CONTENTS 



CHAPTER V 



The Bolsheretsk valley — Crossing the river — Salmon fishing — 

 Success with spoon-bait — Fifteen fish in an hour — Astonishment 

 of the natives — Their mode of fishing described — Hot sulphur 

 springs — Sarand, or native potato — Start for Alalka through the 

 Natchiki valley — Incessant rain — Tracks of bears — Their love 

 of salmon and mode of fishing — Willow grouse first seen — 

 Arrival at Gandl— On the banks of the Bystraia — Mosquitoes in 

 myriads — We engage an old native hunter and his two grand- 

 sons — Across the valley of the Bystraia and the Ganal tundra 

 — Clouds of mosquitoes —Antlers of caribou on the tundra — 

 Crossing the Bystraia — The Kamchatskaia Vershina, an extinct 

 volcano — Dense brushwood — Tracks of bears — Ten days from 

 the coast ; two months from St. Petersburg — A bear shot — 

 Native method of estimating weight — Two more bears — \'ast 

 tracts of moor and snowfields — Lake Sofka Demidoff — Return 

 to camp — Littledale brings in four heads of 0%'is nivicola and a 

 bear — My first glimpse next day of Ovis nrvicola — A young ram 

 missed — Better luck with two four-year-old rams ; both bagged 

 — Littledale secures three more rams and a ewe for the British 

 INIuseum — Amusing adventure with a bear — Skinning heads and 

 taking photographs .... -'''''i't' 154 



CHAPTER VL 



Resolve to try the country beyond the Kamchatskaia \'ershina — 

 Photographing the source of the Kamchatka River — Two bears 

 seen — A small mountain lake — Two sheep sighted — Plagued by 

 mosquitoes — Lunch on a snowfield — A three-year-old sheep shot 

 — Eight bears in view at once on the snow — Striped grey mar- 

 mots numerous — Gillie's adventure with a bear — Littledale kills 

 a young ram — Crossing the Bystraia — Birch forest and swamps 

 — Fresh tracks of bear — Intense heat and mosquitoes — Another 

 young ram shot — The heart saved for native medicine — A stam- 

 pede amongst the horses — Proceed towards Petropavlovsk and 

 camp near Koriak — Despatch a messenger from Khutor for 

 boats to cross the bay — A white dog of the Kamchatkan breed 

 bought — A good haul of salmon — Medicinal use of bear's blad- 

 ders — Start in double canoes for the mouth of the Avatcha 

 Crossing the bar — The launch with boats in tow — News of the 

 war in China — Embark on board the Tsiisikar for Nikolaievsk 



