1779- THE PACIFIC OCEAN, 299 



If I may judge of the soil from what I saw of its 

 vegetable productions, I should not hesitate in pro- 

 nouncing it barren in the extreme. Neither in the 

 neighbourhood of the bay, nor in the country I tra- 

 versed on my journey to Bolcheretsk, nor in any of 

 our hunting expeditions, did I ever meet with the 

 smallest spot of ground that resembled what in Eng- 

 land is called a good green turf, or that seemed as if 

 it could be turned to any advantage, either in the 

 way of pasturage, or other mode of cultivation. The 

 face of the country in general was thinly covered 

 with stunted trees, having a bottom of moss, mixed 

 with low weak heath. The whole bore a more strik- 

 ing resemblance to Newfoundland than to any other 

 part of the world I had ever seen. 



It must however be observed, that I saw at Paratoun- 

 ca three or four stacks of sweet and very fine-looking 

 hay; and Major Behm informed me, that many parts 

 of the peninsula, particularly the banks of the river 

 Kamtschatka and the Bistraia, produce grass of great 

 height and strength, which they cut twice in the sum- 

 mer ; and that the hay is of a succulent quality, and 

 particularly well adapted to the fattening of cattle. 

 Indeed it should appear, from the size and fatness of 

 the thirty-six head that were sent down to us from 

 the Verchnei ostrog, and which we were told were 

 bred and fattened in the neighbourhood, that they 

 must have had the advantage of both good pastures 

 and meadows. For it is worth our notice, that the 

 first supply we received, consisting of twenty, came 

 to us just at the close of the winter, and before the 

 snow was off the ground, and therefore probably had 

 tasted nothing but hay for the seven preceding 

 months. And this agrees with what is related by 

 KrascheninicofT, that there is no part of the country 

 equal in fertility to that which borders on the river 

 Kamtschatka ; and that to the north and south it is 

 much inferior, both in point of soil and climate. He 

 relates, that repeated experiments have been made 



