The affluents of the Songaree run through a plateau in some places densely wooded while in others it has wide belts of prairie and marshy ground.
A large part of the valley consists of low, fertile lands, through which the river winds with very few impediments to navigation.
Very little is known concerning the valley, but it is said to be pretty well peopled and to produce abundantly.

M.De la Bruniere when traveling to the country of the Gilyaks in 1845, crossed this valley, and found a dense population along the river, but a smaller one farther inland.

The principal cities are Kirin and Sansin on the main stream, and Sit-si-gar on the Nonni, one of its tributaries.

The Songaree is navigable to Kirin, about thirteen hundred versts from the Amoor, and it is thought the Nonni can be ascended to Sit-si-gar.

The three cities have each a population of about a hundred thousand.
According to the treaty of 1860 Russian merchants with proper passports may enter Chinese territory, but no more than two hundred can congregate in one locality.