2 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



tinie never has the policy of the Moscovian monarchs 

 deviated. Gradual advance across the north-Asiatic 

 continent has been their constant care, and the Treaty 

 of Aigoun with China in the fifties, incorporating 

 the whole of Amurland with the Russian Empire, 

 was the last link of that long- chain of conquests and 

 annexations. 



In 1583 the first impulse was given by Ermak, a 

 Cossack from the Don, who, with a handful of 

 followers, crossed the Ural Mountains in search of 

 adventures. The Moscovian Government, at that 

 time under the despotic rule of the Tsar Ivan the 

 Terrible, gave a semblance of support to the hardy 

 pioneers, and instructed them to bring as many lands 

 as they could "under Russian dominion." The party 

 under Ermak consisted of rough, unscrupulous men. 

 whose sole aim, in the task they had undertaken, 

 was plunder, and there can be no doubt that the 

 Government's intentions in supporting the enter- 

 prise were directed more towards ridding the country 

 of its scum than carr)ing out any determined [)lan 

 of fresh accjuisitions. If, however, an improbable 

 success crowned the e.xpedition and the men outlived 

 undergone hardships, h'uits would be welcome, sub- 

 dued tribes brought under taxation, and the con- 

 <|uerors' tormcr misdeeds wiped off as a due reward 



