1779- THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 181 



ten miles, is to the north, after which it turns to the 

 westward : this bend excepted, it preserves, for the 

 most part, a straight course ; and the country through 

 which it flows, to the distance of near thirty miles 

 from the sea, i& low and flat, and subject to frequent 

 inundations. We were pushed forward by six men, 

 with long poles, three at each end of the boat ; two 

 of whom were Cossacks, the others Kamtschadales ; 

 and advanced against a strong stream, at the rate, as 

 well as I could judge, of about three miles an hour. 

 Our Kamtschadales bore this severe labour, with great 

 stoutness, for ten hours ; during which we stopped 

 only once, and that for a short time, whilst they took 

 some little refreshment. As we had been told, at our 

 first setting out in the morning,, that we should easily 

 reach an ostrog, called Karatchin, the same night,, 

 we were much disappointed to find ourselves, at sun- 

 set, fifteen miles from that place. This we attributed 

 to the delay occasioned in passing the shoals we had 

 met with, both at the entrance of the river, and in 

 several other places, as we proceeded up it ; for our 

 boat being the first that had passed up the river, the 

 guides were not acquainted with the situation of the 

 shifting sand-banks, and unfortunately the snow not 

 having yet begun to melt, the shallowness of the river 

 was at its extreme. 



The fatigue our men had already undergone, and 

 the difficulty of navigating the river, which would 

 have been much increased by the darkness of the 

 night, obliged us to give up all thoughts of continu- 

 ing our journey that evening. Having therefore 

 found a place tolerably sheltered, and cleared it of 

 the snow, we erected a small marquee, which we had 

 brought with us - r and, by the assistance of a brisk 

 fire, and some good punch, passed the night not very; 

 unpleasantly. The only inconvenience we laboured 

 under was, the being obliged to make the fire at some 

 distance from us. For, although the ground was, to 

 all appearance, dry enough before, yet when the fire 



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