The remainder of this chapter appeared, with a few further details, in _Die Neue Zeit_, February, 1902. Extracts from the article were quoted at the time in many Continental and some English journals.—_Trans._ On the right bank of the river, exactly opposite the town, was the Chinese village of Saghalien.[116] There was constant intercourse between the dwellers on either bank, carried on in summer by means of boats and junks, in winter over the ice; for the Chinese and Manchurians were the chief purveyors of supplies to the inhabitants of Blagovèstshensk, especially of meat and vegetables. Until the spring of 1900 relations between the two settlements had been uniformly peaceful; but after the murder in Pekin of the German ambassador, von Ketteler, and the decision of the Russian Government, on January 24th, to mobilise the Siberian army, constraint and tension began to make themselves felt. On the Chinese side of the river military exercises took place every evening; the beating of the tattoo sounded, and the firing of cannon was heard, which had never been known to happen before. To the inquiries of the Russian authorities as to the meaning of all this, the Chinese answered that a small detachment of soldiers had been quartered there for the summer. This reply entirely satisfied the administrators of Blagovèstshensk, but not the inhabitants; many of them opined that the Chinese were not having gun-practice for nothing, and telescopes further showed that earthworks were being constructed in the neighbourhood of Saghalien. The representations of people who had observed this only elicited from the Russian military governor of the Amur province—General N. R. Gribsky—the assurance that these were trifles, and need disquiet no one. Footnote 116: Not to be confused with the _island_ of Saghalien.—_Trans._ [Illustration: BLAGOVÈSTSHENSK To face page 328 ] Meanwhile there were but few soldiers in Blagovèstshensk—two or three regiments of infantry, a regiment of Cossacks, and a brigade of artillery—and by order of the Governor-General Grodekov even these were almost all withdrawn on July 11th and sent down the Amur to Habarovsk, while only one company of soldiers, a hundred Cossacks, and two guns (one of which proved later to be totally useless) were left behind in the town. Besides these there were about two thousand reservists, who had been called out in accordance with the mobilisation order; but in view of the entire lack of arms and ammunition, these reservists were of little use, and certainly could not count as any efficient protection to the town. The departure of the military, for which many steamers and barges were needed, took place with much ceremony, and was watched by an immense crowd of people. This could not fail to be observed by the Chinese inhabitants of Saghalien, who were thus made aware that the Russian town was left almost defenceless.