;Treaty of
iNerfhinfk.
le f t Pekin in the beginning of June 1689. Golovin
had propofed receiving them at Albafin; but while he
was proceeding to that.fortrefs, the Chinefe embaffadors
prefented. themfelves at the gates of Nerlhinfk,-efcorted
by fuch a numerous army, and fuch-a formidable train
o f artillery, that Golovin was eonftrained, from motives
o f fear, to conclude the negotiation almoft upon their
own terms.
The conferences were held tinder tents, in an open
«plain, near the town of Nerfhinfk ; where the treaty
•was ligned and fealed by the plenipotentaries of the tw®
•courts. When.it was propofed to. ratify it by oath, the
Chinefe: embaffadors offered to fwear upon a crucifix ^
but Golovin preferred .their taking an oath in the name
o f their own gods.
This treaty firft -checked 'the progrefs of the Ruffian
arms in thofe parts ; and laid the foundations of an important
and .regular commerce between the two nations.
By the firft and fecond articles, the Sotrth-Eaftern
boundaries of the Ruffian empire were formed by a
widge of mountains, ftretching North of the A moor
.from the fea of Qchotfk to the fourceof the fmall river
Gor-
Gorbitza *, then by that r-iver to its influx into the
Amoor, and laftly by the Argoon, from its junction with
the Shilka up to its fource.
By the fifth article reciprocal liberty of trade was
granted to all the fubjedts of the two empires, who were
provided with pafs-ports from their refpeaive courts t.
This treaty was figned on the 27 th of Auguft, in the
year 1689, under the reign of Ivan and Peter Alexie-
witch, by which the Ruffians loft, exclufively of a large
territory, the navigation of the river Amoor. The importance
of this lofs was not at that time underftood;
and has only been felt fince the difcovery of Kamtchatka,
and of the iflands between Afia and America. The produces
of thefe new-difcovered countries might, by means
of the Amoor, have been conveyed by water into the
diftrict of Nerfhinfk, from whence there is an eafy
^ There are two Gorbitzas; the firft, falls into the Amoor, near the
conflux of the Argoon and Shilka; the fecond falls into the Shilka. The
former was meant by the Ruffians; but the Chinefe fixed upon the latter
for the boundary, and have carried their point. Accordingly the prefent
limits are fomewhat different from thofe mentioned in the text. They
are carried from the point, where the Shilka and Argoon unite to form
the Amoor, Weftward along the Shilka, until they reach the mouth o f
tha Weftern Gorbitza; from thence they are continued to the fource of
the laft-mentioned river, and along the chain o f mountains as before. By
this alteration the Ruffian limits are fomewhat abridged.
t s - R-G. II. p. 435.
D d tranfport