232 FROM KAMTSCHATKA 



pose was interrupted by the call of the senti.net 

 announcing eight bay dares under sail. This visit 

 was meant for us ; we had already seen them from 

 an eminence getting under sail in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cape Deceit *, but as our arms were in the 

 o-reatest order, we could await their arrival with 

 composure. The baydares, each with twelve men, 

 landed at the south cape of the arm, directly oppo- 

 site us, at a distance of a short mile, where they 

 were drawn on shore, and, like ours, served as tents. 

 The Americans made several fires, round which 

 they placed themselves, and their dogs, of which 

 they had many, ran about the shore. Such neigh- 

 bours might really prove dangerous to us, as my 

 whole company on this excursion consisted of only 

 fourteen men, and the loss of some of my sailors 

 would have made it impossible for me to complete 

 the expedition : yet we had need of some hours' re- 

 pose. I therefore placed the sentinels with theii' 

 pieces loaded, and orders to fire on the slightest 

 suspicion, and the rest of us lay down on the 

 m-ound, each with a loaded musket at his side. 

 The savages sat round their fire crying out and 

 beating their drum. 



I gave up for the present the farther examina- 

 tion of this arm, as it would cost me too much 

 time on account of the shoals, and put it off till 

 next year, when I might continue it by means of 

 very small baydares from Qonalashka. 1 called 

 this bay, the Bay of Good Hope, as I might really 



