92 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



were two stately-looking gentlemen, by no means of 

 the lean kind, and appeared in strange contradiction to 

 their statements that the village had been starving for 

 the last month, there being no longer a bag of Hour or 

 a pound of sugar to be obtained throughout the penin- 

 sula. They resembled each other like brothers, and 

 I was constantly at a loss to make out which was 

 which, I was told that these starving periods were 

 not unfrequent in Kamchatka, and that they afforded 

 a capital season to the one or two tradesmen of the 

 country, who keep back a certain quantity of supplies 

 of first necessity ; the natives fall entirely into their 

 hands, and sable skins are exchanged lor a few 

 ounces of sugar or two or three handfuls of llour. I 

 think it is the duty of every well-meaning person to 

 lay a stress on these lawless exactions, in order that 

 the Government may take measures towards a more 

 regular importation of stores. The Ispravnik has 

 almost unlimited power over his district, which in- 

 cludes the whole of Kamchatka, and whose vast 

 area and lack of means of communication render his 

 task practically impossible. He is officially under 

 the control of the Governor at XHadivostok, whose 

 sui)ervision is reduced to a minimum, and his local 

 jurisdiction remains without appeal. 



Such a state of affairs, if abandoned to undeserving 



