Nature reserve of the source of the Brea River
On September 22, 1844, Midendorf traced the Tugur River (1) and embarked on a return journey. The Tugur River is formed by the confluence of two small rivers, the Arthany and the Konuni, in a place called Brucan, and the valleys through which it flows vary in width, from thirteen miles at its narrowest point to twenty miles at its widest. The Tugur River has many tributaries, its shallow waters wash across the banks of a vast stretch of gravel, and although the main channel is eighty to one hundred and sixty-eight yards wide, its depth is only suitable for small canoes to navigate.
The Tugur River bends sharply in Ukakte (about eighty miles below Brukan), separating it from the Nemilian River, a narrow isthmus four to five miles wide. The Nigidars, who lived on the banks of the Amgun River, took advantage of this favorable terrain to cross the Tugur River in Russia (1843).
During his stay in Brukan from 2 to 8 October, he discovered three families of Nijidar who had long settled there, who were still considered Subjects of China. They still interact regularly with other members of the tribe. Here we also find a Russian-Tungusic tent and three small blocks of houses belonging to Yakut fur traders, who come every December to barter with the Tunguska people; during that season, many Tunguska people gather here.
On 8 October, it left the Tugur River and crossed a modest watershed that separated it from the Heilongjiang River basin in a south-southwesterly direction. It is eighteen miles from the Nemilian River. In this section of the river, the river flows in a north-easterly direction through a valley with a vast jungle. The river is turbulent and the river is winding. The river surrounds many jungle-packed islands, but the water depth is no more than six feet. Hike up the river six miles to a place called Hamekan, where in autumn the Tunguska people flock to catch salmon, which swims from the sea every autumn. Many Tunguska people went hunting from here to Mount Jieya when they dispersed.
The Upper Brea River in the Ezop Mountains
Leaving Hamekhan, we tried our best to keep moving in a southwesterly direction facing the source of the Breya River, which is said to be on the other side of the main mountain range that appears from time to time in the distance, when conditions permit. Cross the Nemilian River to the Kilby Valley, one of its tributaries, which originates close to the source of the Serenzhi and Brea rivers. Advancing along the Kilby River Valley, it becomes more and more difficult to walk. The fallen trunks turned out to be bigger obstacles than the steep slopes and rocky cliffs.
Near the mouth of the Ja'a River, it is difficult to open a passage even with a hand axe. In other seasons, our progress may be more hampered by the emergence of swamps. We finally crossed a large area that was clearly a wasteland, which was very close to the mountain pass leading to Brea. After crossing the area, we enter a narrow pass leading to the summit where the pass is located, where our livestock must jump from one rock to another. On the other side, we crossed a river valley about a hundred yards wide, bounded by a steep hillside full of trees, and descended to a source of the Brea River (October 19).
Reaching the southern headwaters of the Brea River (2), the headwaters along this source, a little more than sixteen miles from the pass and sixty yards wide, run along a valley averaging two hundred yards wide, and form several jungle-packed islets. Sometimes steep rocks surround the riverbed, and sometimes the river takes turns to wash away the steep slopes that run along the two banks. The slopes are overgrown with trees, but in many places bare rocks emerge.
The slopes on the right bank of the Brea River are inclined at thirty-five degrees, cut off by some deep ditches, while the mountains protrude above the forested areas. The mountains are far from the left bank and have a large curvature in outline; however, they are adjacent to the river at many low cliffs. At the confluence of the two headwaters of the Brea River, the width of the water surface is one hundred and twenty yards, and the river is divided into many tributaries here. But the river valley has not been extended accordingly.
The source of the Brea River surrounded by coniferous forests and bushes
Below Tazhan Divith, the gentle slope of the hill allows us to cross the slope frequently, thus avoiding detours along the river. But until the mouth of the Rudikan River, the valleys were contiguous to the high mountains, and it was only at the Umalitin river that the mountains moved backwards to give way to gentle slopes, which in any way looked like the end of an undulating plateau. It is said that a Chinese boundary marker stands near the mouth of the Umaritin River.
Below this small river, the Brea Valley is a mile and a half wide, and the river flows unhindered and flows in a south-westerly direction. There are also many islands in the river, which are usually more than a mile long. The island is densely covered with jungle. Below the Japok tributary, the river water communicates with many small lakes, forming a backwater. At the depth I can measure, the water depth is no more than two to four feet. But to be clear, I can only reach the shallower places, and the deeper places are already frozen.
The Tunguska took a shortcut from the Brea To the upper Niman. But because we could not discern the direction, we had to follow the course of the Brea River, almost to the confluence of the river and the Niman River; although at the intersection of the two rivers crossed a lower swamp, it was only a few miles away. On this low-lying area, the hills can only be seen if you look north and northeast.
