84 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



My friend the first mate told me that last year two 

 fishermen had been landed on one of the Kuriles by 

 an American schooner to catch the sea-otters, but that 

 the ship had ne\'er returned to call for them. They 

 had to remain all the winter on that uninhabited island, 

 and could only get food provided they were up in the 

 morning before the crows ! They built a small boat, 

 and making their way from one island to another, 

 eventually managed to reach Kamchatka after a 

 year's absence. 



On the following morning, June 22, we found that 

 the fog was as dense as ever. Numbers of sea birds 

 hovered above the steamer — an evident sign that land 

 was not far off. The foghorn was at work every three 

 minutes, and our skipper said that if the mist did not 

 lift we should be obliged to keep away from the land 

 and not attempt to get into Avatcha Bay, in conse- 

 quence of the numerous reefs at the entrance. Accord- 

 ing to his calculations, we should be off the lighthouse 

 at five p.m. He ordered soundings to be taken, which 

 gave a depth of eighty fathoms. Fortunately, soon 

 after five the mist broke up in places, and land was 

 sighted about ten miles to the west. As Dr. Guille- 

 mard expresses it: "We emerged from the fog much 

 as a train runs out of a tunnel, and found that Kam- 

 chatka was in view.'' The mist, however, still hung 



