Kirin is divided into three ruling _ting_ departments or commanderies, viz., Kirin ula, or the garrison of Kirin, Petuné or Pedné, and Changchun ting. Kirin, the largest of the three, is subdivided into eight garrison districts. The town, called _Chuen Chwang_, or ‘Navy Yard,’ in Chinese, is finely situated on the Songari, in lat. 43° 45′ N., and long. 127° 25′ E., at the foot of encircling hills, where the river is a thousand feet wide. The streets are narrow and irregular, the shops low and small, and much ground in the city is unoccupied. Two great streets cross each other at right angles, one of them running far into the river on the west supported by piles. The highways are paved with wooden blocks, and adorned with flowers, gold fish, and squares; its population is about 50,000. The four other important places in Kirin are Petuné, Larin, Altchuku, or A-shi-ho, and Sansing, the latter at the confluent of the Songari and Hurka. Altchuku is the largest, and Petuné next in size, each town having not far from 35,000 inhabitants; Larin is perhaps half as large, and like the others steadily increasing in numbers and importance. Ninguta on the river Hurka has wide regions under its sway where ginseng is gathered; near the stockaded town is a subterranean body of water that furnishes large fish. A great and influential portion of the Chinese population is Moslem, but no Manchus reside in the place. The former control trade and travel in every town. Petuné, in lat. 45° 20′ N., and long. 125° 10′ E., is inhabited by troops and many persons banished from China for their crimes. Its favorable position renders it a place of considerable trade, and during the summer months it is a busy mart for these thinly peopled regions. It consists of two main streets, with the chief market at their crossing. A large mosque attracts attention. The third commandery of Changchun, west of Kirin and south of Petuné, just beyond the Palisade, is a mere post for overseeing the Manchus and Mongols passing to and fro on the edge of the steppe. The resources of this wide domain in timber, minerals, metals, cattle and grain have not yet been explored or developed. The hills are wooded to the top, the bottoms bring forth two crops annually, and the rivers take down timber and grain to the Russian settlers. Sorghum, millet, barley, maize, pulse, indigo, and tobacco are the chief crops; and latterly opium, which has rapidly extended, because it pays well. Oil and whiskey are extensively manufactured, packed in wicker baskets lined with paper and transported on wheelbarrows. The wild and domestic animals are numerous. Among the latter the hogs and mules, more than any other kind, furnish food and transportation; while tigers, panthers, and leopards, bears, wolves, and foxes reward the hunters for their pains in killing them. ~THE PROVINCE OF TSI-TSI-HAR.~