We come to the Nimakan River, a tributary of the Niman River, which is located a few miles above the mouth of the Niman River. The Nimakan River is a fairly large mountain, eighty yards wide, emanating into the Nimman River between two small highlands, forming a low cliff. The Nimman River is one hundred and sixty yards wide at the confluence and, of course, is frozen in ice. It is said that there are Chinese boundary markers in this area, but the snow is too deep to be found.
Except for the two major tributaries of the Brea River, the rest are mostly small streams.
The Niman River is the southernmost point we reach on our trip. Then we turn back to the north-northwest – almost at right angles to the previous route – to The Yinkan on the banks of the Seringe River. Yinkan is a well-known location among these mountain nomadic tribes. According to the summer travel arrangement, I hope to get a replacement of the reindeer there, because the small herd of livestock I brought with me is naturally tired at this time, and I can't stay too long to recover.
At the intersection of the Niman and Brea rivers, there is no mountainous area, only an endless swampy steppe that can only be crossed by horse. The local population considered the Niman to be the main tributary of the Brea, so they called the river that flowed down to its mouth into the Heilongjiang river the Niman or Newman. The Russians believed that it should be called the Brea; but it is difficult to determine which of these two claims will hold water.
The section of the River Niemann which we have traced up is flanked by hills which, steep and steep, slope towards the river, usually no more than a hundred yards from the river; thus, even in winter when the water level is very low, the river surface is almost the same width as the river valley. In some places river valleys are adjacent to low cliffs. But these hills are not too high, arched, and overlap with the low shores of the jungle. We went up the river valley and saw that the undulating plateau seemed to be cut open by the river valley, and the more we went up, the more obvious the feeling became. The valley, located a few miles below the mouth of the Golbiri River, is wider than the valley further down, but no wider than three thousand yards wide.
We trace the winding course of the sixty-yard-wide Ghibiri River, and after some time, turn north, and then advance along the Kochulin River. Tributaries of the Golbiri River flow through a shallow valley two and a half miles wide, adjacent to gentle swampy slopes. There is an endless view of the landscape, and only to the left can you see an abrupt convex peak. There were no difficulties on the journey from here to the Selinde River. We crossed a low mountain ridge, and many of the rivers and watersheds we encountered in the future could cross without worrying about following the course of the main river.
Brea River Hydroelectric Power Station
We met the inhabitants of the Gurbir River for the first time since leaving the Tugur River. At the mouth of the Ghlbiri River there is a Yakut hut where he has lived for six years every winter, and whose neighbors are four Russian-Tungusic families.
In Okan, I met another family, where a Yakutia merchant had a small round log cabin. When we arrived at the house on November 15, we crossed the Seringe River a few miles from here. The river splits here into many tributaries that flow around some of the jungle-packed islands. Further down, the banks of the river are steep rocks of medium height.
Mountain nomads sometimes gathered in Ingkan, and Yakutia merchants supplied them with the necessities of life, both those directly from Yakutsk and those who took the route of Udsk. As a point of exchange, yinkan is well known among the Tunguska people, even among the Daur people. We stayed here for a week to get a replacement reindeer, and before we knew it, we got it at the right time. ③
Immediately after leaving Okan, we turned south-southwest. After ten miles, we came to the Seringe River, which was two and a quarter mile further. We then leave the Selinche River and head west-northwest towards the Jayah River. In this area we have not encountered any Saga peaks, only some low and gentle mountains; therefore, we do not have to follow the direction of the river valleys and rivers, although we can easily cross most of them.
Watersheds and rivers were crossed, but we did not re-enter the river valley - a valley close to the depth of the Brea Valley. Very close to Seringe and not far from the Yara Khan Highlands, we find the small usudur river, which runs through a shallow valley that is a mile wide, while another similar valley, the Ursul Valley, is wider. We are finally close to where the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk and the waters of the Heilongjiang River are demarcated, because the source of the Shivili River, which flows into the Uddi River, is only forty-seven miles away.
Jieya River Valley
Of the rivers that the Dejaya River passes through, the only one worth mentioning is the Narla River and its tributary, the Dukda River. Although the former is considered to be the main river, I found that its riverbed has steep banks on both sides and rocky banks, which are not more than one hundred and twenty yards wide, while the riverbed in Duqueda is two hundred yards wide. The Nara River may compensate for its lack of width with its depth. The river's course was straight and neat, with no forks, which immediately caught my attention; the Dukeda River had many forks, and where we crossed there was a bushy island. As for the other rivers, we all cross near their place of origin, and the width of the crossing point does not exceed twenty to thirty yards. The two sides of the river are covered with jungle. ④
We still followed the same direction to the foothills of the Chokhkaya Mountains, which are close to the mouth of the Rapids River. We were blocked by this mountain range and forced to make a detour south to the Jieya River (December 15), ten miles below the mouth of the rapids.
