Formerly the Chinese claimed the Songaree as the real Amoor, and based their argument on the fact that it follows the general course of the united stream and carried a volume of water as large as the other.

They have now abandoned this claim, which the Russians are entirely willing to concede.

Once the fact established that the Songaree is the real Amoor, the Russians would turn to the treaty which gives them "all the land north of the Amoor." Their next step would be to occupy the best part of Manjouria, which would be theirs by the treaty.
By far the larger portion of Manjouria is drained by the Songaree and its tributaries.

The sources of this river are in the Shanalin mountains, that separate Corea from Manjouria, and are ten or twelve thousand feet high.

They resemble the Sierra Nevadas in having a lake twelve miles in circumference as high in air as Lake Tahoe.