TO KAMTSCHATKA. 139 



ral and loud laughter arose. The spectators on 

 shore, who at last got tired of this scene, amused 

 themselves with pelting us with stones, to which I 

 soon put an end by a few musket-shots. By this I 

 also lost my cheerful company in the water, gained 

 the landing-place, and hastily put some of my 

 sailors on shore. Scarcely had the savages per- 

 ceived this, when they surrounded us with still 

 more importunity. They had painted their faces 

 red, white, and black, which gave them a terrific 

 appearance, danced with the most ridiculous mo- 

 tions, and contortions of the body, making such a 

 terrible noise, that we were obliged to halloo in each 

 other's ears to understand what we said. I can 

 imagine the impression which this made on Lieu- 

 tenant SchischmarefF, who saw these people for 

 the first time, and thought himself surrounded by 

 so many monkeys ; for this new scene surpassed 

 even my ideas, though I was previously acquainted 

 with the inhabitants of the South Sea. In order 

 to disperse them, and to get some room, I had 

 knives thrown among them ; but, notwithstanding 

 this, I felt a stone strike my hat. I gave or- 

 ders again to fire, and this at length enabled me 

 to get on shore. My first business here was to 

 look for the large and remarkable statues on the 

 beach, which were seen there by Cook and La Pey- 

 rouse ; but, notwithstanding all my research, 1 only 

 found a broken heap of stones, which lay near an 

 uninjured pedestal ; of all the others not a trace 



