70 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



The BaikaL heavily laden as she was with Government 

 stores, such as flour and sugar, for the inhabitants of 

 Kamchatka, was fairly steady, but speed had to be 

 slackened to four knots in order to prevent the huge 

 waves from submerging her entirely, and last, not 

 least, she was obliged to alter her course to windward. 

 We \vere mercilessly tossed about the whole day 

 as well as the following night, sleep being out of 

 question on account of the rattling of the screw, con- 

 stantly out of water. 



On the morning of June i6 we were still toiling 

 across the Sea of Japan, having gone but 150 miles in 

 thirty-six hours. Our cabin was under two inches of 

 water, which had leaked from below or dashed throuoh 

 the portholes occasionally opened for fresh air. Dress- 

 ing and wading across the cabin floor was no pleasant 

 occupation. My wife preferred to remain in bed, while 

 I partook of the scanty breakfast, served by dirty 

 Chinese boys, in the company of two or three passen- 

 gers who stoically faced the storm. On the following 

 day the wind gradually fell, and although the sea was 

 still " rocky," we were able to resume our course ; 

 towards evenino-, as we caus^ht sioht of the first islands 

 of Yesso, we entered perfectly smooth water. It was 

 a beautiful evening and a strange contrast with the 

 previous clays, as we neared the mountainous coasts of 



