistoric ancestors
used, which we put in museums when
we find them in swamps-and in it
would be the lamplighter. Each man
attends to about six lamps. What
lonely lives these men must lead.