ANCIENT MONUMENTS.              293
the calm which now prevailed, hoping, if the weather proved favorable, we might possibly reach Nikolaivsky ? the following night.
We pushed off into the stream at 11 p. M. in high glee, keeping two' men at the oars by turns during the night. It was very dark and cloudy, threatening rain; but the shores were at times discernible. We pulled on, keeping in mid-river as near as we could. I continued to steer till 2 A. M., the weather rather improving as the morning advanced. At 6 A. M. thermometer indicated 59°, and at 12 M. 69°. The river here is broad and majestic, with a current of four miles per hour; the shores generally covered with forest.
Tuesday, July 7. Thermometer at 6 A. M. 60°; at 12 M. 65°. We continued on rowing during the night. It remained quite calm, the first for many nights past. The morning proved pleasant; the sun shone out warm at 10 A. M. The river and surrounding country are on a magnificent scale. The vast stream is like a sea of glass. The shores and mountains are beautifully variegated by the different-colored foliage of the various species of trees growing in distinct belts, according to the nature of the soil or the elevation. At 12  i. we came to a rocky promontory on the right shore, one hundred and thirty miles above Nikolaivsky, where' are to be seen some ancient stone monuments, commemorating Tartar supremacy centuries since in these remote regions. The cliff rises abruptly from the beach, which forms in a beautiful little sandy cove, between the two points of the overhanging cape, which arises to the height of one hundred feet, upon the summit of which there is table land