630 Cochrane's Journey to the 



pox, and its rival distemper, with oilier 

 diseases, and al)ove all the spirit of per- 

 secution wliicli has been unremittingly 

 practised towards these poor pcoj)le, 

 have been the several causes of the de- 

 population. The depopulated slate of 

 this peninsula is also to be attributed to 

 other causes. Their continual wars and 

 insurrections ^reatl}' thinned them, and 

 these were followed by the iulrodnction 

 of the small-pox, which, in the year 

 1768, carried off no less Ihan six thou- 

 sand persons; and twenty thousand are 

 supposed to have fallen victims to it 

 within a short period. 



Whether the Russian government 

 ■will pay any attention to the serious and 

 deplorable situation of the peninsula of 

 Kamfchatka is of no personal conse- 

 quence to mo, though I may well feel a 

 strong interest concerning a place in 

 which I resided for more than a year, 

 and where I married. The ceremony 

 was attended with much more pomp and 

 parade than if it had been celebrated in 

 England : it took place on the 8th of 

 January, and I certainly am the first 

 Englishman that ever married a Kamt- 

 chatdale, and my wife nndoubtedly the 

 first native of that peninsula that ever 

 visited happy Britain. 



St. Peter and St. Paul's, the chief city 

 of the peninsula of Kamtejiatka, con- 

 tains forty-two dwellings, besides (iiteen 

 edifices belonging to the government, 

 nn old church, and the fonndalion of a 

 new one. Among the public buildings 

 nre to be reckoned magazines for bread, 

 for powder, for sailors, for convicts, for 

 wine, and for arms ; a guard-house, 

 smithy, hospital, chancery, school, and a 

 building for the chief and his assistant. 

 All, however, with the exception of the 

 hospital, sailors' barracks, and school, 

 are, at best, like the rest of the city, 

 emblems of misery and wretchedness. 

 I have never seen, even on the banks of 

 the Frozen Sea, socontemptihle a place, 

 hardly meriting the name of a village, 

 much less that of a city ; yet such is 

 the place which has been so euhigizcd 

 from one end of the worb! to the other. 

 The erection of hospitals, of schools, of 

 churches, and the diffusion of happiness, 

 have been extravagantly vaunted of in 

 magazines and reviews, in defiance of 

 the most lamentable facts of a very op- 

 posite description. 



OIvOTSK. 



Being fully prepared for my ionrney 

 to Yaknlsk, distant seven or < ight bun- 

 drfd milrs, we departed on tlice\eniiig 

 of the 27th ol August, a very iale period 



Frozen Sea and Kamtchatka. 



of the year, crossing the Great Bay and 

 encamping for the night at Bnlgicne, 

 near the remains of an old hospital, then 

 in a fine situation, but lately removed toa 

 worse one, in the town. It ought, at 

 least, to be still used for those that arciii 

 a convalescent state, having the advan- 

 tage of a better air, some vegetables, 

 and plenty of milk.^ Tiie following 

 morning our caravan amounted to near 

 two hundred horses. I had thirteen, 

 besides a couple of tents, one for my 

 guides andCossack, the other for myself. 

 Provisions were laid in for six weeks, as 

 nothing is to b(f procured upon the road 

 except flesh meat. My present situation 

 u|!on leaving Okotsk was too different 

 from the last to escape my observation. 

 Then I was wandering about alone, 

 carelessof the past, unconcerned for the 

 future, and, like the brute creation, alive 

 only to the present hour. Now, with a 

 young wife to protect through an exe- 

 crable journey on horseback,and exposed 

 to the severity fof winter, I felt, nn<l 

 felt deeply, that prudence and foresight 

 were peculiarly necessary. She, who 

 had only seen three or four horses in 

 her life, was constantly not a little 

 terrified; but u hat will not perseverance 

 overcome? The difficulties she en- 

 countered in this and the subsequent 

 jonrnoys were such as would have 

 shaken the most robust, and bore very 

 hard upon her delicate frame. The 

 number of rivers and branches of rivers 

 that are forded and passed upon the 

 journey from Yakutsk to Okotsk is 

 quite inconceivable." Captain Minitsky 

 l(dd me there were not less than a 

 thousaiid, 



THF, YAKUTt. 



They are evidently of Tartar origin, 

 as their language is understood by the 

 Tartars of Cazan. Their complexion 

 is a light copper colour; they are 

 generally of low stature, with more 

 regular and pleasing features than 

 the Tongusi : they are more hospitable, 

 good-tempered, and orderly, but neither 

 so honest nor so independent ; they 

 have a si'rvility, a tameness, and a want 

 of character, which assimilates them, 

 in some measure, to the despicable 

 Kamtehatdales. The more a Yakut 

 is beaten, the more he will work ; touch 

 a Tongoose and no work will be got 

 from liim. The Yakiili are very 

 ingenious and excellent mechanics: 

 they make their own knives, guns, 

 kettles, and various iroo utensils. TJiey 

 are patient under fatigue, and can 

 resist great piivalions. They are, like 



Iho 