Below the mouth of the rapids, the Russians call the Jieya Valley (Yakutia called Theuridge, Tunguska called the Jieonikan), which is only more than a mile wide, surrounded by high mountains and steep slopes; this valley is divided by deep ditches. The river is about two hundred yards wide, either on the right bank or on the left bank, alternately washing across the foothills, and the two banks are either cliffs and steep walls, or gentle slopes, and the slopes are densely covered with jungle. We traced the Ya River up to the Rapids and carefully investigated the boundary markers standing there.
The boundary is marked on a platform on a steep slope and is an eight-cubic-foot pyramid at the same height as a man. There was a plaque hanging from a tree next to the tower, which was tied to the tree with a horse's mane, and I copied down exactly the text on the card, which read: I came here two and a half years ago to inspect this boundary marker. The Tungusic man who acted as my guide told me that there was a Qing Dynasty official who inspected the boundary marker here every three years, who used to ride on a colored boat led by six or seven people, and here I met a Russian-Tungusic man who saluted me with Chinese etiquette and bowed down.
Tunguska people
The width of the rapids is about half the width of the Jieya River. We traveled along its banks for months. The rapids are bound by steep, usually grassy slopes, and the surface of the river is very narrow; we are forced to bend and follow its curve. Only by stretching towards Khan did the slope become more gentle; finally we left the valley a few miles below the mouth of the Dabukit River, turned west, and came to Dabukit, near the middle reaches of the river. ⑤
Then we turned south, in a sharp angle to the rapids, and traveled as far as we could along the river for several months. On the upper reaches of the river in Amukan, we found ourselves still not out of the narrow river valley. But the mountains are low. At the Yelajingra River, a tributary of the Amukan River, we once again encountered a terrain not seen in months. Despite being surrounded by mountains that are usually high and rocky, since entering your basin, the journey has been more or less crossed every month over vast grassy marshes, which have small lakes, gentle mountains and slopes.
In the past, we have been described to the Tandi River as a multi-island river, and where we cross it, the river runs along a shallow river valley with two tributaries, fifty yards wide each. The main tributary of the River yours is ninety yards wide. The river is winding and winding, and there are many tributaries. As the river flows through undulating areas, the banks are steep and rocky; they flow into flat areas, bordering low-lying marshlands on both sides, dotted with small lakes.
Ascend to the valleys of the branches of the River your, especially the Gluck Valley, and look up at them as they gradually become wider and shallower. From the source of the Gluck River, it crosses a slightly sloping open plain that is a chain of mountains running in a north-south direction. After crossing the plain, we walked out of the Jieya River Basin, which had trekked for two and a half months, and entered the neighboring Heilongjiang Basin.
Where we crossed the Aldoï River, the water was eighty yards wide. When approaching Urić, I was surprised to meet a waddling Tunguska man in this desolate wilderness. Although my sudden and unexpected appearance puzzled him, he was not in the slightest bit in a hurry. On the contrary, he muttered, 'Oh: here comes the Cossack captain.' But in this wilderness, where brandy comes from, several nomads we have met have affirmed that there is no hard liquor to be bought here, and cautiously added that even if it could be bought, it would be sold at a high price. But the mystery was soon revealed, because a few miles away, the forest was thick with smoke and soaring into the sky.
We met a cossack border guard, led by a commander, who came here to collect fur tribute, and the nomads of the region (the Orenchun) paid annual tribute to Russia. The collection of tribute is undoubtedly carried out on the territory of China. The sudden arrival of this ghost of mine caused such great consternation that the Cossacks scattered, and we went to great lengths to call them. We desperately need their horses.
We exchanged reindeer for horses, arrived in Heilongjiang on January 12, 1845, continued on the frozen river, and reached Uster-Strelka on the 14th. After two days of rest, we crossed the mountains on horseback to the Gorbizi River, from where the flat road along the way led us to Nerkchensk (Nebuchu).
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(1) The Tugur River in the north of present-day Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. Qing Chen Yi's Collected Writings of Chen Xueshi, Volume 10 Sabu Su Biography: "In the twenty-third year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1684), he sent troops to take the Gange Rolling River, and oros fled to the Tuku'er River, and forty-seven people were sent to the Beijing Division. In twenty-eight years, "the envoys Feyodor and others were sent to seek success, bounded by the Gelbizi River, and southeast to the Tugulu River."
(2) Along the Brea River, middle-quality coal was discovered in Midendorf.
(3) Here Someone introduced Midendorf to an old Tunguska man who was proud to have shot five Russian fugitives at the end of the last century.
(4) According to the Tunguska, one boundary in China stands at the mouth of the Mevan River, which flows into the Nara River, and the other at the mouth of the Kile River, which flows into the Selinzhi River.
(5) The Tunguska told me that the grandfather of the old woman who made the fire for me had seen the first Russians, and that he had killed six or seven of them who were asleep on the upper reaches of the River Biranta.