NIJNI-KAMCHATSK FORT 7 



It was not until 1706, when news arrived of a general 

 insurrection of the Kamchadales, that he was ordered 

 out again at the head of a hundred Cossacks to quell 

 the fermentation in Kamchatka. 



In the meantime the small garrison left to keep up 

 Russian prestige in the country held out a year, but 

 outnumbered by the natives, whilst retreating to 

 Anadyrsk were all massacred. The reinforcements, 

 which had come too late, defeated the Koriaks, 

 restored the fort on the Kamchatka River, and built 

 a new one some thirty miles from the mouth of the 

 Bolshaia River, on the western coast of the pen- 

 insula. 



In 1702 the Nijni- Kamchatsk fort was estab- 

 lished close to the place where the Kamchatka river 

 falls into the sea. These three settlements, com- 

 manding both the main artery of the peninsula and 

 another important stream flowing into the Sea of 

 Okhotsk, were strengthened by fresh Cossacks from 

 Anadyrsk. In 1704 taxes were being collected from 

 the Kurile tribes inhabiting the southernmost part of 

 Kamchatka and brought to Anadyrsk, the Govern- 

 ment seat of the district. But the natives, and 

 especially the Koriaks, still held out desperately for 

 their independence. With the exception of the three 

 fortified settlements just mentioned and their im- 



