KORIATSKA VOLCANO 89 



blue of the clear northern sky. So closely do these 

 mountains seem to hedge in the bay that it is hard to 

 realise the fact that they are twenty miles distant. 

 But in Kamchatka the scenery is on a large scale, 

 and a reference to the chart explains the matter in 

 five figures — the height of Koriatska is i 1,554 feet. 



It was close on seven p.m. when Petropavlovsk 

 Harbour came in sight, hidden, as it was, from view 

 by low, undulating hills on all sides but one, a long- 

 wooded promontory called the " Signalny INIyss," or 

 Signal Cape, sheltering it from the west. At the same 

 time we discovered the villaoe huts scattered along 

 the beach, and an unusual concert of howling dogs, 

 together with the joyful shrieks of the inhabitants, 

 reached our ears. There was no slight reason for 

 these rejoicings, for the Baikal represented the much 

 longed-for commissariat, and the first of the two 

 annual steamers, due at Petropavlovsk on the ist of 

 May, had not made its appearance that year, depriving 

 the starved population of its necessary supplies, which 

 were almost two months overdue. A few minutes 

 later we were anchored off the settlement. The har- 

 bour is quite a tiny one, divided in two by a narrow- 

 strip of land, leaving but a small entrance into the 

 inner part, which is of no depth ; larger steamers 

 have to remain outside. To our astonishment, three 



