RUSSIA AND CHINA. 247 



Before the pafTaoie from Ocliotfk to Bolcherefk was T""/p=" ^'^ 



■t O the l-Lirs from 



difcovered in 17 16, the only communication between Ki^tt"''^ '° 

 Kamtchatka and Siberia was by land ; the road lay 

 by Anadirfk to Yakutlli. The furs ■•'•• of Kamtchatka 

 and of the Ealiern illes are now con\eyed from 

 that peninfvda by water to Ochotflv ; from thence 

 to Yakutik by land on horfe-back, or by rein-deer : 

 the roads are fo very bad, lying either through a 

 rugged mountainous country, or through marfliy fo- 

 refts, that the journey lafts at lead fix weeks. Yakutik 

 is fituated' upon the Lena, and is the principal town, 

 where the choiceft furs are brought in their way to 

 Kiachta, as well from Kamtchatka as from the Northern 

 parts of Siberia, which lay upon the rivers Lena, Yana, 

 and Endigirka. At Yakutfk the goods are embarked 

 upon the Lena, towed up the ftream of that river as ftir 

 as Vercholenfk, or flill farther to Katfheg ; from thence 

 they are tranfported over a fliort tradt of land to the 

 rivulet Buguldeika, dowm that ftream to the lake Baikal, 

 acrofs that lake to the mouth of the Selenga, and up 

 tiiat river to the neighbourhood of Kiachta. 



* The furs, which are generally landed upon the Eaftern coall of 

 Kamtchatka, are either lent by fea to Bolchore/k, or are tranfported 

 acrofs the Peninfula in fledges drawn by dogs. The latter conveyance 

 is only ufed in winter : it is the ufual mode of travelling in that country. 

 In fummcr there is no conveyance, as the Peninfula contains neither 

 oxen, horfes, or rein-deer. S. R. G. III. p. 478. 



In 



