CHAPTER III. 



Arrival at Madivostok — Government House — Sable skins — Engage a 

 Chinese cook — On board the Baikal — The island of Askold — Yesso 

 and the Straits of Tsugar — Hakodadi Harbour — Our fellow-travellers 

 — The Tchukchi tribe — Strange marriage customs — Vendetta — Rein- 

 deer — Report of wild sheep in Northern! Siberia — Esquimaux dogs 

 and their drivers— Report of wild sheep on the Canal Range — Whales 

 seen oft' the Kuriles — Russian whaling in the Sea of Okhotsk — 

 Rarity of the sperm whale — A North Pacific fog — Capture of a 

 tufted auk — Oft' Cape Lopatka — Southern Kamchatka — The entrance 

 to Avatcha Bay — Koriatska volcano — Arrival in Petropavlovsk Har- 

 bour — The Ispravnik, chief of the district— Government House — 

 Taxes — The price of furs. 



OUR first inquiry at the station, on our arrival at 

 Vladivostok, was naturally about the Kamchatka 

 steamer. We learnt that the ship was to start on the 

 same clay at five p.m., giving us three hours to make 

 the necessary preparations and purchase stores. Leav- 

 ino" Cristo and Tallent to look after our baoroaae and 

 have it carted on board, we drove to Kunst and Albers' 

 shop in order to get supplies. There again we found 

 the same rival firms, as at Blagovestchensk. Havino- 

 bought potatoes, tlour, cooking titensils, and other 

 odds and ends, we paid a visit to the Governor's wife, 



64 



