A SHOOTING TRIP TO 

 KAMCHATKA 



CHAPTER I. 



A brief history of Kamchatka— Commencement of Russian extension 

 eastwards— Cossacks from the Don led by Ermak— Conqueror of 

 Siberia— Extension to the Yenissei and the Lena— The founding of 

 Yakoutsk— A fort on the Okhotsk Sea— Alexeieff, the first Russian in 

 Kamchatka— Murdered by natives— First reports from Kamchatka 

 in 1700 with furs collected as taxes— Peter the Great's reforms— The 

 Nijni-Kamchatsk fort— The revolt of 1707— Troubles in Northern 

 Kamchatka— A sea route found necessary— Okhotsk to the mouth of the 

 Bolshaia— Discovery of Petropavlovsk harbour— AntiT-lussian rising 

 in 1731— Destruction of Nijni-Kamchatsk fort— Russian colonisation 

 from Siberia in 1740 — Failure of agricultural experiments — Adverse 

 conditions of climate — Encouragement of private enterprise by 

 Catharine the Great— The growth of trade— The first commercial 

 company formed in the Aleout Islands — Annexation of the Prybiloff 

 Islands— Foundation of the Russian Seal Fisheries Company, origin- 

 ally the Russo-American Company— The trade in sealskins— Appoint- 

 ment of a military governor — Effect of the Crimean Wa.v — The Trans- 

 Siberian Railway — Restoration of peace and revival of trade. 



IN order to throw some light on the events which 

 brought about the discovery of Kamchatka, it is 

 necessary to retrace our steps to the end of the six- 

 teenth century, which may be rightly termed the start- 

 ing period of Russia's eastward extension. Since that 



