8 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



mediate neighbourhood, the country remained with- 

 out efficient control. 



Two officials sent from Yakoutsk were almost simul- 

 taneously slaughtered by the Koriaks in the northern 

 parts of the peninsula. Rumours of this quickly 

 spread among the Kamchadales of the interior, and 

 contributed to a wholesale rising ; fifteen Cossacks 

 were massacred while collecting yassa^. Such was the 

 state of affairs when Atlassoff, reinstated to his former 

 position, appeared again in Kamchatka at the head of 

 a hundred men, with two years' supply of stores, in 

 the summer of 1707. The prestige of his name, 

 backed up by strong reinforcements, soon brought the 

 revolt to an end. The inhabitants round Avatcha 

 Bay made a particularly gallant defence against the 

 invaders, but were finally defeated with heavy losses. 

 Here comes in a fresh element of discord ; freed from 

 the sway of a distant administration, the Cossacks 

 began squabbling amongst themselves and rose against 

 their leader Atlassoff, whose cruelty knew no bounds. 

 He was seized by the rebels and confined in gaol 

 at Nijni-Kamchatsk. In the meanwhile two new 

 officials were appointed from Yakoutsk to look into 

 matters in Kamchatka ; one of them took three 

 years to reach his post (1707-10), owing to constant 

 hostilities with tlie northern tribes throu<>]i whose 



