Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/309

Rh Then colonists were sent to form the villages I have mentioned, and Russia was so firmly established that she could not be disturbed.

"And now, as you have doubtless studied the geography of Asia, will you tell me how the Amoor is formed?"

"Certainly," answered Fred. "It is formed by the rivers Argoon and Shilka, just as the Ohio is formed by the Alleghany and Monongahela. The Argoon comes in from the south, and the Shilka from the north. Genghis Khan was born in the valley of the Argoon, and the armies that

went to the Tartar conquest of Europe were originally mustered on the banks of that stream."

"The answer is correct," was the reply. "The spot where the rivers unite is called Oust-strelka ("Arrow-mouth"), owing to the shape of the tongue of land between the streams. The scenery is interesting, as the banks of the Argoon are steep, and the hills as far as one can see them are covered to their summits with dense forests.

"Our steamboat turned into the Shilka, and, after making a few unimportant landings, finished its voyage at Stratensk, twenty-three hundred