1779' THE PACIFIC OCEAK. 133 



to the dwelling of the Toion, who was a plain decent 

 man, born of a Russian woman, by a Kamtschadale 

 father. His house, like all the rest in this country, 

 was divided into two apartments* A long narrow 

 table, with a bench roundit, was all the furniture we 

 saw in the outer ; and the household stuff of the 

 inner, which was the kitchen, was not less simple and 

 scanty. But the kind attention of our host, and the 

 hearty welcome we received^ more than compensated 

 for the poverty of his lodgings. 



His wife proved an excellent cook ; and served us 

 with fish and game of different sorts, and various 

 kinds of heath-berries, that had been kept since the 

 last year. Whilst we were at dinner in this miserable 

 hut, the guests of a people, with whose existence we 

 had before been scarce acquainted, and at the extrem- 

 ity of the habitable globe, a solitary, half- worn pew- 

 ter spoon, whose shape was familiar to us, attracted 

 our attention ; and, on examination, we found it 

 stamped on the back with the word London. I can- 

 not pass over this circumstance in silence, out of 

 gratitude for the many pleasant thoughts, the anxious 

 hopes, and tender remembrances it excited in us. 

 Those who have experienced the effects that long 

 absence and extreme distance from their native coun- 

 try produce on the mind, will readily conceive the 

 pleasure such trifling incidents can give. To the phi- 

 losopher and the politician they may perhaps suggest 

 reflections of a different nature. 



We were now to quit the river, and perform the 

 next part of our journey on sledges ; but the thaw 

 had been too powerful in the day-time, to allow us 

 to set out till the cold of the evening had again made 

 the surface of the snow hard and firm. This gave us 

 an opportuntiy of walking about the village, which 

 was the only place we had yet seen free from snow, 

 since we landed in this country. It stood upon a well 

 wooded flat, of about a mile and a half in circum- 

 ference. The leaves were just budding, and the 



n4 



