It is the custom to anchor or tie up at night unless there is a good moon or very clear starlight.

An hour after we anchored the stars became so bright that we proceeded and ran until daylight, reaching Mariensk at two in the morning.

I had designed calling upon two gentlemen and a lady at Mariensk, but it is not the fashion in Russia to make visits between midnight and daybreak.

Borasdine had the claim of old acquaintance and waked a friend for a little talk.
This town is at the entrance of Keezee lake, and next to Nicolayevsk is the oldest Russian settlement on the lower Amoor.

It was founded by the Russian American Company in the same year with Nicolayevsk, and was a trading post until the military occupation of the river.
Difficulties of navigation have diminished its military importance, the principal rendezvous of this region being transferred to Sofyesk.
On an island opposite Mariensk is the trace of a fortification built by Stepanoff, a Russian adventurer who descended the Amoor in 1654.
Stepanoff passed the winter at this point, and fortified himself to be secure against the natives.