1779. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 283 



met Captain Shmaleff on his return, and was accom- 

 panied by a letter from him, in which he informed 

 us, that the sloop from Okotsk had arrived during 

 his absence, and that Madame Shmaleff, who was 

 entirely in our interests, had lost no time in dispatch- 

 ing a courier, with the few presents, of which our 

 acceptance was requested. 



The appearance of foul weather, on the 6th and 

 7th, prevented our unmooring ; but on the morning 

 of the 8th, we sailed out toward the mouth of the 

 bay, and hoisted in all the boats ; when the wind, 

 veering to the southward, stopped our farther pro- 

 gress, and obliged us to drop anchor in ten fathoms ; 

 the ostrog bearing due north, half a league distant. 



The weather being foggy, and the wind from the 

 same quarter during the forenoon of the 9th, we 

 continued in our station. At four in the afternoon, 

 we again unmoored; but whilst we were, with great 

 difficulty, weighing our last anchor, I was told that 

 the drummer of the marines had left the boat, which 

 had just returned from the village, and that he was 

 last seen with a Kamtschadale woman, to whom his 

 messmates knew he had been much attached, and 

 who had often been observed persuading him to stay 

 behind. Though this man had been long useless to 

 us, from a swelling in his knee, which rendered him 

 lame, yet this made me the more unwilling he should 

 be left behind, to become a miserable burthen, both 

 to the Russians and himself. I therefore got the 

 serjeant to send parties of soldiers in different direc- 

 tions, in search of him, whilst some of our sailors 

 went to a well-known haunt of his in the neighbour- 

 hood, where they found him with his woman. On 

 the return of this party, with our deserter, we 

 weighed, and followed the Resolution out of the 

 bay. 



Having at length taken our leave of Saint Peter 

 and Saint Paul, I shall conclude this chapter with a 

 particular desscription of Awatska bay, and the 



