loo A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



price. Each man's account is carefully kept in the 

 books, and if his debit outweighs his credit, the result 

 of his winter chase must restore the balance in his 

 fa\'our before fresh supplies are given out. Govern- 

 ment taxes, or y a ssa^\ are likewise paid in this manner. 

 Two or three fur dealers, besides the Seal Fisheries 

 Co., compete in spring at the Government auction 

 rooms ; all the collected furs are thus disposed of by 

 the Ispravnik, At the time of our visit the price of 

 sables varied from twenty to a hundred roubles (^2 to 

 ^10), blue fox fetched more, while sea-otter attained 

 the highest figures, reaching ^100 a skin. The latter 

 are supposed to be preserved by the Government, 

 which limits the yearly catch to fourteen. The best 

 sea-otter fisheries are situated off Cape Lopatka, 

 round the southernmost extremity of the peninsula, 

 where their favourite seaweeds abound. A party of 

 native hunters starts down the coasts every year in a 

 couple of small boats, involving no slight courage to 

 face the ocean in the autumn months with such a 

 fragile ec^uipment. They are often ne\er heard of 

 again. At other times they bring back their well- 

 earned booty, consisting of ten or twelve skins, half 

 of which they share amongst themselves, the other 

 half being Government property. It remains a 

 mystery to me how European markets can still be 



