Note 4 — Chapter LI · LAKE KHANKA TO THE COAST.

Ginseng is found chiefly in the valleys of the Upper Ussuri, where it is cultivated in beds, planted in rows. The earth must be a rich black mould, and loose; and when the plant has attained the height of 4 or 5 inches, it is supported by a stick. The beds are carefully weeded and watered, and protected from the sun by tents or sheds of wood. Wild ginseng is said to be the best. From May to September, hundreds go out to seek the plant; and when I asked for the Goldi natives at some of the stations on the Ussuri, I learnt that many of them were gone to seek for ginseng. The prices named by the French missionaries for this root were almost fabulous, a single root being valued in Manchuria at from £250 to £300. The plantations belong to Chinese merchants living at a distance, and Venyukoff found the guards strictly forbidden to sell it. He was able, however, by stealth to procure 12 roots for £4, and his native interpreter subsequently procured 20 for 30s. I was told on the river that ginseng sells for £30 per Russian lb., but that in a bad year the Chinese count it as valuable as gold, and give up to £40 per lb. If, therefore, these prices be paid to those who find it, no doubt it is very expensive when sold in China, where no chemist’s shop is without it. The root is straight, spindle-shaped, knotty, and up to half an inch in diameter, and 8 inches in length. The leaves are cut off, and the root is boiled in water, apparently to remove some injurious quality; and when it has undergone fitting preparation its colour is a transparent white, with sometimes a slight red or orange tinge; its appearance then is that of a stalactite. It is carefully dried, wrapped in unsized paper, and sent to market. On the Ussuri it is used, boiled, for cold, fever, headache or stomach-ache.