88 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



volcano, now quiescent, a graceful cone of about 7,000 

 feet ; and a little farther eastwards a huge ilat-topped 

 mass, exceeding it in height by a thousand feet or 

 more, obtrudes itself as a rare exception to the rule 

 ot cone-shaped mountains which seems to obtain 

 throuohout the country. It is nameless in the charts, 

 for we are in the land of volcanoes, and it is only 

 8,000 feet in height. On either hand, on entering, 

 are the two secondary harbours, Rakova and Tarein- 

 ska — the latter nearly five miles in length — and within 

 them again are others on a still smaller scale. 



Nature here has treated the mariner right royally. 

 The ironbound coast without may be as bad a lee 

 shore as any skipper wishes to see, and the Pacific 

 Ocean may too often belie its name, but here one can 

 rest quietly, and sleep sn7' Ics deux oreillcs until eaich 

 time the anchor is weighed for the homeward vovao-e. 

 P)Ut if the southern part of tlie bay is fine, it is difficult 

 to tmd words to describe the beauty of its upper por- 

 tion. We look north, and the scenery on which we 

 have just turned our backs is forgotten, for there, 

 shoulder to shoulder, their vast fields of snow glitter- 

 ing in the sun, stand a trio of volcanoes such as one 

 rarely sees. From the summit ot Avatchinska, the 

 central jK-ak, a delicate streamer of white \apour 

 iloats out horizontally, sharpl\- defined against the 



