Note 4 — Chapter XL · THE UPPER AMUR.

For steamers to run aground in the Volga is so common a thing that the captains take a number of third-class passengers free, on the understanding that, if the ship gets on a bank, they shall jump overboard and endeavour to get her off. Bold captains there, moreover, have a plan, when coming to a shallow place, of putting on steam, in the hope that the impetus and extra commotion made in the water by the paddles may tide them over the difficulty. The banks of the Volga being of mud, such experiments are not very dangerous, but our boat had grounded upon stones.