Albazin is finely situated on a plateau fifty feet high and extending some distance back to the mountains.  Opposite is a small river abounding in fish, and in front an island several thousand acres in extent and very fertile.  Though less than seven years old, Albazin had already begun to sell grain for transportation to Nerchinsk.  A steamer laden with grain left for Stratensk three days before our arrival.

Albazin is of historical interest to the Russians.  In the year 1669 a Polish adventurer named Chernigofsky built a fort at Albazin.  That his men might not be without the comforts of religion he brought a priest, who founded a church at the new settlement.  It is related that when organizing his expedition he forcibly seized this priest and kept him under guard during the journey to the Amoor.  The Chinese twice besieged Albazin, once with eighteen thousand men, and afterward with nearly double that number.  The Russians resisted a long time, and were only driven from the Amoor by the famous treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689.

When I landed at Albazin, Captain Porotof, superintendent of the Russian settlements between that point and Komarskoi, guided me through the ruins.  The present village of Albazin is inside the line of Chinese works, and the church occupies the interior of the old fort.  All the lines of intrenchment and siege can be easily seen, the fort being distinctly visible from the river.  Its walls are about ten feet high, and the ditch is partially filled from the washing of earth during the many years since the evacuation.  A drain that carries water from the church has cut a hole through the embankment.  In it I could see the traces of the trees and brushwood used in making the fort.

In the fort and around it cannon shot, bullets, arrow heads, and pieces of pottery are frequently found.  A few years ago a magazine of rye was discovered, the grains being perfect and little injured by time.  Captain Porotof gave me two Chinese cannon shot recently found there and greatly roughened on the surface by the action of rust.  The position and arrangement of their batteries and lines of circumvallation show that the Chinese were skilled in the art of war.

Albazin was valuable to the early adventurers on account of the fine sables taken in its vicinity.  It is important now for the same reason.  The Albazin sable is the best on the Amoor; that of the Buryea mountains is next, and that from Blagoveshchensk is third in grade.  At several places I saw these furs, but found none of them equaling the furs of Kamchatka.

Some interesting stories about the siege of Albazin are told by the Russians.  While the siege was progressing and the garrison was greatly distressed for want of food, Chernigofsky sent a pie weighing forty or fifty pounds to the Chinese commander to convince him that the fort was abundantly supplied.  The latter was so delighted with the gift that he sent back for more, but his request was unheeded.  He probably saw through the little game they were attempting to play on him and determined to beat them at it.  History does not say whether the pie was pork, mutton, or anything else.  Possibly the curs of Albazin may have entered into its composition.