8 PANORAMA OF KAMTSCHATKA. 



chatkans have acquired of necessity great fore- 

 sight in meteorology, and of course never un- 

 dertake a journey when they do not consider 

 themselves sure of the weather. 



The principal reason why the climate of 

 Kamtschatka is inferior to that of other places 

 under the same latitude, is to be found in the 

 configuration of the country. The mountains 

 of England, for instance, are of a very mode- 

 rate height, and broken by extensive plains ; 

 here, on the contrary, intersected only by a few 

 valleys of small extent, a single chain of moun- 

 tains, its broken snow-crowned summits reach- 

 ing to the clouds, and in many parts far beyond 

 them, stretches the whole length of the Penin- 

 sula, and is based upon its breadth. 



The panorama of Kamtschatka is a confused 

 heap of granite blocks of various heights, thickly 

 piled together, whose pointed, jjigged forms 

 bear testimony to the tremendous war of ele- 

 ments amidst which they must have burst from 

 the bowels of the earth. The struggle is even 

 now scarcely ended, as the smoking and burning 

 of volcanoes, and frequent shocks of earth- 

 quake, sufficiently intimate. One of the moun- 



