A BREAKDOWN 135 



corner of the bay when the cylinder of the second 

 engine gave way, leaving us entirely at the mercy of 

 the waves ! Again we were obliged to wheel round, 

 and, hoisting sail, steer back for Petropavlovsk, which 

 we managed to reach, disabled as we were, on the 

 following^ mornino', after another dreadful ni^ht on 

 board. As for the poor captain, he had to sail to 

 Vladivostok, there being no means of repairing the 

 broken cylinder in such a place as Petropavlovsk ! 

 We found ourselves once more encamped on the 

 same old sandspit in a most embarrassing dilemma, 

 though it was not without a profound feeling of relief 

 that we bade farewell to the S f o?vj ^nd re-entered our 

 tents. There can be no doubt that if one wishes to 

 obtain sport along the coast of Kamchatka, where 

 bighorn are certainly more plentiful than in the 

 interior, chartering a yacht in Japan, or elsewhere, 

 and so leaving one's movements free, is the sole chance 

 of success. As it was, our successive failures to reach 

 the sheep ground from the sea were not so much to 

 be regretted, for it must be borne in mind that our 

 main object from the first had been to discover wild 

 sheep in the interior, where they had never, as yet, 

 been shot, and it was merely on account of the imprac- 

 ticable communication inland that we had deviated 

 from our original plan. 



