PREFACE vii 



last supposition, though, with regard to the present 

 condition of the land, I may still quote the words 

 of a celebrated explorer of the eighteenth century,^ 

 who wrote : " Bears are the only engineers in Kam- 

 chatka." The salmon fisheries of the peninsula, of 

 which I had heard marvellous accounts, also somewhat 

 infiuenced our decision to visit that country ; and 

 if only the fish could be tempted by fly, minnow, or 

 spoon, a forty-pounder at the end of one's line was 

 by no means a slight attraction. Summer months 

 were naturally chosen for the execution of our plan, 

 and preparations for the journey having delayed us 

 in London till the end of April, 1900, we decided 

 to travel via the Siberian Railway and Amurland to 

 Vladivostok, whence the first of the two annual 

 steamers that leave that port bound for Kamchatka, 

 usually in the middle of June, was to carry us and 

 our fortunes. Prospects of " fresh fields and pastures 

 new " now rose before me toofether w^ith ofleamino- 

 hopes of sportsmen's red-letter days, which helped 



had marched for years across immense stretches of marshes, and it 

 seems natural that the hiyh mountain ranges must have impressed 

 them as the striking feature of this new region. I have adopted the 

 "ch'" in spelhng "Kamchatka" because the ''ch" in the word, as 

 pronounced in Russian, has its corresponding sound in the Enghsh 

 language {e.g. as in chat and poach). 

 * Dittmar. 



