One-tenth part of the sums of money lately squandered away in support of a mission, conducted by certain well-known foreigners, who were fortunate enough to secure the patronage of the magnates of Leadenhall-street, would have sufficed, if judiciously employed, to have more than wiped off this national reproach.
These remarks may seem somewhat out of place when our subject is the Fauna of Amoorland, not of Hindostan; but it should not be concealed that the conduct of the rulers of a nation often termed barbarous—and whose efforts to occupy "a more enlarged sphere of usefulness" in Eastern Europe are still regarded with fear and trembling, and were but recently opposed by the force of arms—contrasts, in some respects, most favourably with that of our own enlightened government. It is not long ago that the name of the Amoor first became known to British ears. The fame of the Russian successes in that quarter has but lately reached us. Yet the first-fruits of the several expeditions despatched to explore the natural products of the new acquisitions are already presented to the world; and we have little doubt that the publication of the Fauna and Flora of Amoorland will be completed ere that of British India is commenced.
Herr von Middendorf's expedition to South-eastern Siberia[1] had extended our knowledge of the natural productions of Northern Asia as far as the Sea of Ochotsk and the upper confluents of the Amoor, so that the exploration of the countries traversed by the lower portion of this magnificent river was considered by the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg as the next requisite step. Herr von Schrenck was accordingly selected for this purpose, and, accompanied by his scientific staff, embarked in the autumn of 1853 in an imperial frigate, specially appointed to convey him to his destination. After a voyage round Cape Horn, the following June found him in Kamtschatka, whence a corvette was directed to convey the expedition to its final destination. On the 18th of August, 1854, they were accordingly landed at what was then the military post of Nicolajewsch, at the mouth of the Amoor; but what, we believe, is now the flourishing capital of the new government of Amoorland. We need not follow Herr von Schrenck during the two years which he devoted to the exploration of every part of Amoorland, including the adjoining island of Sagalin. Suffice it to say, that he returned to St. Petersburg overland, reaching that capital in January, 1857, in safety, with his collections, after encountering many perils and hardships in the winter's voyage up to the Amoor, which, from Nicolajewsch to Nertschinkoi Sawod—the point where the navigation ceases, and the land-journey begins—lasted more than five months.
Besides the materials thus obtained for the investigation of the Fauna of Amoorland, Herr von Schrenck has availed himself of the col-
- ↑ See Reise in der äusserten Norden und Osten Siberiens, &c, 4 Bde, St. Peterburgh, 1847–59.
