fpeedy recovery o f the whole territory, which Yermae
had reduced under, the Ruffian yoke.-
This fuccefs was only the fore-runner of ftill greater
acquifitions. The Ruffians puffied- their oonqueft far
and wide : wherever they appeared,-the Tartars were:
either reduced or exterminated. New- towns were built
a h S ib e r ia ' andcolonies were planted on all fidesv Before a century
conquered and ' ,
colonized. had welf elapfed, all that vaft tra6t of country now called*
Siberia, which ftr.etches from the confines of Europe to
theEaftern Ocean, and from the Frozen Sea to the pre-
fent frontiers o f China, was» annexed to the. Ruffian do--
minions.
Progrefs of A ftill'larger extent' of territory had. probably, been:
^cffinefe won ; and all the various tribes of independent Tartar^
which lie between the South-Eaftern extremity of the
Ruffian empire,-and the Chinefe Wall, would have followed
the fate of the Siberian hordes,-if thé power o f
China had not fuddenly interpofed.
CHAP.
C H A P. IE
Commencement o f hojlilities between the Ruffians- and
Chinefe— Difputes concerning the lim itf o f the two-,
empires— treaty o f Nerjhinsk-— Embajftes from the, court<
o f Ruffia to Pekin— !treaty o f Kiachta— EJlahlifhment.
o f the commerce between the two- nations.
r p o WARDS the middle of the feventeenth century,,
the Ruffians were rapidly extending themfelves-
Eaftward through that important territory, I which lies,-
on each fide of the river «Amoor.. They foon reduced;^'
feveral independent Tungufian hordes; and built a chain *4 ch3 L
offmall fortreftes; along, the banks of the above-mentioned
river, o f which the principal, were Albafin, and
Kamarfkoi Oftrog. Not long afterwards, the Chinefe.
under f Camhi conceived, a fimilar deftgn of fubduing.
the
* Amoor is the - name given By the Ruffians to this river ; it is called:
Sakalin-Ula bv the Manlhurs, and was formerly denominated Karamu—
ran, or.the Black River, by the Mongols. S. R. G. II. p. 293.
-j- Camhi . was the fecondemperor , o f the Manlhur . race, who made.»
themfelves matters o f China in .1624.
The Manlhurs were originally an obfcure tribe o f the Tungufian Tartars,
whofe. territories -lay South of the Amoor, and bordered upon the.
kingdom o f Corea, and-the province of Leaotong. They began to emerge.-
from.