Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton ChekhovTO HIS SISTER.June 21, 1890.6 o’clock in the evening, not far from the Stanitsa Pokrovskaya.We ran upon a rock, stove a hole in the steamer, and are nowundergoing repairs. We are aground on a sandbank and pumpingout water. On the left is the Russian bank, on the right the Chinese.If I were back at home now I should have the right to boast: “ThoughI have not been in China I have seen China only twenty feet off.”We are to stay the night in Pokrovskaya. We shall make up a partyto see the place.If I were a millionaire I should certainly have a steamer of my ownon the Amur. It is a fine, interesting country. I advise YegorMihailovitch not to go to Tuapse but here; there are here by the wayneither tarantulas nor phalangas. On the Chinese side there is asentry post—a small hut; sacks of flour are piled up on the bank,ragged Chinamen are dragging the sacks on barrows to the hut.And beyond is the dense, endless forest.Some schoolgirls are travelling with us from Irkutsk—Russianfaces, but not good-looking.191