14 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



discovery of "great lands beyond." The peninsula 

 was partly forgotten, and would have been entirely so, 

 had it not been for Krasheninikoff, a member of the 

 expedition, who appeared in Kamchatka in 1737 on 

 the Fortuna, and has left us the first description of 

 the country. 



In 1740 the Government entered into a period of 

 colonisation, and at first fiftv families were brouo-ht 

 over from Yakoutsk to Kamchatka; they settled down 

 in the Bolsheretzk fort on the west coast, and gradually 

 spread to the other settlements in the valley of the 

 main river. In 1760 arose, in connection with sup- 

 plies for the troops, the question of agriculture, which 

 lasted over a hundred years, and after many an 

 attempt at settlement ended in complete failure. At 

 present almost the only remnants of corn-growing on 

 the peninsula exist round the village of Klioutchi, at 

 the foot of the Klioutchefskoi volcano. A party of re- 

 liable men were sent over from Irkutsk with seeds 

 and ploughing implements ; every possible facility 

 with regard to taxes was afforded them. Moreover, 

 an ukase of the Government four years later gave 

 full amnesty to escaped convicts who chose to devote 

 themselves to agriculture in Kamchatka. None of 

 these measures, owing to the conditions of the climate, 

 ever answered their purpose. l)Ut this immigration 



