32 Skeich of Kamschatka, Kurile Islands, ¢-c. 
Okotsk, and thence distributed as markets invite the various proprie~ 
tors. One skin out of every forty is paid, as a tribute to the Emperor. 
St. Peters and St. Pauls is the chief town of Kamschatka, a -miser- 
able place consisting of fifty seven dwellings, on the east side of the . 
peninsula, one degree of latitude from its southern cape. Of rocks 
and minerals, it can scarcely be said, that any thing is known. De — 
Lesseps saw talc in large plates or leaves, and it is said there are 
hot springs at Natchikin, in the south, near which are iron, copper, 
sulphur, calcareous earth, and rocks of limestone ; but of their rel- 
ative position, or of the mountain formations, nothing is known. 
KURILE ISLANDS. 
These islands south of Kamschatka, are doubtless a continuation 
of the hills of the peninsula, which have been separated from it or 
whith have been raised by volcanic convulsions, as volcanic remains 
are found on those which have been visited ; and the opinion is support- 
ed by the fact, that they are on the same meridian with the volcanoes on 
the east side of Kamschatka, and that earthquakes are of frequentoc- 
eurrence. The islands are without rivers, and but few of them inhab- 
ited. Their number is not well ascertained, but probably from four- 
teen to twenty five, part subject to Russia, and the remainder to 
. They abound in fine pastures and some cattle, with great 
multitudes of water fowl, from whose skins and feathers, the inhabi- 
tants make their warm clothing, which is extremely beautiful. Foxes 
are said to be the only animals of the chase, found there, and they 
are very numerous and of all colors. From these a small revenue 
ts derived for the Emperor. 
Chinese Frontier. 
For forty or fifty miles between Irkutsk and the Baikal Lake, 
hundreds of traders with carts and horses, laden with furs and ivory 
from the north, and with silks, teas, and nankeens from the south, go- 
ing to, and coming from the great fair of Kiakhta, within the Chinese 
border, declare the vicinity of the celestial empire. 
Immense mountains of porphyry shooting into spires and pinnacles, 
overhang the Chinese river Selenga, while villages and fertile valleys 
occupy some af its banks between the ranges, until it ultimately loses 
